A lot of tv shows still use the single or duo "lead star/s" format but I'm always deeply impressed whenever a tv show is able to get together a large ensemble cast where every actor/actress is compelling and well written.

The top 5 for me are,

Battlestar Galactica
Babylon 5
Game of Thrones
Rome
Firefly


And please only list tv shows, NOT miniseries. I don't need to see a ton of posts with "Band of Brothers" mentioned.

There are a lot, actually.

All the Stargates.
All the Star Treks (more or less).
Actually a lot of SF shows, come to think of it... Almost every series on SFC for the past several years has been. Not all have the best casts, of course.



The Jedi Master

Deadwood

Star Wars Holiday Special.

Everyone there was a little special that day.

Yes, as in "short yellow school bus" special.

Cheers

Seinfeld

Hill Street Blues
Seinfeld
Taxi
MASH - first 3 seasons
Carol Burnett Show
Cheers
30 Rock
Community

Band of Brothers. Mini-series, but still. What a friggin cast that thing had.
One of those shows where just being in it makes you "good people" in my book when I see the actors in something else later on. Like SPR (I know, it's a movie).

St. Elsewhere
WKRP


You sure we can't include movies? The Right Stuff begs mention.

MASH. Especially Harry Morgan as Potter.

The Wire

A cast of unknowns and local theatre actors, scattered with a handful of more seasoned actors. It was a great mix.

Firefly.

Every character on the ship was their own distinct person with their strengths and weaknesses, flaws and charm. And they all worked together really well- you could tell that the actors themselves actually enjoyed what they were doing. No lines ever struck me as being phoned in... of course, it did have a very short run.

Big Bang Theory

The Sopranos

There were a lot of supporting actors that were great in that series.

Breaking Bad.

Great series.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

...and if you say anything bad about Emma Caulfield ever I will never tire of hunting you down.

1. Firefly
2. Person of Interest

Special Mention: Orphan Black

RedToo.

Sex and the city. AAAAHH
No really Frazier had a great cast.

No vote for Game of Thrones?

Community
Game of Thrones
Archer (one of these few shows that makes me laugh everytime)
Orange is there new black

So much for network TV nowdays..

I guess you missed my original post?

GoT certainly has a good cast, but no characters get a lot of screen time due to there being so many characters and such a short season.
I can't think of many that aren't replaceable. Most were never heard of before the show, or were fairly obscure.

An excellent cast indeed and I'm looking forward to seeing the new episodes online.

The West Wing
Seinfeld
the NCIS and CSI franchises
Criminal Minds
The Office
Downton Abbey

The X-Files. The thing with the X-Files is that a number of writers took turns writing the scripts so the quality of episodes changed each week, but the actors were extremely capable of good performances if the scripts were well written.

Breaking Bad was also fantastic - even if some of the characters were a little bit "scripted" or too predictable. Skyler was so convincing as a b1tch that she was getting hate mail and death threats - people can't separate the actress from the character. Very good acting in that series.

IMHO, the "X-Files" did not have an ensemble cast. Duchovny and Anderson were clearly the leads of the show. Everyone else was a supporting character. Of course that dynamic changed for the final 2 seasons when Doggett and Reyes came and Mulder left.

Silicon Valley, a very good show and a great ensemble from the main cast and down

MASH

All in the Family

Leave it to Beaver

Seinfeld

Arrested Development

Nice one

Upstairs/Downstairs
Downton Abbey
All Creatures Great & Small

How about Cheers?

Silicon Valley is a great show. I cant believe it isn't more popular.

It's a niche subject matter. A lot of great shows have had only niche audiences.

Baywatch!


Seriously, most of those already mentioned by Panzer. I'd add House of Cards and X-Files (until season 8).

Gonna have to big up Dad's Army:

For me it's DS9, TNG and TOS (in that order) that really shone. Both Voyager and Enterprise were a lot weaker in the overall casting choices, IMO. Not the actors themselves (= acting ability), but rather the characters they were portraying.

That guy drilling out the old man's hard drive had me rolling. LOL
Best scene in the entire series IMO.

That is Martin Starr, he is the absolute best in whatever show he is on
Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Starr

He was so good as Bill Haverchuck on Freaks and Geeks








and also as Roman DeBeers on Party Down








and Party Down also has a nice ensemble cast