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Inside the Actors Studio poster

Inside the Actors Studio (1994)

Talk-Show

James Lipton sits down with some of the world's most accomplished actors and directors for penetrating, fascinating interviews.

IMDb rating
8.6 (5,623 votes)
Episode average
7.9 -0.7 vs IMDb
Seasons
22
Language
EN
Type
TV series

Shape drift trajectory: its last season breaks the pattern the earlier ones set. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every Shape drift show in the explorer →

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 22 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1994)

8.27 avg 9 episodes 8.5 → 8.5 45 min avg

Ep 1: 8.5 · 25 votesEp 2: 7.9 · 51 votesEp 3: 9.1 · 17 votesEp 4: 8.0 · 16 votesEp 5: 8.1 · 14 votesEp 6: 9.2 · 16 votesEp 7: 7.5 · 20 votesEp 9: 7.6 · 13 votesEp 12: 8.5 · 13 votes
Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Alec Baldwin8.525
2Paul Newman7.951
3Stephen Sondheim9.117
4Sidney Lumet8.016
5Shelley Winters8.114
6Sally Field9.216
7Dennis Hopper7.520
9Arthur Penn7.613
12Sydney Pollack8.513

Season 2 (1995)

8.14 avg 10 episodes 7.8 → 7.1 50 min avg

Ep 1: 7.8 · 10 votesEp 3: 8.2 · 18 votesEp 4: 8.2 · 14 votesEp 5: 8.1 · 14 votesEp 6: 8.2 · 10 votesEp 7: 8.4 · 21 votesEp 8: 9.0 · 15 votesEp 9: 8.1 · 24 votesEp 10: 8.3 · 13 votesEp 12: 7.1 · 20 votes
Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Lee Grant7.810
3Matthew Broderick8.218
4Glenn Close8.214
5Holly Hunter8.114
6Ellen Burstyn8.210
7Jessica Lange8.421
8Carol Burnett9.015
9Christopher Walken8.124
10Gene Wilder8.313
12Martin Landau7.120

Season 3 (1996)

8.07 avg 12 episodes 7.2 → 8.5 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.2 · 9 votesEp 2: 9.0 · 10 votesEp 3: 8.2 · 13 votesEp 4: 6.8 · 9 votesEp 6: 8.0 · 17 votesEp 7: 8.9 · 12 votesEp 8: 6.9 · 11 votesEp 9: 7.9 · 20 votesEp 10: 8.6 · 16 votesEp 11: 8.6 · 11 votesEp 12: 8.3 · 14 votesEp 13: 8.5 · 17 votes
Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Mark Rydell7.29
2Christopher Reeve9.010
3Nathan Lane8.213
4Anjelica Huston6.89
6Matt Dillon8.017
7Tommy Lee Jones8.912
8Mike Nichols6.911
9Julia Roberts7.920
10Meg Ryan8.616
11Anthony Quinn8.611
12Willem Dafoe8.314
13Billy Crystal8.517

Season 4 (1998)

7.88 avg 12 episodes 8.3 → 7.3 45 min avg

Ep 1: 8.3 · 15 votesEp 2: 7.3 · 23 votesEp 3: 8.2 · 10 votesEp 5: 8.9 · 37 votesEp 6: 7.3 · 13 votesEp 7: 8.3 · 27 votesEp 8: 8.3 · 18 votesEp 9: 5.6 · 9 votesEp 10: 8.6 · 21 votesEp 11: 8.2 · 13 votesEp 12: 8.3 · 12 votesEp 13: 7.3 · 20 votes
Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Harvey Keitel8.315
2Shirley MacLaine7.323
3Eli Wallach8.210
5Lauren Bacall8.937
6Martin Short7.313
7Anthony Hopkins: first appearance8.327
8Danny Glover8.318
9Whoopi Goldberg5.69
10Jack Lemmon8.621
11Gary Sinise8.213
12Kathy Bates8.312
13Susan Sarandon7.320

Season 5 (1998)

