What shows can you think of that had ENORMOUS casts?

The first one that comes to my mind is M*A*S*H ... in the 11 years it was on, so many main characters came (B.J., Col. Potter, Charles) and went (Spearchucker, Trapper John, Col. Blake, Maj. Burns, Radar) that it was unbelievable.

What other shows had huge casts, either due to constantly added new characters, or just a large regular cast in general?

Most of your soaps would qualify (Dallas, Dynasty, the daytime ones, etc)

First Monday has 13 people (9 Justices, 4 clerks) in the opening credits. Plus there other characters on almost every week.

I would have to say Ally McBeal had the most people rotate through the cast ...

Ally McBeal, Richard Fish, Elaine Vassal, Vonda Shepard, John Cage, Renee Raddick (1997-2001), Georgia Thomas (1997-2000), Billy Thomas (1997-2000), Whipper Cone (1997-2000)

Nelle Porter (1998-), Ling Woo (1998-2001, 2002)

Mark Albert (2000-2001), Larry Paul (2000-2001)

Corretta Lipp (2001-), Raymond Milbury (2001-), Glenn Foy (2001-2002), Jenny Shaw (2001-2002), Claire Otoms (2001-2002), Jackson Duper (2001)

Maddie Harrington (2002), Victor Morrison (2002)

Seems like a HUGE cast rotation, no? That doesn't even include Ally's current therapist or Tracy Ullman.

The Simpsons

How so? My understanding is that there aren't a heck of a lot of voice actors that do ALL of the characters in The Simpsons. Obviously each individual cartoon character doesn't count ... they are drawn, and aren't hired/fired/etc.

I was going to say ER but that might fit into the soap category already said.

Oz.

Definitely. They introduce a new character every week. Of course this balances out the character who gets shanked each week.

Hill Street Blues.

Thought of another one-Happy Days.

Well I was talking about a cast of characters, not actors. It wasn't really made clear on the initial question. In terms of casts of characters, the Simpsons must have one of the largest.

Once and Again had a pretty large cast this past season, though they weren't ever all in the same episode. (I count 11 regulars)

DS9 seemed to have a pretty big cast--and a stable of 15-20 recurring semi-regulars...

Cops

Throughout seasons 1-3 there would regularly be around 20 speaking parts per episode. They trimmed it a bit in the later years but not by much.

Definately Babylon 5. They had a cast of regulars and semi-regulars that rivaled any soap.

Sinclair, Sheridan, Lochley, Ivavnova, Corwin, Garibaldi, Allen, Franklin, Hobbes, Winters, G'Kar, Na'Toth, Delenn, Lennier, Mollari, Cotto, Kosh, Ulkesh, Alexander, Jane, Cole, and Keffer were all in the main credits.

Recurring (i.e. nearly as many episodes as the main cast themselves) include ...

Bester, Higgins, Neroon, The Regent, Na'Grath, Hampton-Edgars, Clark, Morden, Lorien, David Sheridan, Hedronn, Adira Tyree, Ta'Lon, Sakai, Deuce, Draal, Zathras, Wellington, Hague, Welch, Refa, Brother Theo, Rathenn, Cartagia, Dukhat, and Number One, among dozens of others.

L.A. Law
IMDB lists 46 regular and semi-regular characters during the show's 8-year run.

NYPD Blue

Actors who left:
David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, Rick Schroeder, Kim Delany, Andrea Thompson, Nicolas Turturro, James McDaniel, Sharon Lawrence, Sherry Stringfield, Gail O'Grady, Amy Brenneman

Actors who were replacements:
Mark Paul Gosselaar, Henry Simmons, Jaqueline Obradors, Esai Morales, Charlotte Ross, Bill Brochtrup

According to IMDB there have been 63 regular and semi-regular cast members and the freaking show is still on.

Oz is at 169 +- a few (I might have miscounted) regulars/semi-regulars.

Can anybody keep track of who's on SNL these days? Jeez, talk about a roll call!

The Sopranos

doonesbury

Not a traditional TV show, but how about WWF RAW and Smackdown? Each have around 30 regular wrestlers.

Freaks & Geeks had about 9 regulars and many many other cast members who were in a large number of episodes. All cast perfectly by the way.