The INSIDER Summary:

• Some studios go above and beyond to make their shows the best.
• "Game of Thrones" obviously made the cut. Each episode costs roughly $10 million to make.
• "The Crown" is spot on with period costume and design, it's not wonder it cost $130 million a season.

The name of the game for TV studios is making money, and as the old (not at all entirely accurate) saying goes, "You've got to spend money to make money." Some networks and studios took that saying to the extremes, taking out metaphorical second mortgages and setting budget-pushing records in the process. Those money-oozing decisions seemingly paid out in most cases, though not so much in others.

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"Sense8" - Netflix

Cost: $9 million an episode

Lana and Lilly Wachowski were known for spending oodles of money on feature film projects - Speed Racer costs $120 million, and none of it spent on actual speed - so it was no surprise that their first TV venture on the boundary-free Netflix was so very far from cinéma vérité. But unlike the mass amounts of CGI infused into the Wachowskis' Matrix films, Sense8 broke the bank because the production took place almost solely on location, with nine different world metros serving as the settings. The octo-narrative approach may not sit with everyone, but no one can deny how beautiful Sense8 is.

"Rome" - HBO/BBC

Cost: $10 million an episode

If one describes something as "an HBO drama based on Julius Caesar's depictions of the The Great Roman Civil War" out loud, then the soft cha-ching sound of a cash register can be heard just behind whoever is listening. Rome indeed gave off the impression that no expense was spared in creating TV's most realized version of 1st Century B.C.E. Unfortunately, the intricate set design, masterful costumes, and vast ensemble cast was a bit too much for HBO and the BBC to take in the face of those astonishing costs, and the largely well-received Rome did not last beyond its initial two-season order.

"Game of Thrones" - HBO

Cost: $10 Million an episode

With a fanbase that forms a vocal wall around most other series on the small screen - mostly to the North - Game of Thrones rarely goes five minutes without giving viewers a scene or sequence that looks like it cost more than a year's worth of earnings for Littlefinger's brothel. The cast is enormous, and though the frequent deaths keep things fresh and potentially low-cost for minor character contracts, the story has only gotten more epic and monumental in scale. So while there will be less episodes in Season 7 and Season 8, expect both to cost as much as previous 10-episode seasons did.

While President Donald Trump has been a source of division among Americans, most of television's late-night hosts are in agreement: Trump makes for good joke fodder and pointed criticism.

But which ones are capitalizing the most in the time since Trump has taken office? Business Insider pulled the Nielsen ratings for TV's late-night shows to find out.

We compared the average viewership for each from January 1, 2016, to February 26, 2016, against the same dates in 2017 to see who had the most growth in viewership year-over-year (and who's been declining). What we found was pretty surprising.

Jimmy Fallon, once the young king of late night, has been dethroned by a rising Stephen Colbert, and political comedy in general is cashing in.

Take a look at the late-night winners and losers under Trump in the chart below:

Samantha Bee saw the greatest increase in her audience under Trump — by a huge 144%. Bee's weekly TBS show, "Full Frontal," premiered only on February 8 last year, however, and had the chance to steadily build her audience from scratch. But her pointed criticism could've fallen flat with audiences. Thankfully for her, that's clearly not the case.

HBO's weekly show "Real Time with Bill Maher" took the No. 2 slot for audience growth with a 68% increase in his audience. Maher saw a spike in viewership recently surrounding his controversial interview with conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos, an episode that saw a 12% boost in viewers week-over-week.

Of course, broadcast takes the biggest piece of the cake. Among those shows, Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" can claim the biggest increase since Trump took office. His decision to go harder on politics instead of ignoring his "Colbert Report" roots, led by a new showrunner brought on last year, seems to have been a good one. Colbert's audience grew 13% over the same period last year.

The greatest fall was that of Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show." Fallon has lost about 17% of his audience year-over-year. Fallon, whose show is known for its off-the-wall celebrity games, may have taken a big hit with his softball interview with Trump during the presidential campaign. Once the No. 1 late-night show in broadcast TV, the "The Tonight Show" has lost the ratings war to Colbert in recent weeks. Leaks from the show suggest he's going to try to follow in the CBS host's footsteps and get more political.

