{"id":561,"date":"2018-03-22T10:45:40","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T09:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=561"},"modified":"2018-03-22T10:45:40","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T09:45:40","slug":"mo-money-mo-problems-why-expensive-tv-shows-dont-always-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/britishdailynews.co.uk\/?p=561","title":{"rendered":"Mo’ money, mo’ problems: why expensive TV shows don’t always add up"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span><\/span>fter turning its back on\u00a0mopey comedies about listless people grappling with ennui in big houses<\/a>, Amazon is banking everything on its upcoming Lord of the Rings TV show. According to Reuters, buying the rights to the property alone set Amazon back $250 million. Once production and marketing has been factored in, it\u2019s likely that the first two series will cost half a billion dollars, and it could reach\u00a0the $1bn mark<\/a>\u00a0if it completes the full six seasons. By some degree, that makes it\u00a0the most expensive<\/a>\u00a0television programme in history. But just because a TV programme is expensive, does that make it any good? Let\u2019s look at some of the costliest series ever made and find out.<\/p>\n

Lost<\/a>\u00a0($4m\/\u00a32.8m per episode)<\/h2>\n

An ensemble series about a plane crashing onto a mysterious tropical island was always going to be expensive. The pilot alone \u2013 which involved wrecking an aeroplane, laying it out across a beach, setting it on fire and then fastidiously removing all trace of it \u2013 apparently cost so much money that Disney fired ABC\u2019s chairman for having the temerity to even greenlight it. However, it\u2019s Lost for god\u2019s sake. It\u2019s\u00a0one of the best programmes<\/a>\u00a0ever made. This was money well spent and I swear to god I will fistfight anyone who disagrees.<\/p>\n

House of Cards<\/a>\u00a0($4.5m\/\u00a33.2m per episode)<\/h2>\n

Some shows \u2013 like Breaking Bad or Fleabag \u2013 earn their prestige. Others simply buy it in. House of Cards is the perfect example of the latter. Netflix needed a hit, so it hired one of the world\u2019s best directors and an Oscar-winning actor to achieve it. The result was House of Cards. At first the formula worked \u2013 it won seven Emmys, two Golden Globes and quickly established itself as a reason to subscribe \u2013\u00a0but now it\u2019s all come crashing down<\/a>. People will still watch the upcoming final series, but only because they want to see how the show will\u00a0Poochie Kevin Spacey away<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Camelot<\/a>\u00a0($7m\/\u00a34.9m per episode)<\/h2>\n

Hopes are high for Chris Chibnall\u2019s turn at running Doctor Who, but you\u2019ll notice that everyone is determinedly ignoring his 2011 show Camelot. That\u2019s because Camelot was both\u00a0eye-wateringly expensive and unforgivably terrible<\/a>. Billed as no less than \u201can idea of hope that has resonated at different times throughout history\u201d, Camelot managed to miss every target it set out to hit. The funny bits weren\u2019t funny. The spectacular bits weren\u2019t spectacular. There was too much talking. It was studded with ridiculous sex scenes that felt like they were shipped in from\u00a0Skinemax<\/a>. The fact that you can\u2019t even remember it speaks to how bad it was.<\/p>\n

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Sense8<\/a>\u00a0($9m\/\u00a36.4m per episode)<\/h2>\n

Traditionally, you give a television programme a huge budget because you\u2019re confident that it\u2019ll have mass appeal. That wasn\u2019t the case with Sense8; partly because it was a baffling sci-fi about a psychic connection that linked an entire global community, but mainly because the only thing anyone remembers from the pilot is the close-up of a\u00a0damp strap-on squishing<\/a>\u00a0to the ground like a sack of fish. Sense8\u2019s ambition and dedication to telling stories about non-binary characters earned it an audience, just not one big enough to justify all that money.<\/p>\n

Friends<\/a>\u00a0($10m\/\u00a37.1m per episode)<\/h2>\n

Sometimes a show\u2019s budget gets out of control because of all the cool car chases and explosions it contains. Then there\u2019s Friends, which became blisteringly expensive to make because the actors knew their worth. In 2002, the cast had become famous and bored. During contract negotiations, they pushed for a million dollars an episode each; and if they didn\u2019t get it, they\u2019d all leave. They got their million dollars, and Friends became the worst-looking expensive show ever made.<\/p>\n