Since we last looked at the costs of the top TV shows in 2015<\/a><\/u>, the budget of Game of Thrones almost doubled to \u00a311.8 million per episode \u2013 and the show has come to a bewildering end that left audiences asking if they\u2019d got their money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n The final season is the worst rated on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a><\/u>, scoring just 58% from the critics and 33% from audiences. All the same, the finale, which was the lowest-rated GoT episode ever with a mere 4.2\/10 on IMDb<\/a><\/u>, broke HBO\u2019s viewership records<\/a><\/u> regardless of its perceived shortcomings.<\/p>\n Pound for pound, however, it\u2019s a British show that offers the best value for its producers\u2019 money. Peaky Blinders costs around one-tenth of the Game of Thrones budget and rates at 8.8 on IMDb. \u201cReservoir Dogs with tweed waistcoats,\u201d as the Telegraph\u2019s TV critic<\/a><\/u> put it, hinting at the gritty low-budget appeal, \u201cgets better with each passing series.\u201d<\/p>\n Our new guide to the cost of producing the best and worst rated shows on TV in 2019 reiterates this sense that it\u2019s not always the size of your production budget that counts, but what you do with it. The costly robots of Westworld are rivalled in ratings by the non-union zombies of The Walking Dead for a third of the price; Lost In Space was just as mediocre as the decidedly more earthbound NCIS: New Orleans.<\/p>\n And in the short-term, with the complete series rating hovering around 9.5 on IMDb, Game of Thrones still manages to top our new table as both the highest rated and highest costing show. But when you consider the bitter taste on the tongues of millions of disappointed HBO subscribers, would a more thought-through finale have been a better investment than all that extra cash? Or are GoT fans just sour because (as experts suggest) they\u2019re going through an end-of-show \u2018break-up\u2019<\/a><\/u>?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Methodology<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We gathered our research primarily from production news sources such as Bloomberg, Variety, the BBC, and Reuters. We then supplemented these figures with progress reports released by the California, Louisiana and New York state film commissions. Finally, we corroborated the numbers by reviewing interviews featuring the show runners and producers discussing their budgets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Berman, N. (2016). Why It Costs Some Animation Shows Up To $2 Million To Make A Single Episode<\/a><\/u>. moneyinc.com<\/p>\n Biller, D (2015). Low Budget TV Shows That Are Better Than Most Huge Blockbuster Series<\/a><\/u>. io9.gizmodo.com<\/p>\n Briggs, N. (2014). Big Budget Drama Outlander films in Scotland<\/a><\/u>. BBC.com<\/p>\n CityBusiness. (2018). Warner Bros. sticking with Louisiana for two TV shows<\/a><\/u>. neworleanscitybusiness.com<\/p>\n Clarendon, D. (2016). How Shonda Rhimes Manges $350 Million of ABC\u2019s Money Per Year<\/a><\/u>. wetpaint.com<\/p>\n Collins, S. (2015). Empire and its phenomenal ratings a top priority for Fox<\/a><\/u>. latimes.com<\/p>\n Drama Quarterly. (2015). Inside Steven Knight\u2019s critically acclaimed period drama Peaky Blinders<\/a><\/u>. dramaquartlerly.com<\/p>\n Empire State Development. (2018). New York Film Tax Credit – Quarterly Report – 2018<\/a><\/u>. esd.ny.gov<\/p>\n Esmeralda, J. (2018). 25 Little Details Only True Fans Know About Vikings<\/a><\/u>. screenrant.com<\/p>\n Fitzpatrick, K. (2018). \u00a0American Gods Loses Another Showrunner Amid Reports of On-set Turmoil<\/a><\/u>. dcreencrush.com<\/p>\n Huang, H. (2017). How Amazon Rates TV Shows<\/a><\/u>. thomsonreuters.com<\/p>\n James, A. Netflix\u2019s all-time most expensive shows<\/a><\/u>. looper.com<\/p>\n Jeffery, M. (2019). The 15 Most Expensive TV Shows of All Time – Ranked.<\/a><\/u> digitalspy.com<\/p>\n Lemisch, A. (2018). California Film Commision – Film and Television Tax Credit Programs – Progress Report<\/a><\/u>. film.ca.gov<\/p>\n Lloyd, R. (2018). Netflix\u2019s Decidedly 21st Century reboot is worth blasting off with<\/a><\/u>. latimes.com<\/p>\n Meza, E. (2015). Homeland Shoot Prompts Berlin to Add $1.63 million a Year to Film and TV Funding<\/a><\/u>. variety.com<\/p>\n Mitrokostas, S. (2018). \u00a014 of the Most Expensive TV Episodes of All Time<\/a><\/u>. insider.com<\/p>\n Reddit. (2019). So, this is the budget for season 9, can anyone confirm if it\u2019s higher or lower than previous seasons?<\/a><\/u>. reddit.com<\/p>\n Ryan, M. Littleton, Cynthia (2017). TV Series Budgets Hit the Breaking Point as Costs Skyrocket in Peak TV Era<\/a><\/u>. variety.com<\/p>\n Ryan, M. (2017). Will Out-of-Control Episode Costs Kill Peak TV?<\/a><\/u>. variety.com<\/p>\n Scott, M. (2017). TNT series Claws Files Paperwork to Shoot Season 2 in Louisiana<\/a><\/u>. nola.com<\/p>\n Smith, G. (2019). \u00a0It Takes Deep Pockets to Fight Netflix<\/a><\/u>. bloomberg.com<\/p>\n Verrier, R. (2014). Amazon is a rising star in Hollywood<\/a><\/u>. latimes.com<\/p>\n (2016). The astronomical cost of making The Big Bang Theory<\/a><\/u>. news.com.au<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/11\/How-much-does-it-cost-to-produce-your-favorite-TV-show-UK.png\")
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