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Day 19, best TV show cast, was always between a handful of choices. When I think of a great cast, I generally think that it has to be great from the main character down to the most inconsequential of characters. Or there are ensemble casts, where every character was cast just perfect for the role. And then, of course, the characters have to be good/engaging/entertaining, even if you just hate them so much you love them. It has to be a cast where you just can't possibly see any other people in those roles and doing it any better than the ones that were chosen.
So, of course, my mind went to two immediately. The first, of course, is LOST. It was a show that relied so heavily on its ensemble cast, and you came to know them so well, even down to those characters that may have been in one episode. Those characters still made an impact... sometimes literally (Arzt, anyone?). But I'm not choosing LOST. Why? Because everyone and their mother (Hi, Mrs. Thuro!) choose LOST for this. The second show that came to mind was Heroes. Despite it being the cool thing to hate Heroes after season 1, I stuck with it and actually enjoyed it (for the most part). Sure, it went off the rails, and there were a ton of missed potential moments. But we're talking about casting, not the show. Can you picture anyone else than Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura? Or Milo Ventimiglia as Peter? The casting for the show was perfect; the problem came from the writing. So why not go with Heroes? Because, well, I did say one of the requirements was characters had to be "good/engaging/entertaining," and some of them just got awfully boring or annoying after a while.
So where am I going with all of this? What cast am I choosing? The one that includes Xander, Willow, Giles, Tara, Anya, Angel, Spike, Faith, Dawn, and (yes) Buffy... and eventually another that I won't mention for Rachel's sake (it's a season 6/7 thing). But he's hilarious. Oh, and formerly Oz and Cordelia. If that wasn't enough, of course I'm talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Forget LOST and Heroes, these characters are iconic and part cult history. They all have different personalities. They're all likeable in different ways (again, even if it's in a "love to hate" kinda way). What other cast could pull off vampires, werewolves, hunters, demons, 'key of light' thingy, witches, nerds, and lesbians (and sometimes nerdy lesbian witches) so well? Not really much more to say... so I'll leave it at that.
