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What is the best sitcom ensemble cast of all time?

by YPB Team

Chemistry is the hardest thing to cast and the easiest thing to notice. Twenty groups where the whole beat every part.

  1. Friends — ranked #11
    Friends
    Six leads on equal billing and equal pay, a structure almost no other sitcom has matched.
  2. Seinfeld — ranked #22
    Seinfeld
    Four principals with no warmth between them, which is exactly what made the ensemble work.
  3. The Office — ranked #33
    The Office
    A documentary-crew conceit that let a dozen background staff become full characters.
  4. Parks and Recreation — ranked #44
    Parks and Recreation
    A small-town parks department where every supporting player eventually carried episodes.
  5. Cheers — ranked #55
    Cheers
    A bar cast that survived losing its female lead and kept its chemistry intact.
  6. Arrested Development — ranked #66
    Arrested Development
    A family of nine self-absorbed Bluths, each with their own running joke.
  7. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia — ranked #77
    It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
    Five irredeemable friends running a Philadelphia bar into the ground for two decades.
  8. Community — ranked #88
    Community
    A study group of seven who each represent a different comedy register.
  9. Brooklyn Nine-Nine — ranked #99
    Brooklyn Nine-Nine
    A police precinct where the deadpan captain and the loudest detective are equally central.
  10. 30 Rock — ranked #1010
    30 Rock
    A sketch-show writers' room stacked with characters built for one-line detonations.
  11. The Golden Girls — ranked #1111
    The Golden Girls
    Four distinct comic archetypes given equal weight across seven seasons.
  12. M*A*S*H — ranked #1212
    M*A*S*H
    An army surgical unit whose cast turned over repeatedly without losing the ensemble.
  13. Taxi — ranked #1313
    Taxi
    A cab garage that assembled Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Andy Kaufman and Judd Hirsch at once.
  14. Schitt's Creek — ranked #1414
    Schitt's Creek
    A bankrupt family of four whose performances changed register completely across six seasons.
  15. Modern Family — ranked #1515
    Modern Family
    Three connected households, eleven series regulars, and a shelf of ensemble Emmy nominations.
  16. New Girl — ranked #1616
    New Girl
    A loft of roommates whose group scenes outgrew the show's original premise.
  17. Scrubs — ranked #1717
    Scrubs
    A teaching hospital where the supporting doctors and janitor got as much room as the lead.
  18. How I Met Your Mother — ranked #1818
    How I Met Your Mother
    Five friends in a New York bar, built deliberately in the Friends mould.
  19. WKRP in Cincinnati — ranked #1919
    WKRP in Cincinnati
    A failing radio station staffed by nine characters who all became cult favourites.

#Actors267#TV Shows311#Comedy140#Sitcoms7

Comments

Casting is the part nobody can fix in the edit: six leads on identical billing for ten years, against four written never to like each other: https://youpick.best/articles/friends-vs-seinfeld-ranked

YP
ypb-team·Aug 21·
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