Vote for 2016’s Best New Ensemble Cast
It’s time for the Yahooies, Yahoo TV’s second annual reader-voted awards honoring the best — and sometimes worst — of 2016. Each day through Dec. 16, we will announce the nominees for one category, with an accompanying poll. The winners will be crowned on Monday, Dec. 19.
The nominees for 2016’s Best New Ensemble Cast are…
The Crown
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but luckily the luminescent Claire Foy is more than capable of holding her head high. She leads an impressive roster of British thespians who have the difficult task of portraying real people, some still living — with honesty and without outright mimicry. Matt Smith (Prince Philip) and Vanessa Kirby (Princess Margaret) are among the standouts, but it’s American John Lithgow who really astounds as Winston Churchill. —Kelly Woo
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Ryan Murphy’s FX true-crime anthology featured a supersized ensemble cast, with Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J. Simpson and Sarah Paulson channeling Marcia Clark — and her mid-’90s perm. The show was big enough to convince John Travolta to take on his first regular TV gig since he left Welcome Back, Kotter in 1979. David Schwimmer as a Kardashian? Only here. And if that’s not enough, Sterling K. Brown’s breakout year was capped off when he won an Emmy for his role as prosecutor Christopher Darden. —Victoria Leigh Miller
Stranger Things
Winona Ryder was the big name attached to Netflix’s supernatural drama, and as great as she is as harried single mom Joyce, she’s not the only star anymore. David Harbour proved his leading-man abilities, but the real finds were the child actors — particularly Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike, and Gaten Matarazzo as toothless, fearless Dustin. And, of course, who could forget Shannon Purser’s Barb or Joe Keery’s epically coiffed Steve? —KW
This Is Us
Every week, the Pearsons make us laugh. And cry. And remember that one time at the public pool or that night spent in the hospital or that really terrible Thanksgiving that ultimately became one of your most treasured memories. Thanks to the deft handling of extremely well-written dialogue and complicated, constantly evolving (and therefore realistic) family dynamics, this superior group of actors makes you realize you’re not alone in this mess called life. Whether you relate most to parents in over their heads but trying their damnedest, the self-worth issues that can be caused by being overweight, the competition of brothers, the stranglehold of addiction, the need to know who you are and where you come from, the thrill of new love or the comfort of an old one, or the never-ending gut punch of losing someone important, these actors make you realize just how inclusive the “us” of the title really is. — Carrie Bell
Westworld
Disneyland might be home to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, but Westworld is the only place where you can see A-list actors like Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, and Thandie Newton strolling around. While assembling an ensemble of this caliber may have cost HBO a pretty penny, the actors quickly established themselves as the main attraction in this next-gen theme park, taking the audience along for a compelling and complicated (sometimes too complicated) ride through the show’s intricate maze. —Ethan Alter
Vote now.
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Vote for 2016’s Most Shocking Moment
Vote for 2016’s Most Painful Death
Vote for 2016’s Most Infuriating Plot Twist
