Ensemble Casts – Dramas

By: Greg Rector

Ensemble TV shows have always held my attention more than TV shows focused on one main character. The main character shows are still entertaining don’t get me wrong, but the shows with multiple character arcs and storylines have always been the programs I tend to remain a viewer of for a longer period of time. Of course, ensemble casts are abundant in both comedy and dramatic series. For this article, I am going to focus more on dramas. I recently did an article about Aaron Sorkin and two of his ensemble cast programs The West Wing and The Newsroom, so I am not going to include them in this list. Here are 5 other shows that stand out for me.

Hill Street Blues

The style of the tried and true police drama was shaken to its core in 1981 when NBC debuted Hill Street Blues. From the writing to the use of hand-held cameras, Hill Street was truly grittier than any other cop show that had been on TV before. The intertwined relationships between the characters were sometimes dealt with in a single episode or over multiple weeks. From the very beginning when Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad) would end the shift’s roll call with a reminder to “Hey let’s be careful out there,” the officers and detectives in the Hill Street precinct day-to-day struggles in dealing with inner city crime, the victims, and each other were simply riveting. This show was so different and in the midst of the chaos there were tremendously funny moments, tragic moments, and of course romantic moments as well. This show was so good it would win the Emmy Award for the best dramatic program for 4 straight years. When Michael Conrad passed away during the show’s run, you felt like you had lost your favorite uncle. The flaws we all have were laid bare on Hill Street Blues. That’s why I remember this show so fondly. Also one of the best theme songs for a program ever.

St. Elsewhere

What producer Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues) did with the police drama, was as happens in Hollywood imitated within the confines of another common TV drama, the hospital. Of course, the obligatory relationship between doctors and nurses or just the doctors, the patients be they an emergency case or someone requiring surgery, the fictional St.Eligius hospital a run-down facility that was a “teaching” hospital gave us the look into the lives of residents and those tasked with making them into doctors. You could identify with the characters and the circumstances they faced weekly. When the show was its most powerful though we witnessed the heartthrob Doctor Bobby Campbell (Mark Harmon) being diagnosed with AIDS when the White House wasn’t even dealing with the epidemic, and at a time when so many thought it was still a “gay man’s disease.”  Or when another male doctor Dr. Jack Morrison (David Morse) became a male rape victim. This is when a TV drama can get and keep the attention of viewers.

Game of Thrones

As I have said before this is not my cup of tea as far as a TV show goes. I never have watched it, but as someone who follows the trends and I don’t live under a rock the 2010s top ensemble drama by far has been Game of Thrones. From the fans of the show I know and the critics, obviously, there are millions of viewers who absolutely loved this series. The fantasy world of dragons and the never-ending battle for power definitely things we as viewers love to see. Drama always works best when the characters are well-evolved and you see the entire range of emotions be it love and hate, good and evil, or tragedy versus comedy, something Game of Thrones had in abundance. As I said the “fantasy world” setting just doesn’t do anything for me, but it’s easy to recognize that Game of Thrones was from 2011-2019 the boss of the moss so to speak for television dramas.

The Wire

Where Hill Street Blues were groundbreaking in the 80s “The Wire” took police work, the inner city, and all aspects of the “drug scene” and blew the doors off of the formula in the early 2000s. On “The Wire” we saw the perspectives of criminals, the government, schools, the media, and the general public. All are woven into a captivating experience, unlike most police dramas that tend to focus on the law enforcement side only. You could sympathize with a drug dealer and question the tactics of the police, the lengths they would go to in order to get a dealer and it matters because we all know of those cases where law enforcement has gone over the line, and on “The Wire” we saw all of it. Seeing all sides of the complex issue represented made watching “The Wire” such a unique experience for 6 years.

Mad Men

One of my most hated phrases has always been “The Good Old Days” in Mad Men the myth of the early and middle 60s being the “Good Old Days” was masterfully exposed. The Me Too movement would have seen the men at the fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper fired, and in many cases arrested for their workplace behavior. The “Good Old Days” were the emergence of strong women like Peggy and Joan and the ongoing battles they would have with the most sexist misogynistic bunch of “alpha males” one could ever find in a workplace outside of the military, it was so well written and brilliantly acted. You cheered for those moments of victory by Peggy and Joan, you sympathized with the other women who didn’t fare as well. More importantly, you loved seeing the downfall of the phony (Don Draper), and flawed men of Sterling Cooper.

Of course, there are many other ensembles casts that I could mention and The Sopranos is the one not here most will also say belongs. I kept it to just 5 shows though. Tony and his pals certainly are worthy of an honorable mention. What are your favorite ensemble dramas?