Best ensemble cast?

[Mystery Meat II]

My thinking: If the show's title includes a character or actor's name, it's hard to call it an ensemble cast.

Right off the top of my head: "The Andy Griffith Show" actually had quite an ensemble cast.

The first couple of years, Andy was on-screen a lot, but even in those early seasons there were episodes that centered on Barney, Aunt Bee or Opie.

Then especially in the middle and later seasons, the writers based entire episodes completely around bit-part people like Howard Sprague or Helen (Andy's sweetie).

"Lucy" would have a couple Desi-centric episodes every year, and in some of the later seasons a few selected episodes focused on Fred and/or Ethel, but 90% of the time it was about Lucy.

When judging how much of an 'ensemble cast' a show has, I don't pay much attention to what cast members do afterward.

My standards are:

-- if a show can develop storylines for characters other than the star;
-- if a show can conceivably have episodes in which the star doesn't even appear; and
-- if new characters join the cast who eventually develop storylines of their own (Or minor/bit-part characters rise to full-time status. Probably the biggest example ever of this would be Fonzie.)

Your standards describe a good, versatile cast. But an ensemble cast shouldn't have an obvious star. The actors around him were all aces, but there's a reason it was called "The Andy Griffith Show" and not "Mayberry".

Well, Alda was the obvious star on MASH and Ron Howard on 'Happy Days.'

Aldo and Howard became the obvious stars, but I don't think the show existed to be a vehicle for them. Even toward the end of MASH's run, when it was obvious that Alda's "this damn war" soapboxing drove the show, it still wasn't Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce and the Seven Surgical Dwarfs. Closer, but not quite yet.

 

[Starman]

"Happy Days" was strictly a vehicle for Ron Howard at the outset. Tom Bosley and Marion Ross were semi-recognizable TV character actors, but that was it. Opie had been a featured lead on a top-10 show for nearly a decade.

"MASH" wasnt sold as the "Alan Alda Show," but the focus was on him. He wasn't a big Hollywood A-list actor, but he had topped the bill on "Paper Lion" and "Mephisto Waltz," which had done decent runs in the theaters.

Actually the marketing campaign for "MASH" was kind of weird: obviously it was supposed to be a kind of spinoff of the movie "M*A*S*H," but the movie was a very hard-R when it came out, so there wasn't much overlap with the 'family viewing' audience.

I never saw the movie "M*A*S*H" for some 25 or so years afterward. I always thought Donald Sutherland was Trapper John and Elliot Gould Hawkeye.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

"Happy Days" was strictly a vehicle for Ron Howard at the outset. Tom Bosley and Marion Ross were semi-recognizable TV character actors, but that was it. Opie had been a featured lead on a top-10 show for nearly a decade.

In that case, I would submit that it was a star vehicle that evolved into an ensemble cast when others caught up. The other Seinfeld characters caught up to a lesser degree, but it was still Jerry's show to the end.

 

[Buck]

No way.
'Seinfeld' evolved into an ensemble show. The Jerry storylines we often the B or C plots in an episode.

 

[inkstainedwretch2]

Homicide: Life on the Street

 

[Mystery Meat II]

No way.
'Seinfeld' evolved into an ensemble show. The Jerry storylines we often the B or C plots in an episode.

But Jerry was still the selling point, still the anchor. It wasn't Kramer's standup in the intro (oh if it were, thought). You'd be hard-pressed to merely call him first among equals.

 

[Batman]

The Simpsons

The two most amazing things about The Simpsons, to me, are that they've kept the same cast together for 25 years, and that none of them have really done much in the way of side projects. I think Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria (and, of course, Phil Hartman early on) are the only regulars who have done anything in Hollywood outside of The Simpsons. I don't even think a lot of them have done voiceover work, or at least not enough to be noticed.

 

[BDC99]

The Simpsons

The two most amazing things about The Simpsons, to me, are that they've kept the same cast together for 25 years, and that none of them have really done much in the way of side projects.

You know they're not real, right?

 

[Batman]

It's weird that, arguably, the Seinfeld cast member with the most success post-Seinfeld has been Puddy. That guy is everywhere these days.

 

[Batman]

The Simpsons

The two most amazing things about The Simpsons, to me, are that they've kept the same cast together for 25 years, and that none of them have really done much in the way of side projects.

You know they're not real, right?

They're voiced by robots?

