15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

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Television shows are not cheap to produce normally, but some of them go even further than you might expect, resulting in huge budgets!

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15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

The online media streaming market is getting more and more competitive by the minute. While it has been predominantly monopolized by Netflix in recent years, more companies are entering the race now such as The Walt Disney Company’s Disney+, Apple’s Apple TV+, and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max. TV programs are not bound to cable anymore, and more importantly, they are not restricted to small budgets either.

There used to be a time when TV shows were considered a cheaper alternative to blockbuster movies, and while that is still true to an extent the bigger picture is much different than what it used to be. Companies today are pouring millions of dollars into the production of high-quality shows, and here are the ten most expensive ones to date.

Updated on February 12th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Television continues to be an impressive form of media that is on the same, if not surpassing, level of production value as movies have and it has to be partly because of the budget that shows have nowadays and even with some shows in the 90s with popular actors. Even spending a few million dollars per episode on a series is surprising, but some shows go as far as budgeting $20 million or more for just one episode in a series making some show’s entire budget in the billions.

15 Deadwood – $4.5 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Deadwood was an HBO show about the various characters, both good and bad, living within a wild west town in the U.S. post-Civil War. The series had 3 seasons and a more recent movie about the lawless town led by Al Swearengen and the characters who try to take on the role of lawmen like Seth Bullock.

The series is still popular as the stellar acting and effects hold up even though it’s been off the air since 2007 and the high budget per episode must have helped.

14 Westworld – $9 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Westworld has been airing on HBO since 2016 and is budgeting for about $9 million an episode. The series changes location each season and can successfully bring the world to life like during its first season set in the wild west.

Westworld is an amusement park full of realistic AI where rich people are able to live out their fantasies, and its huge budget allows the production of this lavish and realistic world.

13 Rome – $10 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Rome aired on HBO for two seasons from 2005-2007 and had a budget of $10 million per episode to bring the Roman Republic and the Empire to life.

The show centered on two Roman soldiers living their lives during the real-life historical events of the Roman Republic turning into the Roman Empire. The show also featured real-life figures from Mark Antony to Julius Caesar.

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12 The Get Down – About $10 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

The Get Down was a fantastic short-lived series on Netflix that had 11 episodes and a budget of $120 million for the entire series making each episode about $10 million to make.

The series from Baz Luhrmann was based on the creation of a new form of hip-hop music with a focus on real-life legendary musicians like Grandmaster Flash. The show had a large budget for music, actors, and New York shooting locations.

11 Friends – $10 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Friends was a sitcom about a group of friends living together and living their lives in New York City. The show began in 1994 and ran for 10 seasons as the cast steadily became more and more popular as the show continued.

The last few seasons of the series had a budget of $10 million per episode because the cast had become recognizable stars and their paychecks reflected this and raised the budget, making Friends one of the only sitcoms with such a high budget.

10 Band of Brothers – $12.5 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, Band of Brothers is one of the highest-rated tv shows in history, and also one of the most expensive. The war drama series told the story of the “Easy Company”, a battalion in World War II, as they made their way through missions in the middle of a war-ridden Europe.

A budget this expensive for a TV series was unheard of during the show’s release in 2001, but with big names such as Hanks and Spielberg in charge of it, the project was greenlit by HBO.

9 ER – $13 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

On the surface, ER might seem like a typical medical drama but in reality, it was one of the most influential and popular shows of all time during its heyday in the 1990s. Created by Jurassic Park writer Michael Crichton, the series lead to the rise of many current Hollywood stars such as George Clooney.

Although initial costs for the show weren’t above reasonable limits, during its peak popularity the showrunners were so desperate to keep Clooney in the cast that they agreed to such sky-high budgets. This later turned out to be a rather unwise decision, as the expenses incurred were immense.

8 The Crown – $13 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Netflix’s The Crown is one of the most expensive series they’ve ever made, if not the most expensive. Revolving around the life of Queen Elizabeth II, the series covers her life from her young years to her reign in the present time.

