Some of the most memorable characters in television were never actually seen. They were talked about, and their presence, even if it was always offscreen, was often crucial to the plot. I've come up with five awesome (but unseen) TV characters. Here they are:
Vera: From what I recall, Vera, the wife of beer-lover Norm Peterson on Cheers, made only one appearance on the show, and that was just her legs. According to both Wikipedia and IMDb, she was played by George Wendt's real-life wife, Bernadette Birkette.
Maris: When Fraiser spun off from Cheers, they must have liked the idea of an unseen wife, because that's exactly what they gave Fraiser's brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce). There's a great in-joke in the "The Brother from Another Series" episode of The Simpsons in which David Hyde Pierce plays Cecil, the brother of Kelsey Grammer's Sideshow Bob. When Bart leaps on him, covers his eyes, and says, "Guess who?" Cecil replies with, "Maris?"
Carlton the Doorman: This was the first one I thought of. Carlton was the doorman on Rhoda, and while his distinctive voice could always be heard on the intercom, he was never actually seen. He was played by the late Lorenzo Music, who would later become the voice of Garfield.
Scooter's Uncle: Okay, let me preface this by saying that while I was a huge fan of The Muppet Show, it's not as if I have every episode memorized. However, I don't think Scooter's uncle, who owned the theater, ever made an appearance. He was the reason, however, that Kermit sometimes had to unwittingly let Scooter have his way, or risk losing the theater.
Bart Furley: Ralph Furley (the late Don Knotts) knew when to put his foot down as a landlord on Three's Company, but he could also be kind of a pushover. That wasn't the case for his brother Bart though, who seemed to instill a deep fear in his younger, nerdier brother. Bart was never seen, save for one episode, "Furley vs. Furley" when Ralph finally decides to face his brother head on. He was played by actor Hamilton Camp, who passed away last year.
And before anyone says it, yes, I just realized I forgot about Charlie from Charlie's Angels. That's what happens when you limit yourself to only five.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-24-2006 @ 8:20AM
Chris W said...
Ugly Naked Guy from Friends and Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget.
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5-24-2006 @ 9:01AM
Keith McDuffee said...
Too bad Home Improvement jumped the shark and showed Wilson enventually, or else he'd have to be on this list.
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5-24-2006 @ 9:24AM
Laurel said...
What about Juanita from The Andy Griffith Show?
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5-24-2006 @ 9:45AM
Mark said...
Thanks for mentioning Carlton, played by my cousin, Lorenzo Music. He's my mom's first cousin - they all called him "Jerry" and, yes, his real last name was Music, although I think the original russian version was something like "Muzik". He was a very talented guy - he wrote for the original Bob Newhart, the Smothers Brothers show, Rhoda, and many others. He was a really nice, funny guy; he's survived by his brother, Stephen, who's a whacky guy, too - he once appeared on the Dating Game back in the late '70's and sang a song, "I wanna' be somebody, I wanna' have some class, I wanna' have a helluva lot of people kissing my ..."! Nice - class all the way!
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5-24-2006 @ 9:51AM
Joshua Stein said...
Vera appeared in the Thanksgiving episode, but her face was covered by a pie that was thrown by Diane (at Sam, I believe), but hit Vera just as she was entereing Carla's place, where everyone had met for dinner.
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5-24-2006 @ 10:26AM
kerry said...
What about Charlie from Charlie's Angels? We never got to see him, did we?
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5-24-2006 @ 10:36AM
Erosia said...
Don't forget Tino from "My So-Called Life." They were always going to parties with him or meeting up with him off screen.
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5-24-2006 @ 10:39AM
Chris W said...
OK. Here it goes... Binny, as in Nina's friend Binny, from Just Shoot Me.
I'm the only person I know who got a kick out of that show (until they started pushing new characters in).
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5-24-2006 @ 11:01AM
Jean Russell said...
Diane, Dale Cooper's secretary from Twin Peaks.
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5-24-2006 @ 11:07AM
Allison said...
Mr. Kim and Kirk's Mom on Gilmore Girls. Kirk talks about her all the time, but she's never been seen. Mr. Kim was around but never seen for the first few seasons, but now he's vanished and couldn't even appear at Lane's wedding.
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5-24-2006 @ 11:25AM
tamara said...
There is also Miss Bellum from "The Powerpuff Girls." You only see her figure.
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5-24-2006 @ 11:37AM
Sour Bob said...
Then there's Mrs. Columbo, who I don't think was ever shown on the show, although she was, oddly enough, given a spinoff, where she was played by Kate Mulgrew.
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5-24-2006 @ 11:48AM
Gwin said...
Erosia: that's what I was going to say! Tino is my favorite never-seen character.
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5-24-2006 @ 12:21PM
Batton Lash said...
I know I'm dating myself, but there was "Sam" from "Richard Diamond, Private Detective". David Janssenn was the star of this late 50's CBS show. Sam was Diamond's contact at an answering service; she had a sultry voice and the most we ever saw of her was her legs. Sam might have been the first leave-it-to-your-imagination character on a TV series (and Sam's "sultry voice" and legs belonged to a young Mary Tyler Moore!).
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5-24-2006 @ 12:25PM
Toby OB said...
I'll add Dr. Lars Lindstrom from 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and Mr. Terhorst of 'Bob!'. Lars is proof that spinoffs can kill.
I was hoping we'd meet Janice Soprano's son Harpo before 'The Sopranos' ended. I guess there's still a chance.
And there are some who might argue we never met Number One from 'The Prisoner', which would make McGoohan happy to hear that people came away with different interpretations of the ending.....
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5-24-2006 @ 12:31PM
Chris W said...
I just remembered... Seinfeld did this a lot. Boy in the bubble, guy in the body cast who looks like George, Steinbrenner, other characters voiced by Larry David.
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5-24-2006 @ 1:23PM
Mike J said...
The gigantic Stan, Karen's husband on Will & Grace.
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5-24-2006 @ 1:52PM
Rex from Ars said...
Don't forget Diane from "Twin Peaks"!
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5-24-2006 @ 2:40PM
Alan said...
What about Alvar Hanso from Lost?
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5-24-2006 @ 3:36PM
Erica said...
About Binny from "Just Shoot Me",
I think she was shown once, but she was covered in bandages. I also want to vote for Vera and Maris!
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