Comments | namarie24: We Are Family: Best TV Ensembles

namarie24

We Are Family: Best TV Ensembles

May 28, 2012 21:11

Many of my favorite TV shows happen to have a strong ensemble cast of characters. (Not all of them; The X-Files for example is really all about Mulder and Scully, no matter how much I love Skinner, the Lone Gunmen, and others.) This aspect of these shows often makes me love them more, since I love stories about family, and about diverse groups of ( Read more... )

too many tags, the west wing, ncis, tv, joss whedon, bones, firefly, babylon 5, buffy, fringe, aaron sorkin, favorites, sports night, star trek

Comments 12

a_is4addiction May 28 2012, 15:36:13 UTC

Next Generation! \0/ I still love this show so much. And you're right, Frakes and Spiner were definitely crazy in the best way possible!

namarie24 May 29 2012, 03:26:50 UTC

I still love this show so much.
Me, too! No other show will replace it for me, in all likelihood. And yeah, those two. So crazy and awesome. :)

rainbowwizard1 May 28 2012, 18:47:23 UTC

ALL OF THIS. SO MUCH. =D

namarie24 May 29 2012, 03:27:46 UTC

:D

(Yay, Delenn icon!)

sk56 May 28 2012, 21:16:56 UTC

I think I must be older than you, because this topic automatically makes me think of ER (first several seasons), Hill Street Blues, and Thirtysomething (which may not count, since it was about families).

But yes, most of my favorite shows have a strong ensemble cast. They give us a chance to watch multiple relationships, and to find parts of ourselves in several different characters.

namarie24 May 29 2012, 03:29:13 UTC

Yeah, I must admit I'm not very familiar with any of those shows, though I've heard good things. I should probably watch some ER at some point, huh?

They give us a chance to watch multiple relationships, and to find parts of ourselves in several different characters.
Absolutely.

sk56 May 29 2012, 04:43:00 UTC

Actually, if you're going to the trouble of searching for older stuff, I'd leave ER till later and look at Hill Street. It had a nice dark vibe that fit into the period well. I don't think it will seem so innovative now -- series television has absorbed many of the things that it broke ground for, and in some cases has taken it further, but, thinking about your original idea (invented families) it was a very tight ensemble show.

namarie24 May 29 2012, 13:19:54 UTC

All right, I'll keep it in mind!

belsum May 29 2012, 20:44:32 UTC

Yes to Firefly and Buffy and TNG and B5. Of course. Obviously. I'd add DS9 to that but I haven't seen the other shows you have on there besides Sports Night. And I wouldn't have thought of that one since it was so short-lived. *sniff*

Current show that definitely counts? Nikita. I'm dead serious. I don't know if you saw the last series incarnation. It was one of my earliest TV obsessions. So I was skeptical about this new one. I mean, it's on the CW. Come on. That can't be any good. But it's AMAZING. It's one of those shows that keeps topping itself. Your mind will be blown and then the next week they'll do it again. And the family that Nikita has made for herself now at the end of the second season is beautiful. So much has happened in only two seasons and thank goodness for renewal. The first season is on Hulu and Netflix Instant. I'm just sayin'. And the cast adores one another and tweets hilariously back and forth all the time ( ... )

namarie24 May 30 2012, 04:37:20 UTC

I've never seen either version of Nikita, but if you say it's worth a watch, I'll keep it in mind as well. But as for Hulu and Netflix, alas, I can't do either here in Vientiane. ;)

Ooh, Leverage! I need to see more of that show. I've seen the pilot and an assortment of random other episodes, and loved them.

I thought about putting other Trek shows on the list, but TNG sort of eclipses all others in how much I love it.

You haven't seen Bones? Or NCIS? I can't unreservedly recommend all seasons of them, but the first several of each are excellent. (And once again I must wholeheartedly recommend Fringe. I think it'd be right up your alley.)

belsum May 31 2012, 15:46:29 UTC

Bones is one of those shows that I’ve seen bits and pieces of episodes, but completely out of order so I can never tell what the relationships between everyone are. But it’s something that I think I would like so I’m sure I’ll get around to it eventually. My dad is a big fan of NCIS and NCIS: LA and keeps telling me to watch those shows. I did see the H5O crossover with the LA version and it was very fun, but there were far too many characters that I didn’t know that I had to try to keep track of. Fringe I will get to. I promise ( ... )

namarie24 June 1 2012, 07:15:21 UTC

It’s got a great central ship that is allowed to be together and have real, adult struggles that cause believable tension, instead of being kept apart for stupidly pointless plot purposes.
Wait. This exists on TV? *tries to wrap mind around this* But seriously, that is very appealing, as is the rest of the description. :) Maybe the DVD store here has it...

Never got into NCIS: LA (there's only so many spinoffs I can be interested in) but I've heard it's got a pretty great cast as well.