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A long-running character from Frasier was almost very different, thanks to the creators' hopes of toying with Cheers' fans. The highly successful spin-off show, Frasier, followed the exploits of the titular psychiatrist following his departure from Cheers. Dr. Frasier Crane was played by Kelsey Grammer, who also voices Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons. Frasier's fellow psychiatrist and younger brother, Dr. Niles Crane, is introduced alongside his unseen wife, Marris. This was seemingly a reference to a Cheers character, Vera, the wife of bar-fly Norm. Neither Marris nor Vera are properly depicted on the screen, but this wasn't originally the intention.
Having two unseen characters straddled across two sitcoms seemed like one of the few connections between Cheers and Frasier, beyond the annual co-star guest appearances. This joke, however, was not originally intended to last as long in Frasier as it did in Cheers. Talking to Yahoo TV, co-creator David Lee said they wanted to "pull a fast one on the audience and make them think that we’re going to do a thing like Norm’s wife, [...] Let’s do that for a few episodes, and then surprise — we’re actually going to see her.” This, however, did not occur. The brief joke had already been elaborated upon and become so popular so quickly, that the option to depict Marris was soon lost. If this original plan had been enacted, the sitcom might have lost one of its greatest and most enduring jokes. As David Hyde Pierce, who portrayed Niles Crane, observes in Behind the Couch: The Making of Frasier, the sitcom increasingly described Marris in more and more inhuman ways, making depicting her an impossibility.
Why Maris & Vera Were Different (Even Without Introducing Either)
Vera and Marris, though both unseen, are quite dissimilar. Vera is often spoken of with warmth and affection. While Frasier once remarked that Marris is like the sun, only "without the warmth." Unlike Marris, Vera's voice does appear in Cheers (performed by Norm actor George Wendt's real-life wife Bernadette Birkett). While Vera's lack of appearance throughout Cheers was itself the running joke, the joke in Frasier soon became the impossibility of the unseen character. David Lee elaborates, “Two or three episodes in, she was already so bizarre, she was uncastable.” The most striking difference between Cheers and Frasier, and the two characters, is that Vera not appearing was a choice, whereas Marris not appearing quickly become a necessity.
Why Frasier Eventually Introduced Maris (Without Ruining The Joke)
Marris' first "appearance" was as a shadow in Frasier season 5, episode 6, "Voyage of the Damned." Marris was finally depicted in the intended final season, season 10, episode 8, "Rooms With A View." While Niles is in the hospital for heart surgery, he has a flashback of visiting Marris following plastic surgery. She is, however, covered completely in bandages. The scene echoes Cheers season 5, episode 9, "Thanksgiving Orphans," in which Vera is finally depicted, but her face is covered by a thrown pie. The decision to finally show Marris was a fitting facet of a final season, even more so considering Marris was undergoing extensive facial surgery, meaning she may have been unrecognizable anyway - she was still "uncastable."
The prospect of a Frasier reboot has stoked recent interest in both the classic sitcoms. Despite their creators' intention of using Marris to fool the audience early on, Marris and Vera's fates eventually became the same - shown but never fully revealed. Both Frasier and Cheers have endured in public opinion, largely due to the attention and care given by the creators. This can even be observed in these two unseen characters, who always felt present without ever being so.