8.01 avg 14 episodes 8.4 → 8.6 49 min avg

Ep 1: 8.4 · 36 votesEp 3: 8.0 · 12 votesEp 4: 8.3 · 11 votesEp 5: 8.2 · 19 votesEp 6: 8.6 · 22 votesEp 7: 7.0 · 41 votesEp 8: 8.0 · 53 votesEp 9: 8.3 · 44 votesEp 10: 7.1 · 20 votesEp 11: 7.5 · 12 votesEp 12: 8.0 · 9 votesEp 13: 7.9 · 12 votesEp 14: 8.2 · 20 votesEp 15: 8.6 · 17 votes
Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Meryl Streep8.436
3Laurence Fishburne8.012
4Donald Sutherland8.311
5Ron Howard8.219
6Sharon Stone8.622
7Sean Penn7.041
8Robert De Niro8.053
9Steven Spielberg8.344
10Tim Robbins7.120
11Jennifer Jason Leigh7.512
12Kim Basinger8.09
13Ellen Barkin7.912
14Peter Falk8.220
15Jerry Lewis8.617

Season 6 (1999)

8.15 avg 13 episodes 9.2 → 8.7 45 min avg

Ep 1: 9.2 · 17 votesEp 2: 8.0 · 10 votesEp 3: 8.1 · 33 votesEp 4: 8.5 · 45 votesEp 5: 8.7 · 21 votesEp 6: 7.0 · 12 votesEp 7: 8.0 · 16 votesEp 8: 6.9 · 18 votesEp 9: 8.3 · 14 votesEp 10: 8.6 · 54 votesEp 11: 7.6 · 14 votesEp 12: 8.3 · 19 votesEp 13: 8.7 · 37 votes
Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Billy Joel9.217
2Mary Tyler Moore8.010
3Sylvester Stallone8.133
4Tom Hanks8.545
5Michael Caine8.721
6Geena Davis7.012
7James Woods8.016
8Andy Garcia6.918
9Philip Seymour Hoffman8.314
10Kevin Spacey8.654
11Val Kilmer7.614
12Alan Alda8.319
13Harrison Ford8.737

Season 7 (2000)

7.48 avg 18 episodes 7.4 → 5.8 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.4 · 17 votesEp 2: 7.1 · 12 votesEp 3: 7.8 · 19 votesEp 4: 7.5 · 20 votesEp 5: 7.4 · 13 votesEp 6: 7.5 · 22 votesEp 7: 7.2 · 30 votesEp 8: 6.8 · 10 votesEp 9: 7.7 · 25 votesEp 10: 7.8 · 16 votesEp 11: 6.7 · 14 votesEp 12: 8.0 · 15 votesEp 13: 8.1 · 28 votesEp 14: 9.3 · 250 votesEp 15: 6.4 · 11 votesEp 16: 8.2 · 12 votesEp 17: 8.0 · 13 votesEp 18: 5.8 · 15 votes
Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Sigourney Weaver7.417
2Bernadette Peters7.112
3James Caan7.819
4Richard Dreyfuss7.520
5Gabriel Byrne7.413
6Ed Harris and Spike Lee7.522
7Ben Affleck7.230
8Ned Beatty6.810
9Mike Myers - first appearance7.725
10Michael Douglas7.816
11Gwyneth Paltrow6.714
12Helen Hunt8.015
13Francis Ford Coppola8.128
14Robin Williams9.3250
15Melanie Griffith6.411
16Antonio Banderas8.212
17Burt Reynolds8.013
18Roseanne5.815

Season 8 (2001)

7.98 avg 19 episodes 7.7 → 8.7 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.7 · 21 votesEp 2: 8.5 · 30 votesEp 3: 7.7 · 13 votesEp 4: 7.7 · 21 votesEp 5: 8.3 · 29 votesEp 6: 7.8 · 42 votesEp 7: 7.8 · 10 votesEp 8: 7.6 · 10 votesEp 9: 7.3 · 16 votesEp 10: 8.2 · 19 votesEp 11: 7.1 · 17 votesEp 12: 7.5 · 17 votesEp 13: 8.1 · 24 votesEp 14: 9.0 · 34 votesEp 15: 8.5 · 23 votesEp 16: 7.7 · 20 votesEp 17: 9.2 · 66 votesEp 18: 7.3 · 20 votesEp 19: 8.7 · 112 votes
Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Ben Stiller7.721
2Gene Hackman8.530
3Kevin Kline7.713
4Bruce Willis7.721
5Kevin Costner8.329
6Will Smith7.842
7Stockard Channing7.810
8Debra Winger7.610
9Sarah Jessica Parker - first appearance7.316
10Ben Kingsley8.219
11Dennis Quaid7.117
12Ethan Hawke7.517
13Richard Gere8.124
14Hugh Grant9.034
15Samuel L. Jackson8.523
16Benicio Del Toro7.720
17Vanessa Redgrave9.266
18Billy Bob Thornton7.320
19Johnny Depp8.7112

