The best ensemble television shows of all time have pulled off the rare feat of combining excellent storytelling between a variety of central characters. Some of the best ensemble casts can have a significant number of actors that can total in the double digits, relying on sharp scriptwriting mixed with outstanding chemistry that fuses to bring the show to life. While ensemble casts in film are also impressive, finding a winning formula of characters that can extend multiple seasons is one of the most difficult challenges in television.
Most outstanding ensemble casts are the credit of the incredible behind-the-scenes talents that work to match great actors with ideal counterparts. Casting directors, directors, producers, and sometimes writers are tasked with creating the perfect mix, which is always a roll of the dice even with an extensive audition process. The following fifteen television shows are the best examples of ensemble casts of all time in television.
15 Parks And Recreation (2009 - 2015)
The hit comedy series Parks and Recreation features a uniquely robust cast that is defined by their comedic expertise. The main characters include some of the biggest names in Hollywood such as Amy Poehler, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Rashida Jones, and Chris Pratt. Plaza, Pratt, Scott, Jones, and Offerman have continued successful careers as both comedic and dramatic actors after all getting a major career boost from their appearances on Parks and Recreation.
14 Stranger Things (2016 - 2024)
The mostly young cast of Stranger Things was constructed of unknown actors at the time before each blew up into the realm of super-stardom after the show's massive success on Netflix. The show does an excellent job of balancing the shared and individual storylines of the main characters played by Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, and Millie Bobby Brown along with two key adult characters played by David Harbour and Winona Ryder.
13 Friends (1994 - 2004)
Friends is one of the greatest American sitcoms of all time purely due to the on-screen relationships and chemistry formed through its iconic ensemble cast. The show ran for 234 episodes entirely with its six central characters played by Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. The rare dynamic between these characters made it possible for the show to continue for ten successful seasons.
12 It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (2005 - Present)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is one of the longest-running shows on television due to the hilarious combination of its five main characters. The celebrated comedy series has a total of 170 episodes over its 16 seasons with two more seasons already confirmed to air in the near future. The hilarious ensemble cast includes Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson, Glenn Howerton, and Danny DeVito.
11 Orange Is The New Black (2013 - 2019)
Orange Is The New Black was one of the best ensemble casts of the 2010s, winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for three straight years in a row. The award-winning cast includes Taylor Schilling, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Dascha Polanco, Selenis Leyva, Taryn Manning, Natasha Lyonne, and many more.
10 Friday Night Lights (2006 - 2011)
The cast of the television version of Friday Night Lights is stacked with big actors such as Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons, and Zach Gilford. Kitsch and Plemons were largely unknown when they appeared on the show and grew to become two highly successful and prominent actors in both film and television.
9 Community (2009 - 2015)
Community is another comedy show with a cast that seems too good to be true due to its amazing chemistry and on-screen synchronization. The ensemble features Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong, Donald Glover, and Chevy Chase. Each of these actors had or went on to have exceptional acting careers, particularly Glover who starred and created Atlanta, one of the most original series of the 21st century.
8 Seinfeld (1989 - 1998)
Seinfeld's ensemble is about as iconic as it gets when it comes to classic sitcoms. The show starred Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards over nine successful seasons. The dynamic between the characters represents each of their highly original personalities that equally gelled and contrasted in innovative yet familiar ways, setting a new golden standard for TV comedies.
7 Succession (2018 - 2023)
Succession is one of the greatest drama series in recent memory, with an ensemble featuring a wide cast of characters that primarily stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen, and Nicholas Braun. The fantastic show relies on its characters for improvisational moments that make up much of the characteristic charm and gripping energy of the acclaimed series.
6 Modern Family (2009 - 2020)
Modern Family is another perfectly cast ensemble comedy that was so good it defined an entire decade of network television, setting a new gold standard for all comedy series. Several of its ensemble remarkably appeared in all 250 of the show's episodes, including Ed O'Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Eric Stonestreet.