Summary

• Expensive doesn't always mean successful: Supertrain, Camelot, and Inhumans were all costly shows that flopped in of quality and viewership.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is the most expensive TV show ever made, but its high budget doesn't necessarily reflect its overall quality.
• Shows like Joey, The Get Down, Hemlock Grove, Marco Polo, and Terra Nova had high production costs but failed to make a lasting impact or justify their budgets.

As the decades go on and TV becomes a bigger, more profitable industry, studios invest more in new shows, but bigger investments don't always make better shows. Making TV shows is never exactly cheap. To produce one show, several teams of people need to be recruited and paid in order to simply pull an idea together, before getting actors involved, cameraman, lighting, wardrobe, make-up, editing, and so on. The costs rack up quickly, but for the most part, shows can reasonably be made for a couple of hundreds of thousands of dollars per episode.

As a show goes on and the audience builds, it's possible that the production costs will also start to increase, especially as the actors grow in popularity. However, some shows, based on their premise, or ambitious settings alone, can cost a fortune from the start. If a show requires extensive visual effects, like many sci-fi and fantasy shows, it's likely that the cost will be much higher. But even when a show costs more, it needs to be worth the value, and some of the most expensive shows on TV just weren't worth the money to make them.

10 Supertrain (1979)

$7 Million For The Pilot

Supertrain was the most expensive show ever made when it initially released in 1979. Reportedly, the first episode alone cost roughly $7 million, which is equal to roughly $31 million in 2024. In addition, each of the nine episodes cost approximately $500,000, and the set was worth another $1.5 to $2 million as well (via THR). Altogether, that brings the total cost for producing the show up to just shy of $50 million on the low end, or $5 million per episode on average. Despite the huge budget, the show was a total flop, taking a premise from The Love Boat and putting it on a poorly conceived train.

9 Camelot (2011)

$7 Million Per Episode

Camelot was a high fantasy series produced for Starz and created by Michael Hirst and Chris Chibnall. The story follows the old Arthurian legends, and features huge ambitious sets and several popular stars, including Joseph Fiennes and Jamie Campbell-Bower. There were only 10 episodes made at about $7 million each (via WSJ), and while the series wasn't terrible, it wasn't worth the high price tag. Starz never ordered a second season, and while no specific reason was given, the high cost and the low viewership had to play a part in that decision.

8 The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (2022 - Present)

$715 Million To Make Season 1

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is currently the most expensive TV show ever made (via WSJ). The first season of the show went considerably over their original budget of $100-150 million, but part of that monumental figure did come from the $250 million Amazon paid for the rights to the franchise. However, that figure is still the highest ever by some margin. The show itself is a good show, but it has to be included here because the figure doesn't reflect the overall quality, with many shows that are considerably better, costing hundreds of millions less.

7 Citadel (2023 - Present)

$300 Million For Six Episodes

Amazon Prime may be a mega corporation with deep pockets, but if it keeps spending the way it has on TV shows, that money will burn up quickly. Amazon holds the record for most expensive TV show with Rings of Power, but it also claimed the number 2 spot with Citadel in 2023 (via cast led by Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Stanley Tucci. Once again, the series has received middling reviews, but unfortunately, the cost just doesn't elevate this show to be worth it.

6 Inhumans (2017)

$6 - 8 Million Per Episode

While Marvel Studios was still laser focused on their film output and left TV to independent smaller groups, Inhumans struggled to replicate any of the magic of the most profitable and elaborate franchise in existence. As a sci-fi series, the cost was always going to be above average, but the large ensemble cast, dozens of special powers and creating an alien world cost more than Inhumans was worth in the end. The series was quickly canceled after just one season, and most of the characters disappeared, except for Anson Mount, who has since appeared in the MCU for a cameo.

5 Joey (2004 - 2006)

Matt LeBlanc Earned $15 Million Per Season

When Friends ended, the hole left by the show was too much to bare, and so the network immediately started a spin-off starring Joey, called Joey. The series didn't feature anyone else from the original show, and essentially tried to replicate the formula with a new cast, but the magic of Friends came from the chemistry and the cast. Considering the show was simple enough, with no need for special effects, it could have been made quite cheaply, but Matt LeBlanc carried on earning close to what he made for the original show, making Joey unsustainable from the start (via Mirror).

4 The Get Down (2016 - 2017)

$16 Million Per Episode

An ambitious project by Netflix and Baz Luhrmann, The Get Down set out to be a historical and energetic retelling of how a financially broken 1970s New York gave birth to hip-hop, punk, and disco music. To be authentic, many impressive advisors were hired to improve the show's authenticity, but the cost to make it ballooned beyond being feasible (via Deadline). After just 11 episodes, which cost approximately $180 million, the show was laid to rest.

3 Hemlock Grove (2013 - 2015)

$4 Million Per Episode

Horror movies are notoriously some of the cheapest and quickest projects to do to a high standard. However, when Netflix set aside a $45 million dollar budget for the first season of Hemlock Grove (via CNET), it anticipated a better overall product at the end. The series struggled to bring in the viewership that Netflix wanted, and after just 3 seasons, the show was canceled. The series had a lot of potential and continues to have a cult following, but without drawing in audiences, it wasn't worth the budget to the streaming giant.

2 Marco Polo (2014 - 2016)

$9 Million Per Episode

Just a year later, Netflix had the same problem again with a historical drama set in the Mongol Empire. Marco Polo cost over double Hemlock Grove's budget at $9 million per episode (via Business Insider), and appears to have been even less appealing as it was canceled after the second season. The series had expensive sets and legions of extras, but it didn't replicate the success of shows like Game of Thrones which it was trying to compete against.

1 Terra Nova (2011)

$4 Million Per Episode

Finally, Terra Nova was an ambitious sci-fi mystery series from Fox which saw a group of pioneers sent back to a new home away from their rapidly dying home planet to establish a new colony. The series appeared to have a promising, mysterious plot with beautiful settings, and dinosaurs roaming free in the land. However, the cost of making each episode soured the studios and when the viewership wasn't meeting expectations (via LA Times), the series was swiftly canceled after season 1. The series had a solid cast and premise, but the price tag set a target on the show's back.