Favorite Casts of TV Shows

[ClassyCo]

The perfect summary and I couldn’t have said it any better. So many of the shows we watched back then come off now as outdated perhaps, yet I never feel that with the GG’s. I laugh watching this show now even more than I did then. The ironic thing is that so many of the jokes on the show are made at the expense of people and entertainers that are no longer even relevant yet it’s the way they were delivered that still makes the jokes humorous. It was the perfect show!

And it still holds up considerably well

There is a reference guide for THE GOLDEN GIRLS, which explains the references the show makes to shows, products, celebrities, etc. that have since lost their relevance.

 

[DallasFanForever]

There is a reference guide for THE GOLDEN GIRLS, which explains the references the show makes to shows, products, celebrities, etc. that have since lost their relevance.

Now that’s a pretty cool little tidbit! It’s funny cause when I watch the episodes now I still remember most of the references even almost 40 years later but there are a few here and there when I have to google to refresh my memory.

They really referenced everything on that show when you think about it. No aspect of 80s pop culture was off limits.

 

[Emelee]

Soap. Friday Night Dinner and Seinfeld come to mind.

 

[ClassyCo]

I must also applaud the GILLIGAN'S ISLAND cast, an ensemble of seven performers blending together quite effortlessly.

Bob Denver makes Gilligan a lovable nitwit, a goofball with a heart of gold. He is adept at physical comedy, incorporating a Lucy-style sense of humor with island locales.

Alan Hale Jr. eases the harshness of the Skipper, and makes you love him. In less capable hands, the character could've been mean, but Hale humanizes him into a gentle giant.

Jim Backus brings such a life to Mr. Howell, the entitled millionaire who weasels his way in and out of jams with the money he managed to bring with him. His ad-libs only add to the characterization.

Natalie Schaefer and her genuine "rich" accent embodies Lovey Howell, giving her layers beyond a mere shallow society wife. In the right circumstance, she can be a mother to the younger castaways.

Tina Louise combines both sex appeal and humor into Ginger, the movie star from Hollywood. While vain and self-centered, she befriends the others on the island.

Russell Johnson is the perfect straight man as the Professor, the brain of the group that has the thankless job of spitting out some of the strongest scientific jargon known to man. His deadpan-like delivery plays in contrast to the silliness spinning around him.

Dawn Wells brings a sugary sweetness to Mary Ann, the sweet-natured farm girl from Kansas. She spoils the castaways with her coconut creme pies and other home spun remedies and traditions.

These seven people worked greatly off one another, elevating a silly, mid-'60s sitcom into a pop culture phenomenon. The show has been analyzed as representing the seven deadly sins with its cast, while the "Ginger or Mary Ann?" debate has grasped generations into discussing who is more appealing --- the glamour queen or the girl-next-door.

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND is a genuinely funny show, but a cast of this caliber only strengthens it. The follow-up TV movies failed to fully carry on the charm, partly because of the actors aging, the changing TV landscape, and the absence of Tina Louise as Ginger. What Judith Baldwin and Constance Forslund (the actresses replacing Louise in the TV movies) lacked was Ginger's sense of humor. They amped up the sexiness while basically eliminating what made her funny.

Anyway, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND boasts a good, well-orchestrated cast. They're perfect. It's probably my favorite sitcom from the '60s.

 

[ClassyCo]

Soap

Fabulous cast.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I must also applaud the GILLIGAN'S ISLAND cast, an ensemble of seven performers blending together quite effortlessly.

Bob Denver makes Gilligan a lovable nitwit, a goofball with a heart of gold. He is adept at physical comedy, incorporating a Lucy-style sense of humor with island locales.

Alan Hale Jr. eases the harshness of the Skipper, and makes you love him. In less capable hands, the character could've been mean, but Hale humanizes him into a gentle giant.

Jim Backus brings such a life to Mr. Howell, the entitled millionaire who weasels his way in and out of jams with the money he managed to bring with him. His ad-libs only add to the characterization.

