High flyer
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | High flyer |
| Original title | Wings |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1990-1997 |
| Production company |
Grub Street Productions, Paramount Television |
| length | 23 minutes |
| Episodes | 171 in 8 seasons |
| genre | Sitcom |
| Theme music | Franz Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959, IV. Rondo. Allegretto |
| idea | David Angell , Peter Casey , David Lee |
| production | James Tibmolap |
| music | Antony Cooke , Bruce Miller |
| First broadcast | April 19, 1990 on NBC |
| German-language first broadcast |
Feb. 10, 1994 on ProSieben |
Überflieger (also: Wings - Die Überflieger ) is an American sitcom about two brothers who run an air service in New England . The series premiered on NBC in eight seasons between 1990 and 1997 and marked the breakthrough of lead actor Tim Daly , Tony Shalhoub and Thomas Haden Church .
action
At Tom Nevers Field , a small airfield on the island of Nantucket , two dissimilar brothers Joe and Brian Hackett run Sandpiper Air . They are supported on the ground by Fay Cochran and the rather simple mechanic Lowell Mather. Her childhood friend Helen Chappel runs the airport cafeteria. Sandpiper Air always competes for passengers with the larger Aeromass airline operated by Roy Biggins. Later, the Italian-born taxi driver Antonio Scarpacci joins them, who later kept an eye on Helen's sister, Casey, who moved in.
characters
| figure | actor | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Joe Hackett | Tim Daly |
Rolf Becker (seasons 1–4) , Gerhard Hinze (seasons 5–8) |
| Brian Hackett | Steven Weber | Lutz Mackensy |
| Helen Chapel | Crystal Bernard | Monika Barth |
| Fay Cochran | Rebecca Schull | Verena Wiet |
| Roy Biggins | David Schramm | Edgar Hoppe |
| Antonio Scarpacci | Tony Shalhoub | Achim Schülke |
| Lowell Mather | Thomas Haden Church | Andreas W. Schmidt |
| Casey Chapel / Davenport | Amy Yasbeck | Katja Brugger |
- Joe Hackett
- is a neurotic , obsessive friendly pilot, the Charter -Airline Sandpiper Air (ger .: beach runners established). He has lived on Nantucket since childhood and wanted to be a pilot from an early age. His mother left the family, which drove his father crazy. He then took care of his brother Brian. He originally founded Sandpiper with his fiancée Carol, who cheated on him with Brian. As a result, the brothers parted in an argument.
- Brian Hackett
- often upsets his brother Joe with his carelessness and unreliability. Although many doors were open to him ( Princeton , NASA ), he was unable to seize any of these opportunities. After running off to the Caribbean with Joe's fiancé Carol , Carol left him too and he returned to Nantucket. Within a very short time he was able to persuade Joe to take him back home and hire him as a pilot at Sandpiper . Brian is a shameless womanizer most of the time , but has had two more serious relationships over the course of the series: the first with helicopter pilot Alex Lambert, then with Helen's older sister Casey Chappel-Davenport.
- Helen Chappel Hackett
- moved to Nantucket with her family at a very young age. She works in the cafeteria in the airport terminal , although her real dream job is cellist in a large orchestra . The attractive Helen fights persistent eating disorders after suffering from morbid obesity in her early childhood . She is in a relationship with Joe, with whom she has been in love since childhood. She had a fictitious marriage with Antonio to save him from his expulsion, but married Joe at the end of the sixth season.
- Lowell Mather (Seasons 1-7)
- takes over all mechanic work on Tom Nevers Field . The rather simple character is a talented hobby cook and lives with the Hackett brothers for a while after the sinking of his houseboat. After observing a contract killing, he has to go into hiding in the witness protection program . He leaves his typical red and orange baseball cap as a souvenir for the brothers .
- Fay Evelyn Schlob Dumbly DeVay Cochran
- Joe's only employee sells the airline tickets for Sandpiper and handles baggage checks and flight announcements. The former flight attendant mothers the Hackett brothers as well as Helen, but keeps having little skirmishes with Roy.
- Roy Biggins
- owns the rival airline Aeromass , with which he tries to destroy Sandpiper . The windy businessman is always looking for his advantage, arrogant and rude.
- Antonio V. Scarpacci (seasons 2-8)
- Initially waited at the airport and later became a taxi driver. The meek Italian-American falls hopelessly in love with Helen's relocated sister Casey.
- Alex Lambert (Seasons 4 & 5)
- operates a helicopter sightseeing flight service over Nantucket. She has a brief relationship with Brian and leaves the island when it ends. She returns a season later, but she is no longer dating Brian permanently.
- Casey (Davenport) Chappel (Seasons 6-8)
- is Helen's older sister. After her husband leaves, she moves back to Nantucket. Since her ex-husband was rich, she has difficulty finding her way back into the working class . She always ignores Antonio's advances.
background
As a classic sitcom , Überflieger was mostly shot in the studio. Exterior shots of Nantucket were also used more frequently for the (fictional) Tom Nevers Field . Until 1976, the Tom Nevers Naval Facility of the Navy was located on the island , which was later transferred to the Nantucket Hunting Association . The Club Car restaurant located there also served as a backdrop. The Hackett brothers' aircraft was a 1981 Cessna 402C flown by Austin Carey. The machine from the series was later used by Cape Air . Another plane was used in some of the early episodes and was destroyed.
In US television, the series was on NBC between April 19, 1990 and May 21, 1997 . The series was dubbed in German from 1992 to 1997 at Studio Hamburg. All 172 episodes were written and directed by Andreas W. Schmidt , who also voiced Thomas Haden Church in the role of the simple-minded aircraft mechanic Lowell Mather . At the beginning of 1994, ProSieben began broadcasting for the first time in Germany, but after only a few episodes the series was canceled due to a lack of audience interest. Between 1994 and 1998, the remaining episodes were shown on pay TV on Comedy & Co. , a TV station within the DF1 bouquet. From 1999, Überflieger was also repeated at Premiere Comedy .
Connection to other series
- Kirstie Alley , Kelsey Grammer , John Ratzenberger , George Wendt and Bebe Neuwirth have guest appearances in their roles from the television series Cheers and therefore Überflieger is part of its series universe , which links a large number of US series with one another.
- Thomas Haden Church left this series in the spring of 1995 for a lead role on the short-lived sitcom Ned and Stacy .
- The three high-flyer inventors David Angell , Peter Casey and David Lee later developed the successful Frasier series .
- Tony Shalhoub made his breakthrough with his role as taxi driver Antonio Scarpacci from the second season. In the meantime he is best known for his leading role in the crime series Monk . There, his character meets actor Tim Daly in an episode of all things. When asked by his assistant, Monk explains that he doesn't know his series Wings and asks whether it was good. Your answer: "Well, it was good."
Additional information
Web links
- Flyer in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- High- flyer in the online film database
- High-flyer in the German dubbing index
- High-flyer at Fernsehserien.de
supporting documents
- ↑ Aircraft Data N121PB, 1981 Cessna 402C C / N 402C0507. In: airport-data.com. Retrieved February 8, 2011 .
- ↑ Aircraft N121PP, Cessna 411 C / N 4110069. Airport-data.com, accessed February 8, 2011 .