Poll to follow...apologies if I forget one that should be at the top...

Arrested Development fail ;)

I know there'll probably be a lot of "what about X? stuff here, but there is at least one that comes to mind for me that it's hard not to mention: Newhart (the second version at the Inn)

That had some strong work from quite a few people, with him stepping back at times to let them get the laughs. That's kind of the definition of an "ensemble" cast to me. Maybe not the best ever, but a worthy contender IMO.

Arrested Development fail ;)

I tried that show three times and thought it was one of the dumbest things ever every time which is why I never thought of it. I probably should have put it on.

I went with MASH. Simply because, when one quit, they brought in another actor that was on par with the one that quit.

Newsradio.
The Office (US)
All in the Family

They aren't the best individual performers, but as a group it's Seinfeld by a wide margin.

Cheers, easily.

Look at each of the other shows on there and pick out the strength of that show. The items on that list would all apply to Cheers.

http://tv.mmgn.com/Lib/Images/Articles/Normal/Who-Remembers-NewsRadio-1065010.jpg

NewsRadio
Arrested Development
Party Down
Community
Always Sunny

They aren't the best individual performers, but as a group it's Seinfeld by a wide margin.

I think I agree with that. The characters really needed each other to work so well. Plop George in Everybody Loves Raymond or Friends or something and I think the character just doesn't work. But playing against Jerry as the straight man, it was just home run after home run. We saw George's issues through Jerry, and that really made them funny.

No Sportsnight?

Heresy: I never got the appeal of Seinfeld.

Voted Seinfeld but Newsradio is #1 in my heart.

Arrested Development fail ;)

I genuinely came in here ready to pick that one. Surprised to not see it on the list.

The Simpsons. ; )

(Actually, there can be an argument made, since all of them do multiple voices.)

How are you basing it? The star power of the group? How well the group worked together? The body of work of each actor/actress?

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5041/5254620041_5d626540cb.jpg

Night Court. Because every night some character actor came in and played a fantastic role to complement the regulars. But too many of the folks on here are too young to have watched it...

Went with Cheers, but could make a really strong case for Seinfeld, Mash or All In the Family.

Newsradio was the best ensemble by far. The rest were probably better shows but I enjoyed every cast member on Newsradio except Catherine.

Joe, Dave, Lisa, Beth, Matthew, Jimmy James, and of course Bill McNeil. The only time in my life where I not only tolerated Andy Dick but throughly enjoyed his antics.

This really needs to be a Mount Rushmore. Its just too hard to choose, although I went with Seinfeld in the poll. My first instinct, however, was Cheers. Now that I see Newsradio and BBT, I think those deserve strong consideration too. Plus, there's always MASH, where they worked so well together that they could swap out pieces and not miss a beat.

The only problem with Newradio (and I still think it is the best) is that you take out Bill McNeil and the show sucked. So I guess technically he was the key to that show but I don't think I have ever laughed consistantly at every character like I did ....

Seinfeld: Didn't care much for Eliane or Newman
Arrrested Development: Didn't like the mom and Lindsay
Cheers: Hated Frasier

This really needs to be a Mount Rushmore.

Yes it does.

Cheers, no doubt in my mind. Loved the show from the first time I saw it.

Shows not on the list, or already mentioned here, I would consider for my Mt. Rushmore..

The Dick VanDyke Show
Andy Griffith (the Barney years)

If you want to go really old school the original "Honeymooners".

I don't consider M*A*S*H to be a true comedy (more of a drama with lots of comic elements), so I chose Seinfeld. Arrested Development would have been a great choice as well.

I would have liked to see Barney Miller on here but my number one was Soap which was all about it's strong character actors with no real lead characters.

Even though the casts were outstanding in both, I'm not sure that I would group Seinfeld or Mary Tyler Moore Show in with the others. In both cases, the namesakes brought the star power and the show essentially revolved around them. I don't think you can take Jerry Seinfeld or Mary Tyler Moore away from those shows and have them plug in another piece and continue the show for long.