A big part of the budget comprises lavish recreations of historical events and royal aesthetics, such as the wedding scene between Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, in which the actress was wearing a replica dress that reportedly cost $37,000 to produce. Although these attentions to detail have earned the series a worthy reputation, they come at a hefty price.

7 The Morning Show – $15 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Tech giant Apple is known for investing limitlessly when it comes to delivering quality to its customers, no matter how expensive it might get, and the same principle is being applied to their streaming service Apple TV+. According to reports, they have a planned budget of $6 Billion to invest in the production of TV shows and movies for their streaming service.

Starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood such as Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carel, a notable portion of the show’s budget was spent on the salary of the actors. The two lead actresses were paid more than $2 million per episode.

6 See – $15 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Another series produced by Apple TV+, See also boasts a similarly enormous budget, albeit for different reasons than The Morning Show. Featuring Aquaman star Jason Momoa in the lead role of Baba Voss, the chief of a tribe of people in a world where human beings have lost their vision and have adapted to a different kind of lifestyle for many centuries going.

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Two twins with eyesight are born. which throws the tribes into turmoil. Set in a future dystopian world, the series makes use of CGI in many instances, added with the cost of practical effects and salaries the final cost per episode finally arrived at $15 Million.

5 The Mandalorian – $15 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Created by Iron Man director Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian from Disney+ was an instant hit upon release. Taking place in the Star Wars universe but not being directly connected to any of the mainstream movies allowed the series a lot of flexibility in terms of plot and character development.

The action and the performance of the actors were greatly praised by critics, not to mention Baby Yoda which became viral on the internet. The Space Western makes use of some cutting-edge practical effects and CGI and the Baby Yoda puppet itself cost around 2 million.

4 Game of Thrones – $15 Million Per Episode For The Last Season

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

It is no surprise that one of the most ambitious shows of all time would make an appearance on this list. HBO’s Game of Thrones took the world by storm when it first came out in 2011, and for many years it remained the most expensive and best-produced shows on TV.

Filming in exotic locations, use of massive CGI, and tons of special effects, not to mention the sala of the huge cast all drove up the costs. The last season cost marginally more than the previous ones, with each episode costing no less than $15 million. Although the previous seasons didn’t cost this much, the difference wasn’t too great.

3 The Pacific – $20 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Released back in 2010, HBO’s The Pacific to this day remains the most expensive limited TV series ever produced by them and in general as well. Producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks didn’t spare any expenses when it came to the recreation of some of the bloodiest and violent battles of World War II.

Originally the budget was estimated to be around $100 Million for the whole ten episodes long series, but the final costs ended up being more than the average budget of a Hollywood blockbuster. A big reason behind this was the extremely accurate portrayal of WW2, for which lots of practical effects were put to use.

2 Disney+ Marvel TV Shows – $25 Million Per Episode

15 Of The Most Expensive TV Shows Ever Made

Following the Earth-shattering success of the MCU movies, there is no reason why Disney would be unwilling to invest more behind the production of more Marvel content. The upcoming shows, specifically Wandavision, Hawkeye and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, will follow the story of some of MCU’s most well-established characters.

Phase 4 of the MCU will be filled with original shows that will enrich the lore of some of its existing figures and as well as introduce some new ones. Releasing towards the end of 2020, these shows will have humongous budgets and the ones that will come in the future will surely not be much cheaper.

1 The Lord of the Rings – Total Budget of $1 Billion

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is one of the most critically and commercially successful franchises in modern media, thanks to the smashing success of Peter Jackson’s original LOTR and Hobbit trilogy.

Amazon is developing a live-action prequel series and they’ve already paid $250 million only for the rights to produce and the deal also came with a commitment that five seasons of the show would be produced. This will bring the total production costs for the whole series to near $1 Billion, and if the show aspires to be anything other than a flop it will have to a bigger hit than anything other book adaptation in TV history.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/most-expensive-tv-shows-ever-made/

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