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TeleTales 25…My How Thing$ Have Changed
As you look at these numbers, consider this. What cost $100,000 in 1975 dollars now costs $440,030. If you remember from a few days back, “Miami Vice” cost almost $1.3 million per episode when it debuted in 1984. Anyone have a chart like this for today’s shows? Enjoy and share. -Bobby Ellerbee
The “Harper’s Index” once reported that Miami Vice had a higher budget per episode than the real Miami Police vice dept. had per year.
I wonder if they costs of today are anywhere close to what they will actually pay for…
A contemporary 1-hour American scripted network drama typically costs about $3 million per episode in 2015; cable shows are about half that. Sitcoms start at about $1M. Reality shows are typically $200K-$500K, depending on the network (and some are much less). Above-the-line talent is still the biggest factor, not the physical production.
Neat!
If I remember it right, Miami Vice was the first show to break a million an episode on a regular basis, partly for the expensive props like Ferraris, but also for the music rights. The next show to break a million was the original Battlestar Galactica, those costs were all in the special effects.
Dean Martin’s show costs probably related more to the rights to use the songs he sang. One of the reasons a lot of singing-related shows died out was the licensing.
Gregg Garrison kept the budget tight on Dean’s show. All the stars that appeared probably went in for “scale” because they just wanted to be on Dean’s show to have fun and didn’t need the money.
What about the $800,000 for Dino’s show in 197/7/78? Was that a divorce year, or a year all the bets were due? Never mind, it was Disney’s budget.
Those sci-fi’s sure were expensive…anyone know what Star Trek would have cost back in the 60’s?
Between 78 & 79 something major must have happened on the prairie! 270k to 425k.
Would love to know cost on Hill Street Blues
I would guess that much of the increases shown over the years for any given show were due to increased costs for lead actors (producers wanting to keep their stars, in order to keep the show on the air), particularly when looking at the final year of a show.
Cool! Bobby, what’s the source of this table? Thx!
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