Shows with a small cast? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Rookielove · 08-20-2013, 12:52 AM

What shows had a small cast (say around 8 characters or less on a regular basis) throughout it's run?

My list:

Gidget
The Golden Girls
The Odd couple
Bachelor Father
My Favorite Martian
I Love Lucy
The Monkees
Kate and Allie
Angie

Any other shows?

biffbronson · 08-20-2013, 01:49 AM

The Courtship of Eddie's Father

EmoJoe · 08-20-2013, 02:05 AM

New Girl only has 5.

Zoneboy · 08-20-2013, 02:32 AM

The Fugitive
Run for Your Life
The Six Million Dollar Man
Route 66
Movin' On

bmasters9 · 08-20-2013, 04:13 AM

Hardcastle and McCormick (just Judge Milton C. Hardcastle [Keith] and ex-con McCormick [Hugh-Kelly])

tvfan25 · 08-20-2013, 07:52 AM

Dragnet
Laverne & Shirley
Brotherly Love
Gilligan's Island
Living Single
Perfect Strangers

MacLeaper · 08-20-2013, 05:23 PM

MacGyver (two main characters- MacGyver and Pete Thornton. And Dana Elcar wasn't even credited as part of the regular cast until the second season onward to the end.)

MacLeaper · 08-20-2013, 05:29 PM

Quantum Leap- Dr. Sam Beckett and Rear Admiral Al Calavicci are the two main characters- there are a few other recurring characters who show up in a few episodes (and are mentioned in a lot more)- but those are the only two credited.

Early Edition- Gary Hobson, Chuck Fishman and Marissa Clark are the three main characters (and the only actors and actresses credited) in the first two seasons. By Seasons 3 and 4, a few other characters are added- Henry Paget [the actor, Myles Jeffrey, is actually credited], Erica Paget [the actress, Kristy Swanson, is not- as far as I recall.] and Patrick Quinn.
And of course, The Cat is always a main character in every episode.

tbb033 · 08-20-2013, 05:30 PM

8 is actually a fairly big cast to be considered small. I'd say 5 or less would be what I'd call small.

Anyway, Leave It To Beaver.

Furienna · 08-20-2013, 05:49 PM

"Family ties" only had five regulars until Andy was introduced. "Clarissa explains it all" and "Murphy Brown" never had more than five regulars.

Retro4Life · 08-20-2013, 06:08 PM

The Incredible Hulk had only three regular stars for its entire run

Rookielove · 08-20-2013, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbb033

8 is actually a fairly big cast to be considered small. I'd say 5 or less would be what I'd call small.

Anyway, Leave It To Beaver.

Yeah. That's true, tbb033. Around 5 (or less) cast members would be more accurate.

bookandfilmnut · 08-21-2013, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbb033

8 is actually a fairly big cast to be considered small. I'd say 5 or less would be what I'd call small.

Anyway, Leave It To Beaver.

True. I'd guess that about 90% of all sitcoms, and at least half of all other types of shows had casts of 8 or less. MASH had a cast of 8 regularly appearing stars (by which I mean actors who appeared in almost every episode of a given season, and were named in the credits). This went down to 7 after Gary Burgoff left, but they always had another 3 or 4 frequently recurring characters (Rizzo, Nurse Kelly, Zale, Igor).

F Troop had 9 regular characters.

But I really can't think of very many other sitcoms with more than 8 full time cast members. 6 or 7 seems to be the norm.

I think the shows with the smallest regular cast (not counting anthology shows with NO recurring characters or cast members) would be a handful of shows with only 1 regular character. I can't think of any sitcoms with only 1 cast member, but there are a few dramas I can think of with only one regular cast member.

Cannon was a solo act. It is the only private eye show I can think of in which he did not have a regularly appearing policeman friend, or a regularly appearing informant, girlfriend, secretary, etc.

And Columbo never had any recurring characters other than the detective himself that I remember.

The British tv show Secret Agent (also called Danger Man) only had the one regular character.

