The Greatest and Most Iconic TV Cast Ensembles of All Time

When you think about your favorite TV shows, in particular sitcoms, you do not think about the setting or the subject matter, you think of the cast. In order to captivate viewers and keep them coming back week by week, or in the case of Friends streaming off of Netflix each night before bed, a show needs to have a great ensemble cast. Think of your favorite sitcom or any great TV show, the cast is what gives it that extra ‘oomph’ that makes it great.
Casting is what makes or breaks a show. If one castmate doesn’t mesh well with the others that translates to the small screen and viewers quickly pick up on the lack of cohesion amongst the ensemble. Each member needs to put in 100 percent and do their best to work together. Your favorite show definitely had a cast that worked well to make the storyline and in the case of sitcoms, punch lines, funnier than ever. The cast needs to have a natural banter in order to achieve this. So, now let’s have a look at some of the TV shows featuring some of the best casts in the last five decades.

I Love Lucy

Let’s start off in the 1950s with I Love Lucy. It aired for seven years, from 1951 to 1957 and was considered a critical success. It followed the comedic pursuits of Lucy Ricardo, who shook up her homemaker lifestyle by constantly getting up to no good.

Her husband was a Cuban band leader on the show and her other castmates were quirky neighbors who often joined her in her comedic skits. Together they had a riot of a time.

Boy Meets World

Boy Meets World was one of the darlings of the 1990s. This was not a family drama but instead focused on the problems facing teens both in their personal lives and in high school. The teenage years are by no means easy, and the cast played their roles very convincingly.

The audience also liked that they were growing up alongside the cast. The main character, Cory Matthews showed what it was truly like to be a teen and just how hard growing up can be.

Gilligan’s Island

We have now reached the age of color television in the 1960s and Gilligan’s Island made full use of the vibrant colors the 60s were famous for. Instead of a family centered drama, it featured a cast that had been shipwrecked and had to figure out how to work together to stay alive.

Each castaway was unique, and the show was full of puns that audiences simply adored. Reruns can still be seen when you tune in to classic TV channels on the weekend and the jokes are just as funny, albeit a bit corny, today. You always know it’s Gilligan’s Island by Gilligan’s signature hat.

The Golden Girls

We have now reached the 1980s, and they would not be complete without a mention of the critically acclaimed show The Golden Girls.The show featured four women no longer in the bloom of youth and on their way to being elderly and the shenanigans you can still get up to no matter what age you are.

The show ran for seven seasons and each one was full of lively banter between the four ladies about slightly risque topics.