Don't Fret Over Great TV Characters You Never Saw Quiz

Answer: Cheers

Vera Peterson (nee Kreitzer) was Norm's (George Wendt) wife, who was an unseen character but mentioned by Norm frequently in the 11 year run of "Cheers". In the pilot episode, "Give Me a Ring Sometime", Vera admitted, through Norm, that she knew that he spent too much time at Cheers but apparently did not care. Norm was constantly joking about Vera, mostly in a derogatory manner but he actually deeply cared for her.

The best example of this was when Vera was fired by the owner of Melville's, the seafood restaurant located directly above Cheers where Norm came to her rescue. We almost got to see what Vera looked like in "Thanksgiving Orphans", but her face was obscured by a pie thrown by Diane. Mr Wendt said of Vera "I never thought, 'I wonder what she looks like'".

This is because she was voiced by his real wife, Bernadette Birkett.

Answer: Frasier

"Frasier" being a spin-off of "Cheers" looked like the producers were going to do another "non-seen" character and repeat the stunt. They planned to withhold Maris' identity to lure viewers into thinking this was Vera Peterson all over again. The descriptions of Maris by husband Niles painted a poor picture: "She distrusts anything that loves her unconditionally" and the classic, "Maris is like the sun, except without the warmth". Also according to Niles, she was also "afflicted with defects" such as allergies, a rigid spine, webbed hands and could not produce saliva.

Her Father-in-law, Martin, described her as being "extremely thin, frail, and very pale" and "Very, very Caucasian". Brother-in-law Frasier said she had no skin pigmentation and would"sear like an ahi tuna if she remained in the sun for more than three minutes". Because of these bizarre descriptions, she was uncastable, and the producers gave up on revealing her. So in the end, Maris was another Vera.

Answer: Big Bang Theory

Howard's "Ma" was always known as Mrs Wolowitz but her first name of Debbie was revealed at the end of Season 7 of the "Big Bang Theory". Although we never saw her (we got a very rare partial glimpse of her), we certainly heard her. She was loud and obnoxious but it was clear Mother and son loved each other dearly. Mrs Wolowitz was voiced by Carol Ann Susi who lost her fight with cancer in November, 2014 (aged 62) during the eighth season.

Instead of finding another actress to voice Debbie, the producers allowed Mrs Wolowitz to die as well with the remaining characters left to lament their loss (in more ways than one).

In a tribute to Ms Susi, if you looked carefully at the photos on Leonard and Sheldon's refrigerator after Season 8 you saw a picture of Ms Susi which was placed there as a tribute.

Answer: Charlie's Angels

"Charlie's Angels" was a successful American crime drama that ran for 110 episodes and five seasons. Featuring a trio of female detectives, Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith, the not-seen male who directed the crime fighters was the voice of John Forsyth who delivered instructions by speaker phone.

After two highly successful seasons the novelty of the concept and hence, ratings began to wear thin and Ms Fawcett and Ms Jackson left the show and were replaced with Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, and Tanya Roberts.

The TV show spawned at least two movies with the same concept with Mr Forsyth reprising his role in the first and second movies in 2000 and 2003 respectively. Mr Forsyth died in 2010. A third movie starring Kristin Stewart was announced in 2018 with Elizabeth Banks announced as the director.

Answer: Seinfeld

There were many unseen characters on "Seinfeld" (Bobby Pinkus, Corky Ramirez,Ray McKigner the hand model and Arthur Pinsky to name a few). However none were 'unseen' as much as Bob Sacamano who made non-appearances ten times between seasons 2-9. Bob Sacamano is Kramer's friend and he made his non-appearances when something unusual happened to the four leads.

However, during these occasions Kramer always seemed to have an anecdote where Mr Sacamano could out-do what happened to one or more of the quartet.

The anecdotes always starts out with Kramer stating "My friend Bob Sacamano..." Bob Sacamano was a good friend of writer and producer Larry David, until the fictional Bob Sacamano made his first non-appearance on "Seinfeld". The two then became estranged.

Answer: Twin Peaks

"Twin Peaks" was an American mystery-horror-drama TV series. It was created by Mark Frost and David Lynch and ran for two seasons in 1990-1. There was a prequel in 1992 and a sequel in 2017.

The show was ostensibly a detective procedural, but its offbeat tone, supernatural references, and a multitude of eccentric characters meant there were times where the show dipped into soap opera and horror genres.

The series was an investigation by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) into the disappearance and murder of beauty queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in a fictional suburban town of Twin Peaks in Washington state.

The all-too mysterious Diane was presumed to be Agent Cooper's secretary to whom he was constantly making tapes on a portable recorder. She received all of all Cooper's recorded tapes. However, being "Twin Peaks", conspiracy theories abounded: some viewers speculated she was the protagonist's alter ego, or more plausible was the theory she was a coping mechanism after his partner's Caroline's death.
Either way we never saw Diane.

Answer: Friends

"Friends" was an American television sitcom that ran for ten seasons from 1994-2004. It was one of the most popular shows on television, launched the career of the ensemble cast of six and won 62 Prime Time Emmys.

Ugly Naked Guy lived across the street and below the apartment of Rachel and Monica. He was a nudist (who apparently, according to Phoebe, was cute once before he became overweight). A running theme was to describe his behaviour to others in the friends' apartment. He was partially seen in three episodes: He was suspected of being dead in "The One With The Giant Poking Device," once with his back facing the camera, and finally with Ross (who was also nude at the time) in "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" where he was revealed but we never found out his name. He did not appear in the final episode either as did many of the other minor characters did.

Jon Haugen an,'unknown' was finally revealed as Ugly Naked Guy, despite Michael Hagerty who been credited as playing the role. However Mr Hagerty was the superintendent, Mr. Treeger.

Answer: Veep

Selena Meyer was the newly elected US Vice President to the also newly appointed US President known as POTUS (President of the United States). The running gag of Veep, a political satire, during the series was Madam Mayer was keen to see POTUS but he apparently did not want to see her. He afforded her no respect and his non-presence underlined this. However as the seasons rolled on she actually gained enough respect to become US President but then, just as quickly lost the position.

Selina Meyer was portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus whose performances won her six consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards.

Answer: Magnum P.I.

Thomas Magnum IV was a private investigator played by Tom Selleck. Mr Magnum looked after the security of the 200 acre Hawaii property owned by Robin Masters who was never seen. He was voiced by Orsen Welles for five episodes before Mr Welles actually died.

The actor was not replaced, leaving Mr Magnum to battle with the estate caretaker Jonathan Higgins III (John Hillerman). The series' producers decided to taunt the viewers the idea that Jonathan Higgins, was actually Mr Masters himself. This was never resolved during the series. Mr Magnum got the free run of the guest house and was provided with a Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole (three of them actually) over the eight seasons and 162 successful episodes that ran between 1980 and 1988.

Answer: The Sopranos

The Sopranos (1999-2007) was one of the most acclaimed TV shows of all time when it concluded its seventh and final season..

Ercole DiMeo, referred to (reverentially by his Mafia family) as "Old Man" and "Eckley", was the founder and the Boss of the DiMeo crime family. He was never seen (in the TV show) as he was in prison but it was revealed he needed constant nursing care. Jackie Aprile, Junior Soprano and subsequently Tony Soprano were only ever the Acting Bosses of the family.

Ercole DiMeo was based on the actual boss of the North Jersey DeCavalcante crime family, whose name was Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi. The DiMeo Mafia family were also based on the New Jersey DeCavalcante crime family.