Season 9 (2002)

7.95 avg 17 episodes 8.3 → 7.8 45 min avg

Ep 1: 8.3 · 14 votesEp 2: 7.3 · 11 votesEp 4: 8.5 · 28 votesEp 5: 8.3 · 40 votesEp 6: 8.4 · 44 votesEp 7: 8.2 · 15 votesEp 8: 8.5 · 30 votesEp 9: 8.7 · 97 votesEp 10: 8.0 · 32 votesEp 11: 8.0 · 24 votesEp 12: 7.8 · 14 votesEp 13: 8.1 · 27 votesEp 14: 8.0 · 12 votesEp 15: 7.6 · 12 votesEp 16: 6.2 · 21 votesEp 17: 7.4 · 14 votesEp 18: 7.8 · 22 votes
Season 9 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Sissy Spacek8.314
2Juliette Binoche7.311
4Pierce Brosnan8.528
5Ian McKellen8.340
6Martin Scorsese8.444
7Julianne Moore8.215
8Edward Norton8.530
9The Simpsons8.797
10Nicolas Cage8.032
11Drew Barrymore8.024
12Renée Zellweger7.814
13John Travolta8.127
14Jeremy Irons8.012
15Joanne Woodward7.612
16Martin Sheen6.221
17Jeff Bridges7.414
18John Goodman7.822

Season 10 (2003)

7.81 avg 14 episodes 8.7 → 7.5 50 min avg

Ep 1: 8.7 · 57 votesEp 2: 6.2 · 17 votesEp 3: 8.3 · 30 votesEp 4: 6.8 · 18 votesEp 5: 7.2 · 28 votesEp 6: 8.1 · 47 votesEp 7: 7.2 · 46 votesEp 8: 7.1 · 23 votesEp 9: 8.5 · 18 votesEp 11: 8.4 · 24 votesEp 12: 7.8 · 32 votesEp 13: 9.2 · 52 votesEp 14: 8.3 · 18 votesEp 15: 7.5 · 13 votes
Season 10 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Clint Eastwood8.757
2Cast of "Will and Grace"6.217
3Cate Blanchett8.330
4Jude Law6.818
5Naomi Watts7.228
6Russell Crowe8.147
7Tom Cruise7.246
8Charlize Theron7.123
9Diane Lane8.518
11Hugh Jackman - first appearance8.424
12Kate Winslet7.832
13Barbra Streisand9.252
14Bette Midler8.318
1510th Season Anniversary Special7.513

Season 11 (2004)

7.73 avg 20 episodes 7.3 → 8.9 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.3 · 67 votesEp 2: 8.0 · 33 votesEp 3: 7.5 · 18 votesEp 4: 8.1 · 66 votesEp 5: 6.7 · 25 votesEp 6: 7.6 · 30 votesEp 7: 8.1 · 29 votesEp 8: 7.4 · 26 votesEp 9: 6.0 · 17 votesEp 10: 7.5 · 27 votesEp 11: 6.5 · 15 votesEp 12: 7.7 · 25 votesEp 13: 8.1 · 36 votesEp 15: 8.0 · 25 votesEp 17: 7.6 · 18 votesEp 19: 8.0 · 47 votesEp 20: 8.8 · 20 votesEp 21: 8.2 · 24 votesEp 22: 8.5 · 18 votesEp 24: 8.9 · 38 votes
Season 11 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Jennifer Lopez7.367
2James Gandolfini8.033
3William H. Macy7.518
4George Carlin8.166
5Jennifer Connelly6.725
6Mark Wahlberg7.630
7Natalie Portman8.129
8Jamie Foxx7.426
9Salma Hayek6.017
10Morgan Freeman7.527
11Cameron Diaz6.515
12Kiefer Sutherland7.725
13Robert Redford8.136
15Jane Fonda8.025
17David Duchovny7.618
19Angelina Jolie8.047
20Cast of "Everybody Loves Raymond"8.820
21Jodie Foster8.224
22Elton John8.518
24Michael J. Fox8.938