Fallon's ratings problem is pretty much every NBC late-night host's problem, as he's not helping to bring eyeballs to the programs that follow him. Seth Meyers, who has been celebrated for his sharp political commentary on "Late Night," is down 8%. Even Carson Daly, who isn't political at all, is seeing a 7% dip in audience for "Last Call."

SEE ALSO: Why we need these late-night TV hosts more than ever under President Trump

DON'T MISS: Every late-night show, ranked from worst to best

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In yet another sign of Netflix’s ongoing popularity, a report this week from Leichtman Research Group says that Netflix is more popular among American adults than the DVR. As this chart from Statista shows, in just the last six years, Netflix has gone from being in 28% of US households to being in 54%.

There are a few caveats to those figures — Leichtman says it’s including households that are freeloading Netflix accounts off others, and that the whole thing has a roughly 3% margin of error — but they reinforce just how much of a juggernaut Netflix has become.

Still, this doesn’t mean you should assume that traditional TV is dead. Though the number of cord-cutters is slowly growing, Leichtman notes that 46% of the 1,211 respondents still say they “often flip through channels to see what’s on TV.”

SEE ALSO: Here’s how quickly Android has caught up to Windows in terms of global internet usage

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Through background audio in video footage from his first ride on Air Force One, we know that President Donald Trump watches Fox News. And we also know that he spent an evening watching "Finding Dory" while Americans protested his immigration ban. But what are his favorite television shows?

Trump hasn’t exactly released a list of them, but we can tell what he's tuning into from comments and his frequent Twitter posts.

The commander-in-chief reportedly watches a lot of TV, particularly for a US president — so much of it, in fact, that people around him are reportedly concerned about it. Meanwhile, he misses most of his daily briefings.

"For a sense of what is happening outside, he watches cable, both at night and during the day — too much in the eyes of some aides — often offering a bitter play-by-play of critics like CNN’s Don Lemon,"The New York Times reported. 

Here are the TV shows that Trump watches:

SEE ALSO: Why critics are in love with the spy show 'The Americans' — and you need to watch it

"Fox & Friends"

This is probably Trump's favorite show. The president often tweets things that correspond to what’s being said or presented on the show minutes after it airs, or as it's airing. The hosts of the Fox News morning show also sing his praises on a regular basis, and he's known to call in to talk to them.

"The O'Reilly Factor"

In January 2017, Trump's tweets aligned with reporting on another Fox News show. This time, it was "The O'Reilly Factor."

Trump tweeted, "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the feds!" 

The tweet came shortly after a segement on "The O'Reilly Factor" that used the same statistics, and even used the word "carnage."

"Hannity"

Sean Hannity often praises Trump on his Fox News program. In the first week of Trump's presidency, Hannity got an exlusive one-hour interview with him at the White House.

In late February, Hannity criticized the president for being "a little too sensitive" to criticism, but so far, he's gotten Trump's ear more than most.

Alec Baldwin returned to "Saturday Night Live" as Donald Trump this weekend, just as "SNL" returned to a decidedly pre-Trump, old-school movie-parody style sketch for its cold open: Baldwin’s Trump, in green military flight jacket just like the real Donald, rallied the troops in an "Independence Day"-like sci-fi bit.

The year is 2018, the human race is under attack by aliens – real, outer-space type aliens – and Baldwin’s Trump is attempting to whip up some patriotic enthusiasm.

“We don’t win anymore!,” he whines. “The aliens are killing us, and they’re laughing at us.”

Asked by Kenan Thompson’s commander how he intends to defeat the invaders, Trump blurts, “We are going to bring the coal back, we’re going to have so much coal.”

Told by the commander that California has been obliterated, Trump responds, “Even Arnold?”

From there, the sketch makes the expected comparisons between the invading Zorblat-9 and Russia, as Trump defends the other side, prompting one grumbling soldier to speculate about the president’s business ties to the invaders.

