What shows attracted a lot of famous guest stars?

This is the ultimate answer. Look at the episode “Krusty Gets Kancelled”. It was the final of its fourth season, and they managed to pull into just one episode Hugh Hefner, Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor, Luke Perry AND the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I don’t think any show has ever had the clout to be able to pull that level of star power into one episode, let alone do so when only 4 seasons deep.

They managed to get 3 different Beatles for 3 seperate episodes

https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/List_of_guest_stars

They managed to get Thomas Pynchon for an episode, which is insane.

Declan MacManus, international art thief

"If you had two heads, you'd only want one!"

The sheer number of Oscar winners who guest starred in 30 Rock is staggering for a show that spent so much of its run on NBC’s chopping block.

That episode was the most likable Adam Levine has been by orders of magnitude.

Had to scroll way too fast down for 30rock. They've had so many people on

30 Rock was such a hit with critics out of the gate that you could tell that big names were lining up to guest star in season 2. Getting Jerry Seinfeld at the time was pretty huge; he hadn’t really done anything since Seinfeld ended its run (though he did have Bee Movie to promote)

Okay, here's the genius of The Love Boat that few realize: The show has three storylines. Each has a different style. They rarely interact. The Love Boat is basically an anthology show, with three stories being told at the same time. This means that each story is about 15 minutes long, unlike a 22-minute sitcom or a 45-minute hourly drama. Shorter stories means faster and easier writing, because each scene is just a few minutes before the show moves to another scene. Now, for the real genius: Aside from the season openers shot on some exotic location, everything is shot in a studio, or the ship when it's available in Los Angeles. Because of this, and the structure of each episode, shows can be shot whenever guest stars are available. You simply pull a story from the filling cabinet, do a quick table read, and shoot the story. Once it is in the can, the editor works their magic, and the show airs. For an actor, the production is painless. The stories are innocuous. Older celebrities could make some easy money and maintain their SAG union health benefits.

I was going to say either Love Boat or Fantasy Island

I've always been surprised that The Love Boat never got rebooted in the last few years. It seems like such an easy nostalgia grab and there's so many mid-tier celebrities nowadays that would do it.

>minor and major celebrities It was mostly minor though, right? I was pretty young, but I seem to remember a lot of washed-up TV actors and Charo all the time.

In the same vein, Sesame Street

I mean it's cheating a bit, but it's a perfectly good response. Variety shows needed guest stars :)

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Kind of the point as that show. That’s like saying SNL attracts a lot of famous guests.

This hadn’t crossed my mind

D*** wolf, the patron saint of new york actors.

for the same effect, watch the mid-1980's run of The Twilight Zone. First episode: Bruce Willis. Many people from Star Trek TNG showed up in other episodes.

Especially at their peak, they would sometimes have some pretty big names in cameo roles just as red herrings. Like Janeane Garofalo as a secretary to one of the suspects, or Kevin Smith as the guy who worked on the loading dock with the suspect.

It's a mixture. Robin Williams, Joan Cusak, and Bob Saget off the top of my head.

When you watch older episodes, you can usually guess who did it by who is currently the most well known actor. Lol.

Damn those call-in voices were incredible lineup - Macaulay Culkin, Elijah Wood, even directors like Ron Howard calling in. The writers must have had some serious connections in Hollywood to get all these A-listers doing random 30 second phone bits.

Angela Lansbury was the true OG

So win-win

FYI, once you’re in SAG-AFTRA you can still be a member for life even if you don’t land any more acting work. The only requirement is paying dues. The reason actors sometimes take strange jobs is to make sure they qualify for insurance, which is tied to an income threshold over a 12-month period (though some can retain insurance with enough days worked on set.)

This was the first one I thought of. The list of celebrity guest stars must have been in the hundreds.

Wouldnt be surprised if it has the most cameos ever for a live action show

My favorite was always Brad Pitt as Patch Boomhauer!

Yeah this is a great pick. Everyone from Jennifer Anniston to Marian Ross was on it.

Snoop Dogg and Johnny Depp too. They were hilarious.

You left out one Rad Thibodeaux-x-x (Matthew McConaughey)

I hate to bring it up, but the pig man episode with Michael Keaton. Horrifying.

Jack Black, Ryan Reynolds, Luke Wilson, Burt Reynolds, Felicity Huffman, Peter Boyle (won an Emmy), Bryan Cranston...just to name a few. It was an early roll for many of them.

Seth Green in the 2nd episode.

> The White Lotus. I mena, it's not really a guest star if it's just an anthology series casting new characters every season.

There was a joke (but also probably a bit true) on the current series of Survivor that people wanted to ally with Mike White so they could get a White Lotus cameo.

Just started my first ever streaming rewatch of Friends and what surprises me is how early they all show up. Like by the end the show was obviously a phenomenon, but relatively early in the first season you have George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Jon Lovitz, Helen Hunt etc

I appreciate how Friends, Mad About You and Seinfeld were same universe 

Marty Scorcese has comedy chops.

Not to mention the menagerie of celebs and character actors who featured as guest villains.

This is WAY too far down on the list (but I'm biased - I love this show). Once the show got rolling there were tons of fun little cameos and reoccurring guest spots.

And George Clooney’s Aunt Rosemary

Child please

Martian Short just works. I hope it was deliberate.

You know that's right

The Margot Martindale stuff just doesn't get old for me

I'm surprised there aren't more mentions of this show. The core cast is already pretty stacked, but it's always a pleasant surprise when they get a big name for a one-off role for a single episode.