10 Most Expensive TV Shows Of All Time
4. E.R. - $13 Million Per Episode
E.R. at its height in 1998 was costing $13 million per episode dues to one reason, its star, George Clooney. Clooney's career began to rise on the 90s while on E.R. and after record ratings the previous two years, the show was eager to keep him on board. Clooney left in 1999 anyway to pursue film and the show's budget lowered again, but during that time, Clooney was costing NBC record numbers.
The show focused on a group of doctors, of which Clooney was only one, in the Emergency Room of County General Hospital, a fictional hospital in Chicago. Like Friends, the show was insanely popular, and the actor's salaries, in particular Clooney's, rose as the show went on. Funnily, Clooney and E.R. co-star Noah Wyle appeared playing doctors in an episode of Friends, although this was in fact not a crossover to the show, but simply a funny nod to the series also running on NBC.
E.R. continued for another 7 seasons on NBC after Clooney left, but with his departure, the budget of the show, along with its ratings, dropped, and the show ended in 2009, after 15 seasons with an tirely separate cast from the show's origins, cast additions and departures leaving the show changed.