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.
Here are the 7 most expensive TV series in the 80+ years that the small screen medium has been putting out programming. Try not to have your bank statements and/or past due bills anywhere around while reading, and note that in some cases, the budget reported represents the years at peak costs, and not necessarily the cost for the entire run.
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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.
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