The green-skinned Zorblatians finally arrive, demanding to be taken to the leader. “Really?” says a face-painted Bobby Moynihan. “This is going to be so easy.”

Watch the sketch below:

SEE ALSO: Who's winning and losing late-night TV under Trump

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Ryan Murphy, the producer behind Emmy-winning series "American Horror Story" and "American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson," has a new television series, "Feud: Bette and Joan," which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. on FX.

The eight-episode series gets into the juicy details of the notorious rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (played by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, respectively) while shooting the 1962 hit horror film, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"

And in doing so, the producers went to great lengths to make sure that the sets were as close to reality as possible.

Heading that huge task was production designer Judy Becker. A Hollywood veteran, Becker's most recent credits include critically acclaimed films "Joy" and "Carol."

"It's an interesting period to design for sure," Becker told reporters of her decision to take on the job during a recent visit to the "Feud" set in Los Angeles.

"It's always fun," she continued, "because we're doing different worlds and different characters. So this is like a Hollywood world and kind of over-the-top characters, and I haven't done that to this degree before. So, it was pretty appealing."

Becker uses all the tools and tricks available to her in order to re-create 1960s Hollywood, from online searches to hiring researchers, perusing prop houses, examining footage, visiting the actual sites, and tapping private collectors.

Here's an inside look at two Hollywood legends' lives from the set of "Feud: Bette and Joan":

SEE ALSO: FX is already renewing Ryan Murphy's new show 'Feud' for a second season about Charles and Diana

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Joan Crawford had very expensive, modern (for that time) Hollywood tastes.

"Joan lived in this very grand way, which was very fashionable in terms of design," Becker said of Crawford's home, which took two months to re-create. "She was really keeping up with the times."

"She was fashionable, Hollywood fashionable," she added.

Joan Crawford hired famed interior decorator William Haines to outfit her Brentwood-area, Los Angeles home in Hollywood splendor.

"Joan was very good friends with a well-known decorator of the time, William Haines, who started out as an actor and then became a pretty famous interior designer," Becker said.

Williams Haines' furniture would be "a fortune now" if you could find them.

Becker said that William Haines"designed all the furniture that's in the living room, the kind of tufted furniture. We made those for the show, but they're based on his designs, which cost a fortune now if you can find them."

MTV's new show, "Stranded with a Million Dollars," serves up a twist on the reality survival show.

On the new series, which airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m., 10 millennials from diverse backgrounds accept the challenge of living on the island of Taveuni, Fiji. But they're also given a total of $1 million to spend on a variety of food, tools, and luxuries at outrageous prices. In the end, those who are able to last for 40 days will get to divide whatever's left of the million-dollar bounty.

With its million-dollar twist and the tough living conditions, viewers get an ample look at the cast members' attitudes toward money.

"I was guilty of the preconceived notion that millennials are lazy and don't understand the value of money,""Stranded" creator Kevin Lee recently told Business Insider. "And what happened during the 40 days that we were filming in the woods is that I learned that was wrong. That notion was wrong."

Reactions to the harsh environment and the financial windfall are captured by the show's use of flying drones and automatic cameras.

"On any given day, there's approximately 30 cameras in play that don't have humans holding them," Lee said. "That made all the difference in the world... I think they headed toward more extreme behavior because they didn't feel that they were being judged by the human holding the camera. When there's just a robot camera, they don't care what the robot thinks."

Here's what the creator of MTV's "Stranded with a Million Dollars" learned about millennial spending habits while shooting the show:

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1. The biggest strategic mistake: Contenders failed to invest their money early on, so that it could help them win later.

"I think one of the big strategic mistakes that was made on the show, at least early in the show, were the cast members who didn't understand the idea that you have to spend some money now in order to win or gain more money later on," Lee said.

"They mistakenly made the calculation that they should be frugal and not spend one penny ever," he continued. "They have to be willing to invest a small amount in their survival in order to win at the end, and they didn't realize that... And guess what? They never made it."

2. The best course correction: Some cast members did come around to realizing an early strategic purchase would really pay off.

"If you're going to spend $30,000 on a pot, you may as well do it on day one as opposed to spending $30,000 halfway through, after you've been drinking dirty water for 20 days and you're sick," Lee said. "Some cast members were smart, like, 'Hey, you know what, we're gonna get ripped off whether we buy it on day one or day 20. Let's just buy it on day one. Obviously, they didn't, but eventually they got around to that — they understood that strategic level. That was a real smart play on their part. Took them a few days, but eventually they figured that out."

3. The most "unexpected" social insight: Bonds over views around money overcame personality and cultural differences.

Lee said the cast splintered into groups that shared similar strategic plans around the money and crossed geographical or cultural divides, something the show creator called "unexpected."

"Basically, you see this cast member named Cody," he said. "He comes from a pretty conservative background and his family is very entrepreneurial. They're very willing to delay gratification for the long-term good. He ended up bonding with a girl named Makani, who couldn't have come from a more different background. She's a free spirit, alternative girl who traveled the world and is a bit of a hippie. So the conservative and the hippie girl ended up bonding over their mutual decision to not spend money and to delay gratification. And that was a huge surprise.

"In the real world they would never get along," he continued. "They would never even know each other in the real world, because they come from such different tribes. But because they both shared this notion that money's valuable and we gotta preserve it, and not spend, they bonded."

The INSIDER Summary

• “The Walking Dead” TV show differs from the comic books in a lot of big ways, but also stays faithful to the series in other surprising areas.
• Rick Grimes’s physical appearance is different in the comics due to a serious injury.
• Andrea and Carol have much different stories in the TV show as opposed to the comics.
• Daryl isn’t a part of the comics at all but is a fan favorite on the TV show. He shares some similarities with Dwight, who is in the comics.

Join the conversation about this story »

On Sunday's episode of "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver took a deep dive into the American Health Care Act, also already known as Trumpcare, because even though the early reaction from many pundits and politicians is that it's "dead on arrival," that might not be the case.

And that's why people need to know what's in the bill.

A big difference from Obamacare is that the AHCA will have an annual flat tax credit based on age — for those under 30 years old, $2,000; 60 or older, $4,000 — so the older you get the more money you get. But do those credits sufficiently cover the actual cost of health insurance?

With the use of a tax chart created by the Kaiser Family, Oliver points out that those with lower incomes would be particularly hurt. For example, if you live in Woodward County, Oklahoma, are 60 years old, and earn $50,000 a year, with Obamacare you would get $13,350 toward insurance but under the new bill that drops to just $4,000.

And if you're on Medicaid, it's worse. Oliver showed reports stating that the plan would cut $370 billion in federal funding to Medicaid over the next 10 years, meaning states would have to make that up, which would be impossible for most. Projections estimate that at least 15 million people will lose their health care.

"People are going to be hurt by this bill," Oliver said.

By contrast, Trump previously promised no cuts to Medicaid and said, "Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now."

Who isn't going to get hurt by the bill? The wealthy, Oliver concluded.

Incomes at the top 1% get a tax break of $33,000, and those in the top 0.1% will get a $197,000 break on average.

"This plan is literally taking money from the poor and giving it to the very rich," Oliver said.

That doesn't include recently rich lottery winners, though. Six pages of Trumpcare is dedicated to letting states dis-enroll high-dollar lottery winners. Or as Oliver puts it, "the urgent matter of what if one poor person suddenly becomes less poor."

Trumpcare will have real consequences for Americans, including Trump's voters. But as Oliver points out, its legislative path has been a tricky one. To get the bill passed, the GOP came up with something that can't get filibustered.

"The bottom line is a lot of the things Trump promised on the campaign trail are not in the bill because the AHCA is being presented as a budget bill," Oliver said, "which can simply be passed by a Senate majority. Anything that's a non-budget policy change needs 60 votes to beat a filibuster.

"This bill is in all likelihood all Trump can get passed to replace Obamacare," Oliver continued, "so it is f---ing important everyone understands what is in it."

Watch the entire "Last Week Tonight" segment below:

SEE ALSO: Who's winning and losing late-night TV under Trump

Join the conversation about this story »

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"Game of Thrones" has built up rather a strange tradition over the years, slipping in a spree of musical cameos amongst the harsh lands of Westeros.

Past seasons, indeed, have seen appearances from the likes of Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Will Champion from Coldplay, Sigur Rós, and Mastodon; it now looks as if Ed Sheeran has joined those ranks.

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss revealed the news at the "Game of Thrones" SXSW panel, where they explained Sheeran happened to be a favorite of star Maisie Williams, who was also moderating the panel alongside Sophie Turner.

"For years we were trying to get Ed Sheeran on the show to surprise Maisie and this year we finally did it," Benioff stated (via Entertainment Weekly).

"A lot of [music artists] say they would they would like to [be on the show], and then we tell them [shooting a scene] is so boring," Weiss said. "'You’re gonna hate this — you’re going to be sitting around three days for 12 hours a day.'"

Indeed, Weiss recalled how Sigur Rós' lead singer, Jónsi Birgisson, tried to leave after his close-up at Joffrey's wedding was filmed for season-three, without realizing that he had to stick around as a background actor for several more days. "He was a super good sport about it," Weiss added.

The showrunners also revealed that the show's final season, season-eight, will only feature six episodes; leaving them little opportunity to fit in any last minute musician cameos. Any requests?

"Game of Thrones" season-seven debuts July 16.

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NOW WATCH: Watch the new teaser trailer for 'Game of Thrones' season 7

Kim Kardashian delivers an emotional description of being robbed in Paris on her E! show, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."

E! Online posted a preview from next Sunday's episode in which Kim Kardashian tells her sisters, Kourtney Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian, that she feared for her life during the October 2016 robbery.

"They ask for money. I said I don't have any money," Kim said of the men who were dressed as policemen when they broke into her Paris rental property. "They dragged me out to the hallway, on top of the stairs. That's when I saw the gun like clear as day. I was kind of looking at the gun, looking down back at the stairs.”

Kim went on to tell her worried sisters that she tried to come up with an escape plan, but ultimately decided it was too dangerous to attempt.

“Am I gonna run down the stairs and either be shot in the back?" she said in tears. "Either they're gonna shoot me in the back, or if they don't and I make it, if the elevator does not open in time, or the stairs are locked, then like I'm f---ed."

In January, Paris police said it was investigating at least three suspects in the crime. The robbers made off with Kim's engagement ring from her current husband, rapper Kanye West, and other jewels worth $9.5 million.

In the wake of the incident, gossip site MediaTakeout.com claimed that Kim had faked the robbery and filed a fraudulent insurance claim for millions of dollars. Kim then sued the site for libel.

Watch the video from "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" below:

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The INSIDER Summary: 

• Netflix announced its renewing "A Series of Unfortunate Events" for a second season.
• The renewal announcement came in the form of a secret message.
• The story picks up with adaptations of the next five books in the series.
• There's no air date as of yet for the second season.

Netflix is renewing "A Series of Unfortunate Events" for a second season.

The message came in the form of "A Miserable Message" posted on Netflix's official YouTube page. The message, narrated by Patrick Warburton, who plays Lemony Snicket in the series, hinted that viewers should go to vastlyfrighteningdecision.com.

On that website, titled "A Very Unfortunate Announcement," a letter "written" by Lemony Snicket said that the show was popular enough for Netflix to green-light a second season.

"Even as we speak, set builders, costume designers, and trauma specialists are snapping into action, the better to bring you more upsetting episodes, all because of your reputed enthusiasm for this grim example of so-called family programming," the message reads.

In January, Daniel Handler, the author of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books and screenwriter for the series, said he was already writing the second season. He plans for it to cover five books over ten episodes.

The next book in the story is "The Austere Academy," where Violet, Klaus, and Sunny attend Prufrock Preparatory School. There, they face off against Vice Principal Nero, a volatile school administrator who poorly plays the violin.

In its announcement, Netflix did not include an air date for the second season.