Season 12 (2005)

7.90 avg 16 episodes 7.2 → 8.6 51 min avg

Ep 5: 7.2 · 10 votesEp 6: 5.7 · 11 votesEp 7: 7.4 · 10 votesEp 8: 8.3 · 26 votesEp 9: 8.3 · 22 votesEp 10: 7.7 · 13 votesEp 11: 9.0 · 158 votesEp 12: 8.0 · 11 votesEp 13: 7.9 · 32 votesEp 14: 7.7 · 13 votesEp 15: 7.8 · 18 votesEp 16: 8.8 · 51 votesEp 17: 8.6 · 52 votesEp 18: 8.4 · 60 votesEp 19: 7.0 · 26 votesEp 20: 8.6 · 80 votes
Season 12 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
5The Stars and Director of the Producers7.210
6Barbara Walters5.711
7Queen Latifah7.410
8Ralph Fiennes8.326
9Martin Lawrence8.322
10Liza Minnelli7.713
11Dave Chappelle9.0158
12The Cast of Law and Order8.011
13Tom Hanks: 27.932
14Don Cheadle7.713
15Tim Allen7.818
16Dustin Hoffman8.851
17Robert Downey Jr.8.652
18Hugh Laurie8.460
19Teri Hatcher7.026
20Al Pacino8.680

Season 13 (2006)

7.70 avg 15 episodes 6.6 → 7.3 45 min avg

Ep 1: 6.6 · 22 votesEp 2: 8.2 · 47 votesEp 3: 7.9 · 43 votesEp 4: 8.7 · 13 votesEp 5: 7.8 · 25 votesEp 6: 7.7 · 16 votesEp 7: 7.6 · 26 votesEp 8: 7.7 · 11 votesEp 9: 7.6 · 27 votesEp 10: 6.8 · 22 votesEp 11: 8.4 · 17 votesEp 12: 8.1 · 23 votesEp 13: 8.1 · 20 votesEp 14: 7.0 · 24 votesEp 15: 7.3 · 23 votes
Season 13 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Forest Whitaker6.622
2Eddie Murphy8.247
3Matt Damon7.943
4Diana Ross8.713
5Chris Rock7.825
6Mark Ruffalo7.716
7Julia Louis-Dreyfus7.626
8Kyra Sedgwick7.711
9Michelle Pfeiffer7.627
10Charlie Sheen6.822
11Billy Crystal8.417
12Anthony Hopkins8.123
13Alec Baldwin8.120
14Halle Berry7.024
15John Cusack7.323

Season 14 (2008)

7.18 avg 4 episodes 6.9 → 6.5 45 min avg

Ep 1: 6.9 · 12 votesEp 2: 7.9 · 19 votesEp 3: 7.4 · 15 votesEp 4: 6.5 · 14 votes
Season 14 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Sarah Jessica Parker6.912
2Mike Myers7.919
3Brooke Shields7.415
4Christian Slater6.514

Season 15 (2008)

7.70 avg 15 episodes 7.4 → 7.5 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.4 · 14 votesEp 2: 8.6 · 54 votesEp 3: 8.1 · 41 votesEp 4: 7.6 · 15 votesEp 5: 7.6 · 23 votesEp 6: 8.1 · 52 votesEp 7: 8.7 · 47 votesEp 8: 6.5 · 11 votesEp 9: 6.7 · 14 votesEp 10: 7.5 · 15 votesEp 11: 7.9 · 16 votesEp 12: 7.7 · 29 votesEp 13: 7.4 · 19 votesEp 14: 8.2 · 49 votesEp 15: 7.5 · 15 votes
Season 15 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Goldie Hawn7.414
2Dave Chappelle8.654
3Daniel Radcliffe8.141
4Josh Brolin7.615
5Laura Linney7.623
6Ricky Gervais8.152
7Conan O'Brien8.747
8Anthony LaPaglia6.511
9Denis Leary6.714
10Danny DeVito7.515
11Judd Apatow7.916
12Mickey Rourke7.729
13Jason Bateman7.419
14Family Guy8.249
15Amy Poehler7.515

