10 Best TV Ensemble Casts: Your Picks!

We asked, you answered: Here are PopWatchers' most beloved companies of actors, from 'Battlestar Galactica' to 'Arrested Development'

MAD MEN. Every person on that show is a model for acting perfection. The tone they set, plus all those silent shots at the end of an episode...only truly engaging and subtle actors could make those montages work. Elisabeth Moss can say more in one glance than some actresses do in a whole season of television. God, I love that show!

Hands down, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. Every guest appearance, every regular cast member made that show spectacular.

The cast of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is the most impressive cast hands down, with Katee Sackhoff being mind-blowingly brilliant. She commands presence on screen like nobody else; it's hard to believe that she's never had formal training. She is absolutely captivating on screen.

SPORTS NIGHT is/was/will always be the best show ever. 'The Apology' was a pristine episode, full of emotion and morality, 'Shoe Money Tonight' for laughs and bravado...ah, don't get me started!

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS! I love other ensembles, but as soon as FNL entered my mind, all the others left. Everyone is great, not just the main cast (who really are the best in all of TV), but even those playing secondary characters — Buddy, Grandma Saracen, Billy, Tyra's family — every single performer becomes their character without any seams showing. I love them all! I want to see more of all of them, but especially Kyle Chandler.

She hasn't been gone that long: The cast of VERONICA MARS deserves some Firefly-style love.

I'm going to go old school with HILL STREET BLUES: Daniel J. Travanti, Veronica Hamel, Betty Thomas, Michael Warren, Charles Haid, James B. Sikking, Robert Prosky, Rene Enriquez, Bruce Weitz, Keil Martin Tarean Blaque, Joe Spano, Michael Conrad, Ed Marinaro, Barbara Bosson, John Cypher, Robert Prosky and some later season additions of Jeffery Tambor, Dennis Franz, and Ken Olin. On top of that, the show changed police drama on TV forever. For-ev-a.

While I am a huge BSG fan I have to go with THE WEST WING on this. Even during the later years, when Mary McCormack, Alan Alda, and Jimmy Smits joined the cast, it was just superb.

While it wasn't the first show to pop into my head, THE SHIELD made me a fan of so many actors that I can't ignore it. I will try any show and watch any movie for Chiklis, Goggins, Karnes, and Pounder.

How about LOST? Its cast is made up of veteran actors and rookie actors alike. They are all talented. They can all have a long career in Hollywood. Sure, several actors (and their characters) stand out, such as Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn, Henry Ian Cusick, Elizabeth Mitchell, Josh Holloway, Yunjin Kim, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, and Naveen Andrews. But overall, the diversity and the collective and individual talent of the Lost cast makes it a great ensemble.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Posted by: Ms_Hodge_Podge on 8/07/2009 at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink