Why 'Frasier' Never Cast Maris

[TMC]

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/why-frasier...215332981.html

As Frasier fans know, the role of Maris was never cast. That wasn’t what co-creators David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee originally intended. “When David, Peter, and I were writing the pilot, we thought, ‘Let’s pull a fast one on the audience and make them think that we’re going to do a thing like Norm’s wife, Vera, in Cheers, where he talk about her but you never see her. Let’s do that for a few episodes, and then surprise — we’re actually going to see her, so we weren’t ripping off that Cheers thing after all,’” Lee tells Yahoo TV.

In the series premiere, the Crane Brothers discuss whether Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) likes his sister-in-law. “I like her from a distance, you know, the way you like the sun,” Frasier tells Niles. “Maris is like the sun. Except without the warmth.”

Hyde Pierce allowed himself to imagine who could Maris: “I had done a show with Valerie Mahaffey [the short-lived NBC comedy The Powers That Be], and she is a wonderful, beautiful, terrific actress who in many ways, physically, might have been right,” he says. Co-star Jane Leeves, meanwhile, always pictured the British actress Eleanor Bron (Women in Love) in her mind. “There was something so wrong about her,” she says. “But hilarious.”

So why didn’t producers follow through? “Two or three episodes in, she was already so bizarre, she was uncastable,” Lee says. “So we just went, ‘Well, we’re never going to see her.’ Although we did see the shadow of her behind a shower curtain once.”

[Edward216]

Exactly. They realized the way they ended up describing her was so ridiculous that it would be impossible to find an actress who actually looked like that.

Ed.

[Schmoopie]

I'm glad they didn't because seeing her would not only be scary but would have killed the mystery of Maris Crane. I've written her in a few of my fanfics and even I can't picture her when I'm writing!

[king of comedy]

It was better off that way

[cleverfun3000]

This entire thing says absolutely nothing positive in any way about Niles taste in women.

[opus]

Originally Posted by cleverfun3000

This entire thing says absolutely nothing positive in any way about Niles taste in women.

So I take it you were anti-Daphne?

[Schmoopie]

Originally Posted by opus

So I take it you were anti-Daphne?

As much as I love Niles and Daphne, I've been toying with the idea of writing a huge breakup story focusing on them. I just want the challenge of doing it although I know it will be hard since they're my favorite couple. I have a ton of notes, but I haven't started it for that very reason. It's hard to figure out what could possibly break them up for good! It's only a challenge mind you, but it will still be fun to try. Not everyone loves or even likes them together so I'm thinking that maybe I'll get some new readers out of it. But it's more for the challenge to see how it turns out.

[Wawwie]

Originally Posted by opus

So I take it you were anti-Daphne?

Personally, I thought that the way Niles just dumped his new wife the moment he found out that Daphne had feelings for him was very tacky. I also thought that Niles and Daphne coming together was very anti-climatic. At that point, it felt like their moment had passed a long time ago.

[Chocolate Moose]

right. I agree. I also thought daphne didn't fit in and that his 2nd wife was perfect.

[Wawwie]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Moose

right. I agree. I also thought daphne didn't fit in and that his 2nd wife was perfect.

Mel? Mel and Miles were actually perfect for each other.

[Chocolate Moose]

Mel, right. I thought she was great.

[LeeBlue]

If the producers were always going to put Niles and Daphne together, they shouldn't have brought in Mel or Donnie. All those episodes weren't necessary when Niles and Daphne were just going to end running off. That season was kinda off.

[Chocolate Moose]

You see when a show goes too long, that the ending gets wacky.

I liked Donny. I though he was great for Daphne.

[MathUser]

Yeah, I heard about this long ago. Maris became uncastable. This was a great show.

[Dr. Thong]

They built her up so much that any casting choice would have met with disappointment from the audience.

Sometimes, it's better that a character like this goes unseen...leaving us, the audience, to conjure up in our minds what Maris might look or be like.