Read Lemony Snicket's message below:

SEE ALSO: 33 documentaries on Netflix right now that will make you smarter

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Most critics just hated "Marvel's Iron Fist." And now its star, Finn Jones, is living up to his superhero character and coming to the show's rescue.

"Well I think there’s multiple factors," Jones told UK's Metro of the series' terrible reviews. "What I will say is these shows are not made for critics, they are first and foremost made for the fans."

Previously rated a rare 0% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix's fourth "Defenders" series has since climbed to a still very low 14% on the site. On another review aggregator, Metacritic, the show has earned a score of 32, which means it has received "generally unfavorable reviews." Currently, it's the worst-reviewed new TV show of 2017.

In my review of the show for Business Insider, I similarly panned the series' writing, pacing, and fight scenes, and for not living up to the standards Netflix set with previous Marvel series, "Daredevil,""Jessica Jones," and "Luke Cage."

In addition to the blistering reviews of "Iron Fist," the shows' martial-arts focus has drawn attention among some who believe the title character should have been played by an Asian actor. Jones even temporarily left Twitter after a conflict with one such critic.

But the actor believes that fans will come to a different conclusion than the show's critics.

"I also think some of the reviews we saw were seeing the show through a very specific lens, and I think when the fans of the Marvel Netflix world and fans of the comic books view the show through the lens of just wanting to enjoy a superhero show, then they will really enjoy what they see," he said. "I think it’s a fantastic show which is really fun and I think it stands up there with the other Defenders’ shows without a doubt."

Fans will get their chance to weigh in on "Iron Fist" when it debuts on Netflix Friday, March 17. 

SEE ALSO: Why Netflix's 'Iron Fist' is a disappointing failure

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NOW WATCH: Netflix and Marvel just dropped the first 'Iron Fist' trailer — and it looks incredible

Joss Whedon has made shows people love to binge-watch on Netflix — from "Buffy" to "Firefly"— but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

Whedon, who of late has directed blockbuster films like "The Avengers," decried the “all-at-once” release model for TV in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“I would not want to do it,” Whedon said of a Netflix-style full-season release on one day. “I would want people to come back every week and have the experience of watching something at the same time. We released ‘Doctor Horrible’ in three acts. We did that, in part, because I grew up watching miniseries like ‘Lonesome Dove.’ I loved event television. And as it was falling by the wayside, I thought, ‘Let's do it on the internet!’ Over the course of that week, the conversation about the show changed and changed. That was exciting to watch.”

Whedon gave the caveat that Netflix is making a ton of “extraordinary stuff,” and that if Netflix threw a bunch of money at him to make his dream project, he wouldn’t reject it out of hand. But still, his preference is for a weekly release. And he worries that in the era of binge-watching, people don't take time to really breathe and understand what happened in a given episode.

If shows are made for binge-watching, there is a sense of narrative that is lost. “It loses its power, and we lose something with it,” he said of binge-watching. "We lose our understanding of narrative. Which is what we come to television for."

But Whedon will live, even in a totally binge-centric world.

“If that's how people want it, I'd still work just as hard,” he said. “I'll adapt.”

Read the full interview at The Hollywood Reporter.

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CBS has officially given a series order for “The Big Bang Theory” spinoff “Young Sheldon,” Variety has learned. The half-hour multicam, currently with an unspecified number of episodes ordered, will premiere in the 2017-18 season.

Created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro, the series follows “The Big Bang Theory’s” Sheldon Cooper at age nine, living with his family in East Texas and going to high school.

Jon Favreau is directing and executive producing the first episode of the series, which stars Iain Armitage as nine-year-old Sheldon Cooper — played by Jim Parsons on “Big Bang” — as well as Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Raegan Revord and Montana Jordan. Armitage is a triple-threat, starring on HBO’s “Big Little Lies” as Shailene Woodley’s on-screen son, while Jordan will make his acting debut opposite Josh Brolin in upcoming indie “The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter.” The cast was rumored to be set earlier in March.

“Big Bang” showrunner Molaro wrote the pilot script. He will executive produce, along with “Big Bang” creators Lorre and Bill Prady, plus Parsons. Lorre, Molaro, Parsons and Todd Spiewak will serve as executive producers of the series, from Chuck Lorre Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Parsons will also narrate the comedy as Adult Sheldon.