I would probably put Friends and Cheers as my choices and probably choose Friends at #1 because the starpower, storylines/plots, etc. began and stayed relatively even throughout. Cheers sort of had a bit more of an unbalanced cast with Ted Danson and Shelly Long/Kirstie Alley always out front, but it is close. I think Modern Family and Newsradio are also in this group.

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Dola...

Golden Girls is another good choice.

Leave it to Beaver.

Another great group.

Newsradio hands down.

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The lack of love for Who's The Boss physically hurts me.

It's TONY DANZA!

Speaking of Seinfeld, RIP Uncle Leo:

Seinfeld's 'Uncle Leo' dead at 88 - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/02/16/len.lesser.obit/index.html?hpt=T2)

Mine would be:

Seinfeld
Cheers - its amazing how well this has held up
Night Court
Soap

Of that group, I went with Night Court. But NewsRadio was the one that jumped to mind when I saw the thread title.

But NewsRadio was the one that jumped to mind when I saw the thread title.
Ditto Here.


But, How do you leave off a huge show like The Office from your list? I don't think there is any current TV show out there, that has as many movie credits as The Office cast.

I would go with:
Friends
Cheers
All In the Family
Golden Girls
West Wing

Grrrrrr.. just realized that I left Seinfeld off my list. No way that happens, so it has to be in there somewhere. Mash, imo, loses points because of the changes in cast. 3 major flips in the cast has to knock it down the list.

Taxi and Night Court also had excellent ensemble casts. This one might be a little outside the box, but how about Star Trek TNG? None of the cast really were stars outside of TNG, but as a group they had a pretty good run. The original ER cast was pretty damn good as well.

Wasn't this, or something similar, done as a draft a few years back-- lead actor, lead actress, supporting actor/actress etc?

Dola

I was close...sorta

http://www.osatwork.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=70161&highlight=Draft

1) Seinfeld

2) Cheers

3) Mash

Dark Horse Pick) Herman's Head

West Wing



My sides always were hurting after watching the West Wing.

Those crazy politicians...

That 70's Show was pretty good cast wise, but probably not quite on the level of these. I therefore went with Seinfeld.

Way too early, but the Parks and Recreation cast is awesome.

Speaking of too early, but amazing, "Community" is great with their ensemble.

I voted for Seinfeld. Arrested Development is a close #2.

Way too early, but the Parks and Recreation cast is awesome.

Yeah people either love or hate that show but I agree the cast is fantastic. Too much Tom or Ron can get annoying but in small doses they are really funny. And Andy is probably my favorite sitcom character right now.

Dark Horse Pick) Herman's Head

I loved that show!

I'd go with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Everyone on that show could lead one (and almost all of them did) individually. All in the Family also stands out from that era.

It's hard to make a call on modern sitcoms because they've been in steady decline for the last 15 years. More specialized, lower budgets. The mass-market ones are more formula. I think the only one that stands out for its acting is The Big Bang Theory.

In between. I'd probably go with Cheers and Designing Women. I'd mention Roseanne if she herself were a decent actress.

Just because...

Roseanne Barr will farm macadamia nuts in Hawaii on a new reality show + reality blurred (http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/lifetime/2011_Feb_14_roseanne_barr_nuts)

"Frasier" had an excellent cast - Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney and Dan Butler as Bulldog.

Frasier is a good one. One of the few great spin offs in the last 20 years.

Frasier, King of the Hill, and 3rd Rock from the Sun would have been in my top 5, so I voted trout.

Having just watched the first 4 seasons of News Radio twice through thanks to this effing death flu that has left me in a haze, I have a few observations.

The show suffered when it didn't use Dave Foley as an anchor or when it tried to elevate Maura Tierney above a supporting character.

And this in no way a slight to Phil Hartman, who was awesome, but the separation between he, Rogan and Dick wasn't all that great. All three of them were stellar. It's sort of weird to watch it now and realize that those 4 (5) years are pretty much all we got out of all three of them.

As far as the best ensemble goes. I think when breaking down Cheers vs Seinfeld you have to look at from two different directions. Seinfeld probably worked best at having the entire cast interact together just because it was such a tight four, but Cheers could take any one of about 8 cast members and focus an entire show around it and not skip a beat. Just depends on how you wanna judge it.