What are your favorite ensemble casts in sitcom?

My favs:
I Love Lucy- Tbh the best. The original "fab four." I always felt Desi was underrated as a comedian.

The Phil Silvers Show- Another classic ensemble. Great chemistry.

Gilligans Island- All these characters played each other well. Made it believable

Dick Van Duke Show- Sublime

Soap- c'mon Katherine Belmont, Robert Guilluame, Richard Milligan, Billy Crystal...what more can you ask?

Frasier- Another dope cast. Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce are probably the most believable brothers in sitcoms

Taxi- The show spoils us with its outstanding quality and multi talented cast

And finally....


All In The Family-friendly Next to Lucy, this cast are always in rare form.

What are your favorites?

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - They hit it right on the nail, especially when Danny DeVito joined the cast as Frank.

The Beverly Hillbillies. Also, Barney Miller, which did an unusually good job of replacing people as the show went on.



Barney Miller was probably one of the first sitcoms were they excelled on a multi-racial cast members.

Murphy Brown (the original) had an excellent ensemble cast (at least until Lily Tomlin). WKRP in Cincinnati also had an excellent ensemble cast.

1) The Mary Tyler Moore Show
2) Friends
3) Cheers

Also worth mentioning: Parks and Recreation, Taxi, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Bob Newhart Show, I Love Lucy

Off the top of my head:

Cheers
Gilligan's Island
Seinfeld
Dick Van Dyke
Mary Tyler Moore
Green Acres
Newhart

Some great shows already mentioned but there's some not yet named.
MASH
NewsRadio
Titus

No love for Maude?

Designing Women
The Golden Girls
Mama's Family
Family Matters
Newhart
All in the Family
The Andy Griffith Show
I Love Lucy
Green Acres
The Beverly Hillbillies

Nobody has mentioned The Bob Newhart Show. The main core cast stayed together for the entire six year run.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Also, Barney Miller, which did an unusually good job of replacing people as the show went on.

THAT and Night Court although I'm curious as to what would've happened if they continued to keep Karen Austin on the show.

Andy Griffith, MASH and Bewitched all had the best ensembles for their first five years....afterwards, not so much.

Everybody Loves Raymond had one of the best all-around supporting casts ever.

Maude had a great leading character and awful supporting payers.

My top choice is the cast of NewsRadio. I also love the cast of the very short-lived (but hilarious) Andy Richter Controls the Universe.

A few others I would include the casts of are...

Taxi
Cheers
I Love Lucy
Wings
Community
Parks & Recreation
The Office
The Honeymooners

Andy Griffith, MASH and Bewitched all had the best ensembles for their first five years....afterwards, not so much.

Everybody Loves Raymond had one of the best all-around supporting casts ever.

Maude had a great leading character and awful supporting payers.


I always felt Bill Macy held his own

I agree, shame they never won Emmys. Bob and Suxannes chemistry was off the charts

The Bob Newhart Show
Newhart
Taxi
Happy Days
ALF
The Love Boat
Three’s Company
The Jeffersons
WKRP in Cincinnati
Cheers
Benson
The Partridge Family
All in the Family
Eight is Enough

Mary Tyler Moore, simply because virtually all the supporting cast (Ed Asner, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Ted Knight, Gavin McLeod, Betty White) were able to and did carry their own series as lead actors.

The Golden Girls, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Seinfeld & Saved by the Bell(original) also have the best ensemble cast on TV

MASH.

Ed.

Friends
Cheers
The Golden Girls
How to Marry a Millionaire
The Facts of Life (first season only)

I can't think of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as an ensemble cast; while the show was excellent, it seems clear to me that there was one central character, with a supporting cast. Same with Newhart.

A series with a lead actor can have an ensemble cast.

“The show shines with crackling writing and the gold standard of ensembles brings to life the archetypes for countless subsequent workplace comedies: Mary Richards ...” - NY Times

“Members of the extraordinary ensemble cast moved on to three spin-off series: `Lou Grant,' `Phyllis' and ` Rhoda.'.” - TV Guide

“Moore was the anchor of a peerless ensemble who brought to life characters so indelible that three of them, Ed Asner's Lou Grant, Valerie Harper's Rhoda, and Cloris Leachman's Phyllis, would each get their own series” - Amazon

I could go on and on.

And honestly, I don’t see how anyone could say with a straight face that the first season girls from “The Facts of Life” are one of the best ensembles in TV history.:lol:

A series with a lead actor can have an ensemble cast.

Do you believe The Mary Tyler Moore Show gave equal importance to all the first-billed characters? MTM had a central character, with characters revolving around her workplace and home. Friends is a true ensemble, with every episode having a focus on a different character.


And honestly, I don’t see how anyone could say with a straight face that the first season girls from “The Facts of Life” are one of the best ensembles in TV history.:lol:

I very much liked the first season characters, and felt as though they had a stronger storyline before the Cast Purge. And the first season made more sense to me, as it was set at a girls' school, and actually had a large cast of girls, instead of later episodes where there often seemed to be only four girls who did everything at that school. The show hadn't devolved into ripping off Little Darlings, yet, and could stand on its own. I'd much rather watch an original show with a talented cast, each of whom had their own episode, than sitcom plots stolen from a recent movie.

THAT and Night Court although I'm curious as to what would've happened if they continued to keep Karen Austin on the show.

Night Court had at least two female DAs on it before settling on Markie Post. Two of the old lady bailiffs died before settling on the last one.

Barney Miller seemed to have auditions for someone to replace Yemana (Jack Soo). There was Roz, whom I wished they kept around as a recurring character, then there was the big haired, 70's blonde guy. Then there was the big dude who looked like a cop and then there was Linda Lavin.

Frasier, Friends, and recently I'd add also Mom

Barney Miller
The Bob Newhart Show