As for the mothership, “Big Bang,” now in its 10th season, hasn’t been immune to the ratings erosion plaguing most series, but is still the biggest comedy by far on broadcast, and as such is being eyed for a two-season renewal at CBS, sources say. “Big Bang” star Johnny Galecki also has the multicam pilot “Living Biblically” in contention at the network.

SEE ALSO: 'Big Bang Theory' stars each took a $100,000 pay cut because two women on the show were making $800,000 less

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Join the conversation about this story »

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With more A-list stars, directors, and producers creating television than ever before, many are calling this the next golden age of TV. But regardless of who's involved, there are bound to be some shows that don't shine quite as brightly.

More outlets are creating TV content, from streaming companies like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu to cable networks increasingly getting into the scripted-show game, like Bravo, E!, and Spike.

But what's worth your time and what isn't? In times like these, you should let the experts watch so you don't have to.

Metacritic keeps track of a curated group of critics, assigns each review a number according to how positive or negative it was, and then creates a weighted average score for each show.

CBS, NBC, and Fox tied with four shows each among the shows least liked by critics. But some of the newer companies also produced stinkers. Netflix, for example, netted itself a zero instead of a superhero. Which other networks had the misfortune of landing shows on the list?

Here are the 18 worst-reviewed TV shows of 2017 so far, using Metacritic scores:

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18. "Time After Time" (ABC)

Metacritic score: 59

A remake of the 1979 movie of the same name, "Time After Time" mirrors the film's centuries-spanning chase of the charismatic Dr. John Stevenson, aka Jack the Ripper (Josh Bowman), by a dashing H.G. Wells (Freddie Stroma), the author of "The Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds," among many other notable novels. The famous 19th-century serial killer has stolen the author's time machine and escaped to modern-day New York City. Wells ventures after him to bring him back to the past.

17. "Doubt" (CBS)

Metacritic score: 58

"Doubt,"which has already been canceled, follows Katherine Heigl's character, defense attorney Sadie Ellis, and her colleagues at a boutique law firm. Sadie is defending a wealthy client, but things get complicated when she begins to fall in love with him. Laverne Cox and Dule Hill also starred on the legal drama.

16. "Chicago Justice" (NBC)

Metacritic score: 57

The latest in NBC's "Chicago" franchise, "Chicago Justice" follows the members of the state attorney's team of prosecutors and investigators who must balance the public opinion and city politics with their execution of the law.

It’s March, which means it’s time for March Madnesss, "the one time a year where it's socially acceptable to be a gambling addict," as "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah put it on Monday's episode.

With the NCAA men’s basketball tournament starting this week, Noah has taken the opportunity to create his own tournament called Third Month Mania.

"This tournament isn’t about basketball. It’s about something more important: Donald Trump’s tweets."

After looking at Trump's tweets, the show picked 64 tweets that they think are the most worthy competitors. Trump has tweeted over 35,000 times. And to narrow it down, they had to read every single one of them.

"The Daily Show" broke the bracket into four sections, just like the NCAA bracket. Their categories are celebrities, government affairs, enemies, and WTF.

If you’re rooting for a specific Trump tweet to win, you can vote on the Third Month Mania website. The winning tweet will be revealed in three weeks.

“This time, the popular vote actually matters,” correspondent Hasan Minaj said.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 18 worst new TV shows of the year so far, according to critics

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NOW WATCH: INSIDE 'JEOPARDY!' — We spent a day on the set with Alex Trebek

Warning: Spoilers below if you haven't watched season one of "Westworld."

The hit sci-fi drama "Westworld" carried on the tradition that HBO's "Game of Thrones" firmly established: killing off significant characters.

And according to star Leonardo Nam, that made for a pretty nervous time while shooting the show.

"Oh, are you kidding me? All the time," Nam responded when Business Insider recently asked if he had any fear of his character being killed off during the first season. "When I look back, that's one of the things that did make it exciting. The way that television and these creators work right now is you never really know what's gonna happen. You think you know, and then they have something else in store."

