Top 10 Most Expensive TV Flops Ever
As TV slowly ventures further into big-budget productions, it's only natural that a few fall flat. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we're counting down our picks for the top ten most expensive TV flops ever.
For this list, we'll be discussing some of the biggest flops in television history and ranking them based on the severity of their failures. Now, we're not saying that these shows are bad. In fact, many of them are quite good. We're only stating that they failed to find a mainstream audience and were swiftly cancelled, losing their studios a ton of money in the process.
#10: “Kings” (2009)
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“Kings” was set to be NBC’s great drama. It was based on a biblical story, it starred the incredible Ian McShane fresh off his revolutionary performance as Al Swearengen on “Deadwood,” and the studio reportedly put up a whopping $10 million for its pilot. The subsequent episodes weren’t much cheaper, most of them coming with a $4 million bill. Judging by those numbers, we can assume that the thirteen episodes of “Kings,” including its two-part pilot, cost well over $50 million to produce. However, the show received middling reviews and viewers quickly dropped off after the first couple of episodes, resulting in “Kings’” swift cancellation. Talk about a short reign.
#9: “Battlestar Galactica” (1978-79)
Before getting a new and enduring lease on life in the 2000s, the Battlestar Galactica franchise kicked off with a tv series in the late 1970s that rode the sci-fi popularity wave of the first Star Wars film. And, like most convincing science fiction, it wasn’t cheap to produce. Each episode cost about $1 million to produce, or just under $4 million in today’s dollars. And while “Battlestar Galactica” initially saw success, it quickly sunk in the ratings when CBS moved its hit show “All in the Family” to the same time slot. ABC cancelled the show after one season, leading to protests and, unfortunately, the suicide of one fan.
#8: “Cop Rock” (1990)
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Cop shows were big business in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Series like “Hill Street Blues” and “NYPD Blue” both garnered critical acclaim and devoted audiences. “Cop Rock,” a musical cop drama (yes, you heard that right), unfortunately didn’t fare as well. It is often considered one of the worst dramas of all time, and it unsurprisingly didn’t garner much of an audience. Each episode cost almost $2 million to produce, or just under $4 million today, but despite its lavish production values, its bizarre concept was too much to handle. ABC cancelled the show after just eleven episodes, and “Cop Rock” was deemed one of the biggest TV failures of the decade.
#7: “The Get Down” (2016-17)
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Sorry Netflix... they can’t all be winners. “The Get Down” was a massive production from Baz Luhrmann, the artistic visionary behind gorgeous productions like “Romeo + Juliet,” “Moulin Rouge!” and “The Great Gatsby.” Netflix originally planned for the show to cost $11 million per episode, or about $120 million for the season, but the budget ended up ballooning as high as $16 million an episode. The final budget was estimated to be somewhere between $180 and $200 million, about as much as a Marvel production. Unfortunately, the gamble didn’t pay off, and Netflix was forced to cancel the show after one season due to its low viewership and exorbitant costs.
#6: “Viva Laughlin” (2007)
“Viva Laughlin” was an ambitious project from CBS. Hugh Jackman starred and served as executive producer, and the pilot episode alone cost nearly $7 million to produce. However, the show was absolutely roasted by critics, with one writer from The New York Times questioning whether it could possibly be a contender for the worst show of all time. The viewers seemed to agree, as the show was quickly cancelled. And we mean quickly. The show received the axe after just two episodes, leaving five produced episodes unaired. Now that’s what we call a bomb.
#5: “Bionic Woman” (2007)
“The Bionic Woman” was a hit in the ‘70s, so naturally it was bound to get the remake treatment. The reboot debuted on NBC in 2007, but the critics absolutely despised it, and, despite respectable viewership numbers, the writer’s strike of 2007 put an end to the show’s production after just eight episodes. This spelled disaster for NBC, as each episode of the show reportedly cost around $6 million to produce, and the network spent $15 million on marketing. Judging by those numbers, NBC spent around $60 million on a show that was cancelled after just eight episodes. Not exactly a good return on investment!
#4: “Camelot” (2011)
“Camelot” was another Starz attempt at a sword and sandal drama after “Spartacus” proved to be a big hit. “Spartacus” this was not. The show was run by “Torchwood” and “The Tudors” alums Chris Chibnall and Michael Hirst respectively, and it starred Joseph Fiennes and Eva Green. If you think this sounds expensive, it was. Each episode cost around $7 million to produce, and with ten aired episodes, it’s assumed that Starz pumped about $70 million into “Camelot.” However, the show was criticized for being dull and silly, and despite the premiere being the highest-rated pilot in Starz history, it was cancelled after ten episodes due to scheduling conflicts with the cast.
#3: “Supertrain” (1979)
“Supertrain” is known for being one of the biggest laughs in television history, and unfortunately… it wasn't a comedy. It’s often ranked in worst TV show lists and it was a massive commercial failure the likes of which had never yet been seen. While exact numbers are hard to come by, “Supertrain” is considereed the most expensive American show ever produced at the time, and NBC put a massive amount of money behind its marketing. However, the show’s poor quality resulted in low viewership, and it was cancelled after just three months and nine episodes. NBC wasn’t able to recover its enormous losses and the network nearly went bankrupt.
#2: “Terra Nova” (2011)
Science fiction is always tricky to produce. It costs a lot of money to make convincingly, and many sci-fi shows end up with a niche audience at best. “Terra Nova” received great initial reviews, with many critics praising its ambition and dazzling special effects. While the quality tended to vary, it was a relatively solid season of television. However, these ambitions came with a price. The pilot ended up costing the network around $14 million, with each subsequent episode tallying around $4 million. And while the show averaged around 7 million viewers an episode, this wasn’t enough for Fox, who ended the series after just thirteen episodes.
#1: “Marco Polo” (2014-16)
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“Marco Polo” served as a huge shock to Netflix subscribers. The network was known for its relatively small-scale dramas, including “House of Cards” and “Orange Is the New Black,” yet here was a massive production on par with HBO. In fact, Netflix picked up the series for $90 million, making it the world’s second most expensive show at the time behind “Game of Thrones.” However, the show received scathing reviews and failed to catch on, despite Netflix’s admirable attempts to revitalize it. They cancelled the show after just two seasons, making it one of Netflix’s (and TV’s) biggest bombs, to the estimated tune of a $200 million loss.
