In 1990, I was 6 years old and about to meet my new love. It wasn’t Andy Belden, the boy with the golden blonde hair of an East Coast-Zach Morris, who I had a crush on from 1st to 3rd grade. It was Brian Hackett, the character played by born-in-1961 actor, Steven Weber.
Throughout my childhood I became obsessed with TV. Lots of TV, to be exact. One of the shows that I focused my attention on was, of course, Wings. I loved it so much I didn’t even mind that Lowell left because he went on to Ned & Stacey (co-starring with a pre-Will & Grace Debra Messing) – probably because I also loved that show.
I watched most of it in first run until it ended in 1997 and I watched it whenever I was home sick from school on “USam” on the USA Network. I’m still pretty weirded out that everyone accepts Tony Shaloub’s “fake non-Italian” accent and though I’m a brunette and there IS a war going on, I will forever love Helen Chapel.
Long before I fell in love with Chandler Bing or Pacey Witter or even Nick Miller on New Girl, I only had eyes for the Original Sarcastic Slacker Boyfriend: Brian Hackett. * cue cartoon birds chirping and soft music playing.* Brian Hackett was my one true love: shoulder-length wavy hair, awesome shirt choices, sarcastic to the last. He flew planes. All of high school I would spend trying to find MY Brian Hackett (turns out my Brian Hackett wore tie-dye and hemp necklaces but you win some, you lose some.)
Let’s fast forward to 2013 – I’m now 28, married to a non-Brian Hackett type (luckily) and living and working in Los Angeles. Turns out, a lot of famous people live here. And, turns out, you run into famous people even more when you work at a late-night talk show hosted by Kathy Griffin. One day, we were in a big meeting with all the producers and the people who book the show, talking about upcoming bookings on the show and who was confirmed, who was pending, who was ignoring our calls. I was – admittedly – zoning out a little bit until I heard his name.
Steven. Weber.
Now, I had spent this entire meeting sitting on the floor, not speaking (I was not important enough for a chair), just absorbing everything until this moment. This is what happened:
ERIN: Steven Weber?
BOSS: Yes.
ERIN: Wait. But – IS HE CONFIRMED??
BOSS: Yes. He’s confirmed. (turns back to everyone else)
ERIN: OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.
BOSS: So anyway…
The following weeks leading up to what I will now refer to as “The Steven Weber Show” was intense. How was I supposed to focus on what we would do on these shows that DIDN’T have Steven Weber on them?! Whenever Steven Weber came up at work my other co-workers were like, “okay, cool, let’s move on” and all I wanted to do was talk about my huge crush on him and Wings and Studio 60 and “remember when he was on SVU? And Party Down?”
No one understood. “How are there no Wings fans?,” I thought to myself while discussing Kate Walsh also being booked for “The Steven Weber Show” – sure, I loved her on Grey’s Anatomy too, but let’s get her and Steven Weber to gossip about Tim Daly instead!
But then the day of “The Steven Weber Show” came.
I’d like to point out that I am very professional (usually) and except for when I whispered to Melora Hardin “I love Jan!” as she was leaving Who Wants to be a Millionaire or being forced to take a picture with Tim Gunn after he guest-hosted – I usually don’t take photos or profess my love to any of the celebrities I run into through my job.
Enter Steven Weber.
I thought, okay, I haven’t asked to be introduced to anyone, maybe I could just see if I could say hi to Steven Weber before the show. I ran into Jane Lynch in the bathroom on the night of the premiere episode so this would be just like that, but like, on purpose! So I asked the talent department to get me in and they said, sure, we’ll do it before the show. Great, I have plenty of time to focus on my work and just say “Hey, Steven Weber” (my future pop country hit) right before we’re on the air.
Around this time I was kind of running around and waiting for an elevator – chatting loudly when suddenly the elevator doors open and BLAM. Steven Weber. Right in front of me being escorted into the studio.
Now, in all my time thinking about having Steven Weber on the show I never really considered what my reaction would be. I’m normally pretty calm about meeting celebrities and have never been this starstruck except for when I saw Jeff Goldblum at a bar and dramatically put my wedding ring in my husband’s shirt pocket. (But that’s another story.) Immediately upon laying my eyeballs on Steven Weber I turned bright red and couldn’t speak.