A remake of a 1973 film of the same name, HBO's "Westworld" revolves around an amusement park populated by human-like robots, referred to as hosts, that provide wealthy visitors countless adventures in a Wild West setting. But the robots begin to malfunction, which causes some major havoc for the humans who enjoy the park and those who run it.

Nam plays Felix Lutz, one of Westworld's technicians who repair damaged hosts in order to return them to the theme park or mark them as unsalvageable and retire them to cold storage. Felix played a reluctant but critical role in host Maeve's (Thandie Newton) process of discovering that she isn't human and her subsequent plan to escape Westworld.

The potential for death among those humans who work for Westworld is pretty great. The safety of the guests is ensured by several safeguards (with some exceptions) that don't necessarily extend to the park's employees.

In addition to to the fear of having their characters killed off, Nam describes a unique predicament for the "Westworld" actors: wondering whether their characters are humans or actually hosts.

"As the episode's being written, we'd all talk on set, in passing, and we'd be like, 'Are you a host? Because last week, I thought you were a human. Now I think you're a robot. Am I a robot or am I human?'" Nam said. "People were saying that all the time. It was a big bonding moment for everyone, because no one really knew what was happening with the overarching story."

The extra human-vs.-robot twist of "Westworld" actually helps the actors deal with the potential death of their characters.

"On the flip side, the benefit of it all is everyone can come back in different forms," Nam told us.

SEE ALSO: The 'Westworld' season finale broke ratings records for HBO

DON'T MISS: 'Westworld' star Jeffrey Wright weighs in on a bold new fan theory: 'There's a lot of fertile ground'

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NOW WATCH: Here's everything we know so far about season 2 of 'Westworld'

Seth Meyers dedicated Monday's edition of his "A Closer Look" segment to the tactics employed by President Donald Trump and other Republicans in defense of his embattled healthcare plan.

"One thing that has become clear over the past week is that lying is such a central feature of the Trump administration that many in DC just take it for granted," the host said on Monday's episode of NBC's "Late Night,""but there's one issue where Trump's lies could have very real consequences for millions of people and that's health care."

Since being introduced earlier this month, the American Health Care Act, also known as "Trumpcare," has seen much opposition from both sides of the aisle, even while supporters work to push it through in an effort to make good on a promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The Congressional Budget Office just reported that it estimates that 24 million more people will be uninsured under Trumpcare compared to Obamacare.

'"And yet despite that, GOP leaders are rushing the bill through the House as quickly as possible," Meyers said. "They held two marathon overnight committee hearings with no public input. One lasted 27 hours and another lasted 18 hours and ended at 4:30 in the morning."

In an example of the defenses employed by the Republicans, Meyers played video from one of the sessions in which Missouri Congressman Jason Smith mocked Obamacare's taxes on tanning beds by asking why the government doesn't just tax the sun.

"Why don't we tax the sun?" Meyers joked as a photo of Trump appeared. "Is it because we already know an orange ball of gas will never pay its taxes? Even more embarrassing, Republicans and Democrats preceded to actually spend time debating whether it's possible to tax the sun."

Meyers then cited the White House's request that Trump's name not be used in relation to the healthcare plan.

"Even Donald Trump won't put his name on this thing," the host said. "One reason for that might be that he's worried that people won't like it as much as Obamacare. In fact, Trump blamed the media for Obamacare's rise in popularity in the polls."

The late-night host then mocked Trump's confusion over why former President Barack Obama is suddenly so popular.

"It's you, dude. It's you," he said. "Trump's like the guy who cleared out the subway car because he s--- his pants and then says, 'Oh, I guess that was everyone's stop.'"

Watch the "A Closer Look" segment below:

SEE ALSO: Who's winning and losing late-night TV under Trump

DON'T MISS: Stephen Colbert mocks Trump for not wanting his name on his embattled healthcare plan

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NOW WATCH: 'If he's not joking, of course!': Sean Spicer on whether Trump's statements can be trusted 'to be real'