Wanted: Dead or Alive only had Steve McQueen in its regular cast.

There are several shows I can think of with 2 regular characters - Route 66, I Spy, The Avengers (early seasons), The Wild Wild West, It takes a Thief - but again, none were comedies.

Torgo · 08-21-2013, 06:24 PM

Red Dwarf - early seasons it was 3 to 4, after that it was around 4 to 5. Except season 8 which had the most characters during it's run since the crew of Red Dwarf was resurrected.

Season(Series) 10 had it back down to 4.

Zoneboy · 08-21-2013, 06:36 PM

The Good Guys (1968)
The Immortal
Branded
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Have Gun-Will Travel

08-20-2013, 12:52 AM	#1
Rookielove Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Nov 14, 2011 Location: America Posts: 235	Shows with a small cast? What shows had a small cast (say around 8 characters or less on a regular basis) throughout it's run? My list: Gidget The Golden Girls The Odd couple Bachelor Father My Favorite Martian I Love Lucy The Monkees Kate and Allie Angie Any other shows?
	Last edited by Rookielove; 08-20-2013 at 02:43 AM.

08-20-2013, 01:49 AM	#2
biffbronson Sentimental Fool Forum Star Join Date: Aug 22, 2009 Location: Near Notre Dame Posts: 10,512	The Courtship of Eddie's Father
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08-20-2013, 02:05 AM	#3
EmoJoe Cool cool cool Forum Addict Join Date: Apr 23, 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 71,478	New Girl only has 5.
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08-20-2013, 02:32 AM	#4
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08-20-2013, 04:13 AM	#5
bmasters9 Member Senior Member Join Date: Jan 06, 2007 Posts: 2,550	Hardcastle and McCormick (just Judge Milton C. Hardcastle [Keith] and ex-con McCormick [Hugh-Kelly])
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08-20-2013, 07:52 AM	#6
tvfan25 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Sep 10, 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 634	Dragnet Laverne & Shirley Brotherly Love Gilligan's Island Living Single Perfect Strangers

08-20-2013, 05:23 PM	#7
MacLeaper Child of the 80s Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 20, 2001 Posts: 3,359	MacGyver (two main characters- MacGyver and Pete Thornton. And Dana Elcar wasn't even credited as part of the regular cast until the second season onward to the end.)
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08-20-2013, 05:29 PM	#8
MacLeaper Child of the 80s Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 20, 2001 Posts: 3,359	Quantum Leap- Dr. Sam Beckett and Rear Admiral Al Calavicci are the two main characters- there are a few other recurring characters who show up in a few episodes (and are mentioned in a lot more)- but those are the only two credited. Early Edition- Gary Hobson, Chuck Fishman and Marissa Clark are the three main characters (and the only actors and actresses credited) in the first two seasons. By Seasons 3 and 4, a few other characters are added- Henry Paget [the actor, Myles Jeffrey, is actually credited], Erica Paget [the actress, Kristy Swanson, is not- as far as I recall.] and Patrick Quinn. And of course, The Cat is always a main character in every episode.

08-20-2013, 05:30 PM	#9
tbb033 Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Aug 20, 2013 Posts: 14	8 is actually a fairly big cast to be considered small. I'd say 5 or less would be what I'd call small. Anyway, Leave It To Beaver.

08-20-2013, 05:49 PM	#10
Furienna Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Oct 22, 2006 Location: Örnsköldsvik, Sweden Posts: 6,280	"Family ties" only had five regulars until Andy was introduced. "Clarissa explains it all" and "Murphy Brown" never had more than five regulars.

08-20-2013, 06:08 PM	#11
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08-21-2013, 06:24 PM	#14
Torgo Omaha & Fritz Forum Star Join Date: Mar 06, 2004 Location: Oregon Posts: 19,037	Red Dwarf - early seasons it was 3 to 4, after that it was around 4 to 5. Except season 8 which had the most characters during it's run since the crew of Red Dwarf was resurrected. Season(Series) 10 had it back down to 4.
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08-21-2013, 06:36 PM	#15
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