I went about my business and then, sure enough, there was word he had a moment of free time and “if I was going to meet him it was going to be now.” Oh boy. Luckily I’m already The Girl Who Turned Bright Red When She Walked Past Steven Weber so hopefully I wouldn’t become The Girl Who Barfed On Steven Weber Before a Live Show.
We walked down the hallway to his dressing room and I, being the mature adult I am, stood to the side of his doorway, hiding. Again, this is what went down.
TALENT PRODUCER: Hey, Steven, one of our producers is actually a really big fan of yours, do you mind if she says hi to you?
STEVEN WEBER: Oh, sure, where is she?
ERIN: [peeking her head around the doorframe, You Can’t Do That on Television-style] Oh, I’m here. Hi.
STEVEN WEBER: You’re the fan?
ERIN: [turning bright red again] Uh, yeah, yeah I am.
STEVEN WEBER: [laughing] Why? What’s the matter with you?
ERIN: Oh – ha ha – nothing. I just always loved Wings…and Studio 60 and um, you’re great.
STEVEN WEBER: Wow. Well, very nice to meet you.
[He shook my hand here and got very close to me.]
ERIN: …
[Dead.]
I was so awkward, he was so nice and touched and confused that I cared about who he was. And I wish there was a support group for people in their 20s and 30s who are obsessed with Steven Weber and Wings because that seems to be the demo.
I’m now in the midst of a Wings rewatch and it’s going swimmingly, of course, but every time I see Brian Hackett I get those same butterflies and those same waves of embarrassment.
[Image via Rob Young // Flickr]
Tags: erin mallory long, i was pretty devastated when lowell left actually but ned & stacey was pretty charming if a bit far-fetched, oh my god you touched steven weber, steven weber, wings
Haha, this was great. It’s probably EXACTLY what would happen to me if I met any of the celebrity dudes I still crush on (does it ever stop? Or do we just change the dudes over time?)
ALSO “when I saw Jeff Goldblum at a bar and dramatically put my wedding ring in my husband’s shirt pocket.”
but, you ARE going to tell this story, right?!
If I had a husband and a wedding ring, and I saw Jeff Goldblum at a bar, I would do the exact same thing. Perfect.
RIGHT?!
I feel really safe here, you guys.
STEVEN WEBER THOUGH
oh my god you touched steven weber
I loved Wings, though I only watched the first two seasons before I went to college. And Steven Weber was my crush too! He TOUCHED you!!
And I’m a little weirded out because he is the same age as my boyfriend, which gives me an idea of just how old he was when I was in high school.
(I also loved Tony Shalhoub on Wings! And everything else he’s ever done.)
Any day featuring a Ned & Stacey reference is a good day indeed. Ain’t nothing gonna bring me down now.
I had a crush on craggy ol Thomas Haden Church for sure, I woulda fake-married him any day.
Steven Weber, WOW. I always thought he was white-hot.
YES except that I really only know him from Studio 60 (because I am 1. a child and 2. a monster), so I wonder what deep-seated psychological issue that’s tapping into (probably something to do with my father, let’s be honest).
I hold anger in my heart for people who can meet celebrities with a cool, clear head. If I get anywhere near someone whose work I admire, I start shaking and wheezing and embarrassing the hell out of myself.
I’m a Food Network junkie and over the last couple years I’ve had the chance to meet a number of celebrity chefs because of work. I’ve yet to share a single photo taken with them because I look so embarrassingly freaked out in each one.
My brother and I have probably watched the first four seasons of Wings at least three times in the last twenty years, and ironically, I just watched The Christmas Show episode of Studio 60 last night (IT’S THE BEST). I love everything about this post.
Wings was my favorite show in high school. I taped the reruns on USA and would watch them over and over. If anyone is curious about it, all 8 seasons are on Netflix! http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Wings/70155634?…
I am about 6 years older than you, but I just had to comment to FINALLY ADMIT that back in the day, before the internet was even a THING, I essentially played out Tim Daly/Steven Weber “Wings” fan fiction in my head on an embarrassingly regular basis when I was 13ish. See also: Sean Patrick Flanery in “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”. This post was right in my wheelhouse- thank you!
First, if you form that support group I will totally join. Brian Hackett was my first TV crush too. It was a secret I held so close that when watching Wings with my mom I tried not to laugh too loudly at his smart-alecky comebacks in fear that she would discover my hidden love and I would never to be able to run away to TV land to elope with him and have smart-alecky babies.
Also, I think your reaction was totally appropriate under the circumstances (it is STEVEN WEBER).
