10th place - Terra Nova / Terra Nova
Budget: 4 million dollars per series
In 2011, Stephen Spielberg himself approved the idea of a television series, the action in which unfolded around the journey into the past - in the era of dinosaurs. Instead of removing the "pilot" episode, the Fox channel ordered the 13th series "Terra Nova" immediately, including a two-hour premiere episode by 14 million dollars. Although the series was really interesting, Fox tritely did not have enough money for large-scale scenery, a huge number of special effects and a flight of actors in Australia, where the series was filmed - and after the first shooting season had to be collapsed.
9th place - "Deadwood" / Deadwood
Budget: 4.5 million dollars per series
Removing the series-Western with Timothy Oliphant in the lead role, HBO did not praise and built not just scenery, but the most real old city from the Wild West - including at home, salons, stables and so on. The budget for HBO was enough for the 3 seasons, but after the main sources of income HBO - "Clan Soprano" and "Sex in the Big City" - spend 4.5 million per series of "Dedwood" turned out to be too consistent. The most interesting thing is that Dedwood has been so loved by the audience, which completely paid for themselves - thanks to sales on DVD.
8th place - "Underground Empire" / Boardwalk Empire
Budget: 5 million dollars per series
Only the "pilot" episode of the "underground empire", filmed by the legendary Martin Scorsese, cost the creators to a record $ 18 million - it was precisely such an amount to be spent to recreate the atmosphere of the Atlantic City of the twentieth years. The era of the "dry law" in the United States "underground empire" recreates in the smallest details: everything in the TV series was everything - from music, cars and clothing to weapons. HBO, having learned on the mistakes of Dedwood, supported the "underground empire" for a total of 5 seasons, not saving at expenses.
7th place - Fraser / Frasier
Budget: 5.2 million dollars per series in the last season
The impressive budget "Fraser" is due to the popularity of the main actor - Kelsi Grammer, who used such a love of the audience that NBC could not afford him to dismiss him. As a result, in the last, 11 season "Fraser" Grammer received 1.6 million dollars per series - about 30% of the total budget. And if you add to this the feces of other actors (at least half a million each) and dog fees (!), Which received 10 thousand dollars per episode, it becomes absolutely logical that Fraser still remains one of the most expensive serials in history.
6th place - "Game of Thrones" / Game of Thrones
Budget: 6 million dollars per series
At the most popular HBO television series, the record budget is explained by many factors - both large-scale scenery, caste fees, and special effects, and remote locations in which episodes are removed. The "Pilot" episode "Games of Thrones" cost HBO at $ 10 million. Fortunately for HBO, partially the Budget "Games of Thrones" consists of investments of Northern Ireland (where most of the episodes are removed). Northern Ireland from this only won - initial investments in the amount of 15 million provided the country of almost 100 million dollars arrived from tourists.
5th place - "Camelot" / Camelot
Budget - 7 million dollars per series
"Camelotot", despite the brilliant cast, led by the "Girl Bond" Eva Green, the grand historical scenery and a good idea of the plot, was not very lucky - the series debuted exactly 2 months before the "Game of Thrones" was released. Of course, the ratings of "Camelota" did not go to any comparison with the ratings of the "Games of the Thrones", and the series had to close after the season.
4th place - Marko Polo / Marco Polo
Budget: 9 million dollars per series
As shown by the "game of thrones" and "Camelot", the shooting of the historical series - the event is very expensive. However, Netflix still ventured, spending 90 million dollars for 10 episodes 1 season "Marco Polo". Apparently, the costs were justified, since not so long ago, Netflix extended Marco Polo to the second season - it will be broadcast in 2016.
3rd place - "Friends" / Friends
Budget: 10 million dollars per series in the last season
Typically, Sitcoma costs the TV channels much cheaper than historical TV shows or drams, since the caste at the Sitkomov less, the episodes are shorter, and the scenery is required at least. "Friends" in this sense was an exception - but only because the actors of the series by the last season were almost the most bright stars of that era. As a result, Matt Leblan, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudroo and Courtney Coke earned in the last season of "friends" exactly a million per series - 60% of the budget for each episode. According to rumors, that is why "friends" and ended - further to increase the fees to the actors, the creators of the series simply could not.
2nd place - "Rome" / Rome
Budget: 10 million dollars per series
Unlike Dedwood, another HBO series, "Rome", was lucky a little more - 15% of the first season value paid BBC for the right to broadcast the series in the UK. "Rome" was not only a record expensive, but also a record-popular TV series - he won 7 Emmy, was nominated for the Golden Globe. However, despite this, the series because of the high costs closed only 2 seasons after only 2 seasons.
1st place - "Ambulance" / Er
Budget: 13 million dollars per series (in 1998-1999)
"Ambulance" not only helped to "launch" a career of George Clooney, but also turned out to be one of the most popular TV series of the era of the nineties. The ambulance has everything - the most famous invited stars, ambitious ratings and many awards. In 1997, in order not to lose George Clooney, by the time the already started to receive roles in Hollywood, NBC agreed to pay the record record fee and expanded the cast. The decision was erroneous: for the next 2 seasons, "ambulance" lost 15% of the ratings, and Clooney in 1999 still left the series. Fortunately for fans, the series coped with the loss of Clooney and "lived" until 2009, ending the 15 season.