You know the ones I’m talking about, right? We hear of them, but they are never shown on tv.
Here are the ones that come immediately to my mind:
From the Mary Tyler Moore Show: Phyllis Lindstrom’s husband Lars
From the Rhoda: Carlton the Doorman. We only heard his voice, but never saw him.
From Frasier: Niles’ first wife Maris
From Cheers: Norm’s wife Vera. Well, we did see her one time during a food fight when she got hit in the face with a pie, was it? And she actually spoke. We never saw her face.
I guess we could sort of include Wilson from Home Improvement, since we were never shown his face.
There was a similar thread done on this a few months ago that mentioned Maris on “Frasier.” It got me to thinking, has Martin’s buddy ‘Duke’ ever appeared? His name gets mentioned often, but I can’t remember ever seeing him.
On “Buffy” & “Angel”: ‘The Powers That Be’ are occasionally invoked, meaning the good Heavenly spirits (presumably God & co.) who have charged Buffy and Angel to fight the forces of evil, but never appeared. Nor have the ‘Senior Partners’ of the devilish Wolfram & Hart law firm been depicted.
“Seinfeld”: Kramer has a friend Bob Sacamano (spelling?) who is mentioned again and again.
M.A.S.H.: Hawkeye’s dad, Mrs. Potter, Mrs. Honeycutt, Radar’s Ma & Pa, Winchester’s sister, etc.
MAS*H: We saw Peg Hunnicutt in home movies and in the “Dreams” episode. Mrs/ Potter’s picture was on Potter’s desk. Radar’s dad was dead; we never did see Uncle Ed, but Gary Burghoff in drag played Mrs. O’Reilly in a home movie.
Seinfeld: Also Kramer’s friend Lomez.
Just Shoot Me: Nina’s friend Binny (sp?).
Disembodied voices: Charlie’s Angels, Mission Impossible? (I’m mot as familiar with those shows.
In the 1957 PI show “Richard Diamond, Private Detective” the switchboard operator Sam was played by Mary Tyler Moore. You only saw her legs and hands, and heard her voice, but never saw her face.
My So-Called Life - Tino. Tino was the man. You need a fake ID, get it from Tino. You need something to do on Friday night, Tino knows about a party. You need a ride to the hospital, Tino will drive you. But we never saw him.
For that matter, the Chase family on that show often bought cat food and kitty litter (and mention it in dialogue), but we never see the cat.
Captain Tuttle on an episode of MAS*H. Hawkeye made up this imaginary character: tall, strong, hazel eyes, auburn hair. “I think I’m in love!” said Trapper John as he pictured this creation. Yet almost everyone at the camp believed he was real. That was one of my favorite episodes.
Actually, Carlton The Doorman was seen in one episode.
Rhoda was having a costume party, and Carlton wound up showing up for it. He was wearing a doorman’s uniform… and an ape mask. We never did get to see his real face…
Years later, I was amazed to hear Carlton’s voice coming out of the animated Garfield the Cat…
Jenny Piccolo in Happy Days. I know they got an actor to play her in the later years, the Ted McGinley years. But before the shark was jumped, Jenny was only anecdotal.
Binnie did show up once on Just Shoot Me. She had given up her jet set life, quit modeling, and put on a little weight. Then Nina freaked out about it, but was really freaking out that she stayed that same.
And The Powers That Be showed up on Angel all the time during the first season. They were the gold roman statue like people that Angel occasionally visited for advice and or help. Then they were killed in the season finale and now are referred to in the general sense rather than as people in the flesh.
And I’ve got one to add: The Bubble Boy on Seinfeld.
In MAS*H, you see Uncle Ed in the same home movie that had Gary Burghoff dressed up as Radar’s Mother. They’re at a picnic table and he uses ears of corn as binoculars. Radar says, “That’s my Uncle Ed, he’s a real cut up” or something to that effect.
There is an episode of Frasier where you see Maris’s body, but not her face.
Did you ever actually see Ugly Naked Guy on Friends?