Most expensive show currently on air?

[TheMasterOfOrion]

ETA: Re Rome, which I loved, that was on cable and they have more money, plus they spent a shitload of money on sets, which - in the end - I guess never managed to amortize fully, seeing as it didn't last beyond a 2nd season. That said, I can't see a network show spending more than 4 mill per ep (for a drama) to recoup its money.

The thing about Rome is I think it was worth its price, I caught a few epsiodes and it looked like a fantastic tv series

 

[AviTrek]

ETA: Re Rome, which I loved, that was on cable and they have more money, plus they spent a shitload of money on sets, which - in the end - I guess never managed to amortize fully, seeing as it didn't last beyond a 2nd season. That said, I can't see a network show spending more than 4 mill per ep (for a drama) to recoup its money.

The thing about Rome is I think it was worth its price, I caught a few epsiodes and it looked like a fantastic tv series

Yes and no. Rome was great, but if they had cut the cost it might have gotten another season or two. Once the sets were built how much did it cost per episode to film Rome?

 

[idreamedmusic]

Yes and no. Rome was great, but if they had cut the cost it might have gotten another season or two. Once the sets were built how much did it cost per episode to film Rome?

I loved Rome as well and the high production quality certainly was a part of that, but also killed it too soon.

I believe one season cost HBO and BBC something like $100 million (which includes the cost of set construction and no clue how much that itself was). I'll search if I can find some source for that, but that's the number I remember hearing. So two seasons would be about $200 million and that divided by 22 means one episode cost roughly $9 million. Which is a LOT for a cable show even taking into account the average ep's running time is longer.

ETA: Article from zap2it that mentions the cost.

Oh yeah, I doubt there are very many Brits over about 25 who haven't seen it to be honest. That is definitely one of my all time favourites. Most of my favourite shows seem to feature either Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie somewhere actually

Stephen Fry is god!

 

[Cicero]

^ I've only seem him (memorably, though he was in a few other movies I've seen) in V for Vendetta, but he was outstanding in that. I'm looking forward to Valkyrie a little more now that I see he's in it. (Of course, with Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Terrence Stamp, Eddie Izzard, Tom Wilkinson, and Bryan Singer, Valkyrie was already high on my list.)