Wings seasons 1 and 2

My Wings DVDs arrived yesterday. I'd thought they might--the post office tends to get things down here from Amazon's distribution center in Lexington within a day of the "Your Order Has Shipped" email--but I tried not to get my hopes up. So I was pleasantly surprised to find the slim Amazon package in my mailbox yesterday after work.

The four-disc set is packaged in about the width of one DVD, with two skinny DVD cases each holding two discs each. I watched ten episodes last night, including what may be my all-time favorite, "The Puppetmaster". It was kind of surprising to see how many of the episodes I really remember were from the very beginning of the series.

Also, there was an episode featuring Norm and Cliff from Cheers. I'm pretty sure the first time I saw that episode, I had no idea who they were. It was apparently filmed back before studio audiences cheered for guest stars, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary about them. They were just two guys who happened to show up everywhere in the episode. That was kind of neat--it means the episode is still watchable even if you take the context completely away.

When I saw the episode "There Once Was a Girl from Nantucket", I did not recognize Megan Mullally at all. In fact, I forgot that she was in it. She looked and sounded so different. I suppose she must be talented at changing her voice and accent. I never would have even remembered if I hadn't seen her name in the credits at the end.

Antonio has yet to make an appearance, but since he's featured in the box art I know he'll show up eventually. As I recall, the first time he's in the show he's actually a maitre d'. I'm trying to remember who went to that fancy restaurant and why, but it's not coming back to me. I'm halfway thinking it's that rich guy who Helen almost married, but it seems early for that story arc. After all, that arc ends with Joe's proposal. I don't think Joe and Helen were married for the majority of the show...but I could be wrong.

[Edit: Duh, it was Helen and Joe's date-that-wasn't. Antonio hadn't reappeared by the time I finished the set, but I did confirm from the credits that his name was Antonio in the restaurant episode. And season 2 had to end with the "going to New York" cliffhanger. You gotta love those.

[Also, Joe is totally hot.]

There are two really neat things about the experience of watching Wings again. The first is the feeling of intense familiarity. Often I'll get a feeling of "rightness" while a scene is playing out, which is obviously borne from having watched Wings over and over in reruns on USA Network. And then there are the things I don't remember, the jokes that still make me laugh out loud. This show is funny, and not just because I remember thinking it was funny when I was a teenager.

I'm so glad it's finally out on DVD :)