Natalie Schaefer and her genuine "rich" accent embodies Lovey Howell, giving her layers beyond a mere shallow society wife. In the right circumstance, she can be a mother to the younger castaways.

Tina Louise combines both sex appeal and humor into Ginger, the movie star from Hollywood. While vain and self-centered, she befriends the others on the island.

Russell Johnson is the perfect straight man as the Professor, the brain of the group that has the thankless job of spitting out some of the strongest scientific jargon known to man. His deadpan-like delivery plays in contrast to the silliness spinning around him.

Dawn Wells brings a sugary sweetness to Mary Ann, the sweet-natured farm girl from Kansas. She spoils the castaways with her coconut creme pies and other home spun remedies and traditions.

These seven people worked greatly off one another, elevating a silly, mid-'60s sitcom into a pop culture phenomenon. The show has been analyzed as representing the seven deadly sins with its cast, while the "Ginger or Mary Ann?" debate has grasped generations into discussing who is more appealing --- the glamour queen or the girl-next-door.

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND is a genuinely funny show, but a cast of this caliber only strengthens it. The follow-up TV movies failed to fully carry on the charm, partly because of the actors aging, the changing TV landscape, and the absence of Tina Louise as Ginger. What Judith Baldwin and Constance Forslund (the actresses replacing Louise in the TV movies) lacked was Ginger's sense of humor. They amped up the sexiness while basically eliminating what made her funny.

Anyway, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND boasts a good, well-orchestrated cast. They're perfect. It's probably my favorite sitcom from the '60s.

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I would say GI was one of the more perfectly cast shows. They all knew their distinctive roles and performed them well. It’s hard to take any of them out of those roles and having the show be the same.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I loved these two during their tenure on Doctor Who.

The late Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and Katy Manning as Jo Grant.

 

[bmasters9]

Barney Miller...



The Bob Newhart Show...

 

[Angela Channing]

I've recently been watching Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), known in the USA as My Partner The Ghost. The series only has 3 regular cast members but they are so well suited for their roles, each contributes something very different to the series, they have great chemistry together and are all very engaging in their own right.

 

[bmasters9]

Perry Mason...


Riptide...

 

[colbyco]

DYNASTY (most of the time - for me specially S6 -it was the mega talented & beautiful cast, S8 wasn´t a great year)
Al Corley said "when something was perfect - it was the cast"

early Falcon Crest (until S6)

CAGNEY & LACEY
Golden Girls (great, great, great)
King of Queens
Gilmore Girls (just brilliant)
The Seeker
Remington Steele (with Mildred)
Hart to Hart (they really were this dream couple + their good soul Max and Friedwart the dog)

 

[Jimmy Todd]

I Love Lucy- The gold standard for perfect casting and chemistry
All in the Family
The Jeffersons
Golden Girls
Knot's Landing
Dallas(seasons 1-10)
The X-Files
Seinfeld

 

[bmasters9]

Hart to Hart (they really were this dream couple + their good soul Max and Friedwart the dog)

Is that what the dog was known as in Germany? In America, when the show was on ABC, he was called Freeway.

 

[colbyco]

Is that what the dog was known as in Germany? In America, when the show was on ABC, he was called Freeway.

--- oh that´s his real name
Yes, he was called Friedwart in Germany.

 

[bmasters9]

--- oh that´s his real name
Yes, he was called Friedwart in Germany.

Was entirely unaware of that until you brought it up.

 

[CeeCee72]

1. The original cast of Homicide: Life on the Streets

2. The original cast of Dallas

3. The cast of The Wire

4. The cast of the Shield

5. The cast of the Golden Girls.

6. The original Falcon Crest cast plus Selby and Alicia

7. The original Knots Landing Cast

8. The original cast of Cheers

9. The cast of Seinfeld

10. The original cast of the OG Law & Order

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

McHales Navy included some greats - Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, and Joe Flynn, all top notch.
Also Gavin McLeod!
Carl Ballantine, Bob Hastings, Billy Sands and Gary Vinson all had impressive bodies of work as well.
Edson Stroll appeared in two # Stooges movies