10 TV Shows With Massive Budgets That Failed
5. Vinyl
HBO, Martin Scorsese, and 1970s New York music scene. What could possibly go wrong?
This is one of those that look perfect on paper, but in reality it was a big, expensive mess. After Boardwalk Empire capped its successful run in 2014, and Game of Thrones was heading towards its final two seasons, HBO looked to plant the seeds of their next big prestige drama.
Intentionally or not, they followed the same blueprint that worked on Boardwalk Empire, appointing Scorsese to direct the pilot, with Terence Winter taking over for the rest of the show's run. They even had Mick Jagger as a consultant!
But it failed to live up to the promise, and it was visible from the start that Vinyl will not be able to reach the heights of previous HBO classics. The pilot alone cost $30 million to make and it only attracted around 750.000 viewers, making it the lowest-performing HBO pilot in years.
The rest of the season was all over the place, with creative differences being cited by multiple people as a major issue behind the scenes. So even though HBO announced that they are extending it for a second season only after two episodes had been shown, the rest of the run proved to be so chaotic that they changed their mind and decided to cancel it altogether four months later.