Lemme tell you what, as a kid, I was a slightly chubby, cello-playing blonde southern girl, and Helen Chappel was a shining beacon from heaven.
After some quick Wikipedia-ing, I just discovered that I’m now the same age that Crystal Bernard was when “Wings” started. Which means I can officially start the next phase of my life–looking up to Fay.
PS: Obvs Brian Hackett over Joe Hackett. See also: Dan Rydell over Casey McCall.
I loved Joe when I was a kid (…gonna leave that alone) but would be interested in who would win for adult-me. But really what I came here to say is Dan Rydell ALL THE WAY.
Lemme tell you what, as a kid, I was a slightly chubby, cello-playing blonde southern girl, and Helen Chappel was a shining beacon from heaven.
After some quick Wikipedia-ing, I just discovered that I'm now the same age that Crystal Bernard was when "Wings" started. Which means I can officially start the next phase of my life–looking up to Fay.
PS: Obvs Brian Hackett over Joe Hackett. See also: Dan Rydell over Casey McCall.
Wings was definitely one of my favorite shows when I was a kid and I DEFINITELY had a huge crush on Brian Hackett. I feel you.
Every time I finish the Steven Weber episode of “Party Down,” I want to start it over again from the beginning.
And sometimes I DO, THE END.
Every time I finish the Steven Weber episode of "Party Down," I want to start it over again from the beginning.
And sometimes I DO, THE END.
I hope there will a post soon about someone who touched Tim Daly!!! (Not sarcastic.)
This is not quite as good as being touched by Tim Daly … but I have a Tim Daly story.
So in college, I was known for scheduling my classes around the Wings reruns on USA (this was 2000ish). I also had a theater major roommate. My theater major roommate did a summer at a theater Tim Daly and his wife (at the time) were involved in. So Tim Daly and his wife had a party for the staff, and my roommate went up to Tim Daly and said “My roommate schedules her classes around Wings on USA.”
Tim Daly looked at her and shook his head and said “She’s going to rot her brain out.”
Damn right. I still love Wings. (Plus, Tim Daly is the voice of Superman in a lot of the DC Animated Universe stuff. I will totally take that!)
p.s., casting Steven Weber as Jack Torrance was the best part of that The Shining miniseries, which (I realize as I type) sounds like damning with faint praise, but REALLY.
Nicholson’s Torrance starts the film already scathing and half-unhinged, sacrificing the truly scary idea at the heart of the story: the creeping unease that grows into terror as someone you love and want to trust becomes monstrous and cruel.
Steven Weber has exactly the affable charm that Jack Torrance needs, with just a hint of insouciance edging into slackerdom that leads to unease. He’s a brilliant choice.
… too bad about, yknow, the whole rest of the mini-series, though.
p.s., casting Steven Weber as Jack Torrance was the best part of that The Shining miniseries, which (I realize as I type) sounds like damning with faint praise, but REALLY.
Nicholson's Torrance starts the film already scathing and half-unhinged, sacrificing the truly scary idea at the heart of the story: the creeping unease that grows into terror as someone you love and want to trust becomes monstrous and cruel.
Steven Weber has exactly the affable charm that Jack Torrance needs, with just a hint of insouciance edging into slackerdom that leads to unease. He's a brilliant choice.
… too bad about, yknow, the whole rest of the mini-series, though.
I just saw him last week while on vacation. We stayed in the same hotel. My family and I sat down for brunch and he sat next to us two days in a row. I wanted to go over and tell him I was a fan but felt akward as he was clearly on vacation with his kids. Very handsome in person!
I loved Joe when I was a kid (…gonna leave that alone) but would be interested in who would win for adult-me. But really what I came here to say is Dan Rydell ALL THE WAY.
Can we be friends?? This post is amazing… someone else who gets it. I had such a huge crush on him too. HUGE, and none of my friends got it at all. Right around the time Wings was ending, I started a Steven Weber fan page, and got the opportunity to talk to him via phone from some little internet webcast he was doing. I was such a shy, ridiculous dork I’ve never seen playback of the interview but that’s probably for the best. I was embarrassingly awkward. A few years later I was fortunate to correspond with him via email, and he was so generous and genuine. When I mentioned the phone thing, he actually remembered that!! I would love to meet him in person one day but I would totally freeze up and forget everything. So exciting that you got the chance!! He’s one of the few celebrities worth meeting. Great story! 🙂