Allen Brady wasn’t seen for the first year or two on The Dick Van Dyke Show. After that, Carl Reiner played him perfectly normally.
BJ Hunnicut’s wife and Frank’s wife weren’t seen on MAS*H for a long time-- just referred to, but they eventually showed up in films sent to the 4077
You remember it correctly. Vera was played by George Wendt’s real-life wife, Bernadette Birkett. Her only full-face appearance on *Cheers *was as woman who fell for Cliff at a Halloween party.
My memory is faulty, but it seems to me that the Romulans (Star Trek) and the Reavers (Firefly) were referenced before they were actually shown.
Frasier: “All I can see thru the keyhole is a coatrack.”
Niles: “Is the coatrack moving?”
Seems like Sybil Gooley, Stretch Cunningham, and Rev. Felcher/Fletcher were all mentioned on “All in the Family” before they appeared.
Rev. Trimble was mentioned on “Sanford and Son,” then later appeared, played by Alvin Childress of tv series “Amos ‘n’ Andy.”
In the comic book the Fantastic Four, a long-running gag (originating from within the first few issues) was the Thing referencing his “sweet aunt Petunia.” Finally, decades later, a story ran with the Thing introducing the rest of his team-mates to Aunt Petunia!
Detective Fish was always talking on the phone to his wife, Bernice, in Barney Miller, but she wasn’t actually seen until he got his own show as a spinoff.
Technically, Maris IS depicted once. In the episode where Niles has a heart attack and a series of flash-backs are depicted. Maris is in bed, covered with bandages with Niles is sitting next to her saying, “They can always cut off more next time.”
Just thought of another one - on Doctor Who, for many years the good Doctor (and other random Time Lords he’d encounter) would make cryptic references to a long-ago, highly revered Time Lord named Rassilon. Finally, on the twentieth anniversary special the Five Doctors, the show depicted a holographic image of Rassilon. Then, MUCH later, in the new series a new, more aggressive race of Time Lords were being led by a mysterious, un-named President (played by Timothy Dalton). Producer Russell T. Davies confirmed that, while not named, the President was indeed the legendary Rassilon.
The joke being that Aunt Petunia was not a little biddie but a a hot hot milf.
Hemsley was unavaliable (he was in a play)
Dr. Claw fro the 80s cartoon Inspector Gadget. You only ever saw his hand. Years later a toy line was released that shows his face. No matter what it was, it would be disappointing by default. Google at your own risk.
Your memory is faulty.
Since Firefly only had 14 episodes, I’d be hard pressed to call any episode “later” in the series. Nevertheless, Reavers appeared in what would have been the pilot (or in episode 2, Bushwacked, if you’re going in air date order)
Did we ever see Phyllis’ husband Lars on the Mary Tyler Moore show?
SPEAK NOT ILL OF ALLY MACBEAL!
The part of me that doesn’t hate everyone loves Callista Flockhart.
Not correct.
Florence Stanley played Bernice Fish in six episodes of “Barney Miller”. Her first appearance was in the sixth episode of the first season: “Stakeout”.
The same thing happened with Mary-Jane Watson, part of the joke being that Peter expected her to be hideous rather than a hottie.
Also, i have to puase to ritually curse Joe Quesada.
Maude’s grandson (Philip?) was only referred to from time to time in the early run of the show, but he eventually did make some appearences. I think the reason was that Lear wanted the show to be a mature comedy, and introducing a pre-teen would have made it too close to a regular sitcom.
I think his first appearance was when his mum caught him playing “doctor” with the girl next door and marched him through the living room and up the stairs. He had his head down low and no speaking part. I do remember him in at least one part where he and Walter were watching “Josie and the Pussycats” (the cartoon, of course, not the movie) in a nice granddad-grandson scene.
Kathleen Turner as Chandler’s dad in Friends.
On Dallas, Jock’s buddy Punk Anderson was mentioned a lot in the earliest episodes, but IIRC, he did not make an appearance on the show until the 2nd season.
Archie on All in the Family talked a lot about his co-worker Stretch Cunningham before he ever appeared in an episode.
The recent Straight Dope rerun about The Prisoner mentioned that Number 1 was revealed to be a doppelganger of the Number 6 in the last episode. Cheers had several members of Carla’s family appear as characters long after they been mentioned on the show. Wings had Helen’s mother, sister, and brother-in-law appear late in the run. On Bewitched, Endora’s husband didn’t make an appearance for a while, but it may not have all that long. Kung Fu brought in Danny Caine, Kwai Chang’s brother, in one of the last episodes.
In the movies, True Grit (the real one with the Duke), had recurring references to Lawyer Dagget, painted as a dominant force, who was revealed at the end of the film in the form of the diminutive squeaky voiced actor John Fiedler.
One episode showed some scenes shot after the story with the cast in front of the audience. Wilson held up a cardboard cut-out of a fence in front of his face.