Season 16 (2009)

7.56 avg 5 episodes 7.9 → 8.4 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.9 · 20 votesEp 2: 6.9 · 16 votesEp 3: 7.4 · 17 votesEp 4: 7.2 · 21 votesEp 6: 8.4 · 19 votes
Season 16 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Hilary Swank7.920
2Bon Jovi6.916
3Kate Hudson7.417
4James Cameron7.221
6Betty White8.419

Season 17 (2010)

7.83 avg 6 episodes 8.6 → 8.4 45 min avg

Ep 1: 8.6 · 53 votesEp 2: 7.4 · 33 votesEp 3: 8.0 · 66 votesEp 4: 8.1 · 22 votesEp 5: 6.5 · 27 votesEp 6: 8.4 · 23 votes
Season 17 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Bradley Cooper8.653
2James Franco7.433
3Jim Carrey8.066
4Colin Firth8.122
5The Cast of Modern Family6.527
6Jennifer Aniston8.423

Season 18 (2012)

8.28 avg 5 episodes 9.1 → 8.6 47 min avg

Ep 1: 9.1 · 41 votesEp 2: 7.8 · 22 votesEp 3: 7.9 · 18 votesEp 4: 8.0 · 18 votesEp 6: 8.6 · 14 votes
Season 18 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1George Clooney9.141
2Brad Pitt7.822
3The Cast of Glee7.918
4The Cast of Mad Men8.018
6Hugh Jackman8.614

Season 19 (2012)

7.60 avg 7 episodes 8.3 → 7.9 45 min avg

Ep 2: 8.3 · 15 votesEp 3: 8.4 · 18 votesEp 4: 6.9 · 16 votesEp 5: 7.6 · 16 votesEp 6: 7.1 · 18 votesEp 7: 7.0 · 8 votesEp 8: 7.9 · 15 votes
Season 19 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
2Tina Fey8.315
3The 250th Special8.418
4Jake Gyllenhaal6.916
5Liam Neeson7.616
6Arrested Development7.118
7Bruce Dern and Laura Dern7.08
8Amy Adams7.915

Season 20 (2014)

7.93 avg 4 episodes 7.9 → 7.7 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.9 · 20 votesEp 2: 8.6 · 70 votesEp 5: 7.5 · 10 votesEp 6: 7.7 · 13 votes
Season 20 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Matthew McConaughey7.920
2How I Met Your Mother8.670
5Neil Patrick Harris7.510
6Jim Parsons7.713

Season 21 (2015)

8.12 avg 6 episodes 7.3 → 8.4 45 min avg

Ep 1: 7.3 · 11 votesEp 2: 8.7 · 13 votesEp 3: 7.9 · 11 votesEp 4: 8.5 · 14 votesEp 5: 7.9 · 16 votesEp 6: 8.4 · 10 votes
Season 21 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Sarah Silverman7.311
2Bryan Cranston8.713
3Steve Carell7.911
4Jeff Daniels8.514
5The Walking Dead Cast7.916
6Chris Meloni8.410

Season 23 (2019)

8.03 avg 8 episodes 8.3 → 7.4 45 min avg

Ep 1: 8.3 · 20 votesEp 2: 8.3 · 16 votesEp 3: 8.5 · 21 votesEp 4: 8.3 · 18 votesEp 5: 7.7 · 12 votesEp 6: 7.7 · 14 votesEp 7: 8.0 · 12 votesEp 8: 7.4 · 13 votes
Season 23 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Henry Winkler8.320
2David Oyelowo8.316
3Willem Dafoe8.521
4Al Pacino8.318
5Alfre Woodard7.712
6Laura Dern7.714
7James Burrows8.012
8Lupita Nyong'o7.413
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