New Odd Couple Takes Flight on NBC’s ‘Wings’

NBC has a new odd couple--the Hackett brothers who work in uneasy tandem to run a small airline out of Tom Nevers Airport on Nantucket Island.

The show is “Wings,” a sitcom from some of the same writers and producers that brought you “Cheers,” and it will debut following Ted Danson and gang Thursday.

In the opening episode, Joe Hackett (Timothy Daly), a compulsively super-organized guy, is the overworked owner of Sandpiper Air--a one-airplane commuter service. Along comes his freewheeling brother, Brian (Steven Weber), a Princeton and NASA dropout.

By the end of the episode they are running the airline together and competing for the attention of Helen (Crystal Bernard), who runs the airport lunch counter and moonlights as a cello teacher.

Daly, who starred in the classy but unsuccessful “Almost Grown” on CBS last season and is the brother of Tyne Daly, looks back ruefully at his old show but likes his new one.

“The basic comic conflict is the difference between the two brothers,” Daly said in an interview.

“Brian is an irresponsible ne’er-do-well, while Joe is very responsible and heroic and always tries to do the right thing. That’s what’s wonderful about him, although he will sometimes do the right thing to his own detriment.

“There’s also a kind of triangle involving Helen, who runs the lunch counter.

“The show is not vanguard television, not groundbreaking in any way. What’s unique about it is that it is one of the rare sitcoms on television that is actually funny. The humor comes out of the truth of the characters and situations rather than a lot of jokes pasted onto the story.”

Asked if he were like the character he plays, Daly said:

“That implies that I know who I am, and I don’t. I can’t afford a psychiatrist. Yes, in that all characters are somethwat like me. We both have passions, his for airplanes, mine for acting.”

Being an actor means rejection, as Daly--the son of actors James and Hope Daly--pointed out.

“A lot of people think actors live in penthouses and drive around in limousines. They don’t see the struggle and all the people unemployed and what people go through to get their success. The overriding experience of being an actor is rejection.”