Of course, after I posted that I went and looked at their IMDB pages and see that Dan Castellaneta and Nancy Cartwright have both had solid careers as working actors for the last 25 years.
So kids, the lesson as always, is look before you post.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

It's weird that, arguably, the Seinfeld cast member with the most success post-Seinfeld has been Puddy. That guy is everywhere these days.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is too busy counting all her post-Seinfeld Emmys to even respond to this.

 

[outofplace]

The Simpsons

The two most amazing things about The Simpsons, to me, are that they've kept the same cast together for 25 years, and that none of them have really done much in the way of side projects.

You know they're not real, right?

They're voiced by robots?

Of course, after I posted that I went and looked at their IMDB pages and see that Dan Castellaneta and Nancy Cartwright have both had solid careers as working actors for the last 25 years.
So kids, the lesson as always, is look before you post.

I was about to say that they had both done a good bit of work, though it's easy to miss when so much of it is voice only.

 

[dreunc1542]

It's weird that, arguably, the Seinfeld cast member with the most success post-Seinfeld has been Puddy. That guy is everywhere these days.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is too busy counting all her post-Seinfeld Emmys to even respond to this.

And if we're including Puddy, then I assume we're including Whatley as well so Bryan Cranston would like a word with Batman after Louis-Dreyfus is done.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Of all of the suggestions so far, none of them beats Taxi. What a cast.

 

[Batman]

It's weird that, arguably, the Seinfeld cast member with the most success post-Seinfeld has been Puddy. That guy is everywhere these days.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is too busy counting all her post-Seinfeld Emmys to even respond to this.

And if we're including Puddy, then I assume we're including Whatley as well so Bryan Cranston would like a word with Batman after Louis-Dreyfus is done.

I was talking about the regulars. Cranston was only in one or two episodes, right?
Also didn't realize Louis-Dreyfus had done that well. Maybe I need to go lay down for a while.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Puddy was in 10 episodes. Whatley was in five. Outside of the main four who were credited for all 172 episodes: Newman was in 45, Susan 28, George's mom 27, George's dad 26, Jerry's mom 21, Jerry's dad 20 and J. Peterman 20.

 

[Double J]

The Simpsons

The two most amazing things about The Simpsons, to me, are that they've kept the same cast together for 25 years, and that none of them have really done much in the way of side projects.

You know they're not real, right?

They're voiced by robots?

Of course, after I posted that I went and looked at their IMDB pages and see that Dan Castellaneta and Nancy Cartwright have both had solid careers as working actors for the last 25 years.
So kids, the lesson as always, is look before you post.

Julie Kavner has been pretty busy dating back to the '70s, when she won an Emmy for playing Rhoda's sister.

 

[Buck]

No way.
'Seinfeld' evolved into an ensemble show. The Jerry storylines we often the B or C plots in an episode.

But Jerry was still the selling point, still the anchor. It wasn't Kramer's standup in the intro (oh if it were, thought). You'd be hard-pressed to merely call him first among equals.

I still disagree.
The original premise of the show is reflected in its construction. It's conceived as a star vehicle and the stand-up segments reflect that.
But the segments decreased over time. In seasons 8 and 9, they were gone entirely.

I don't think it's accurate to count the show title, payment or other extraneous factors when judging whether a show featured an 'ensemble cast.'
The proof show be in the show, in the writing and the performances. Are the characters/actors given equal time and importance?

Jerry is the titular character, but by season 2, the first full season, George drives the A plot in almost half the episodes.
'The Dog,' the fourth episode in season 3, even has a B plot that pokes fun at the notion that Jerry has to be the focus of everything.

In fact, I'd say 'Seinfeld' became an ensemble show faster than 'Cheers' did.

 

[Songbird]

The Simpsons

The two most amazing things about The Simpsons, to me, are that they've kept the same cast together for 25 years, and that none of them have really done much in the way of side projects. I think Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria (and, of course, Phil Hartman early on) are the only regulars who have done anything in Hollywood outside of The Simpsons. I don't even think a lot of them have done voiceover work, or at least not enough to be noticed.

I didn't mean the actors who do the voices -- but the characters. There HAVE been many, many episodes in which side players are the main players for an episode. Marge's sisters. Skinner. Moe. Millhouse and/or Ralph. Etc etc.

 

[Boom_70]

Looked quickly but did not see in the previous eight pages so I am
nominating Evening Shade. Not as high profile as some other shows
but a pretty good cast in
Burt Reynolds
Michael Jeter
Marilu Henner
Charles Durning
Ossie Davis
Hal Holbrook
Elizabeth Ashley