The Simpsons May Get Canceled!!! ...

[sapphi_snake]

RolStoppable said:

Slimebeast said:

I still don't believe it. An A class Hollywood actor typically gets $8-10 million for a movie (if he is not Leonardo Dicaprio or Will Smith) and a movie including preparations takes a year for an actor to make.

But in the end a movie is just about two hours long while a full season for a show is eight to ten hours. I haven't looked at DVD prices in a while, but a full season should easily cost more than a single movie. And while the movie has also theaters to generate money, the TV show has commercial breaks; ads during prime time bring in a lot of money.

I have a hard time believing that an entire season of a sitcom costs more than a movie to make. Sitcoms generally have very low production values, and they reuse the same sets over and over again. Also, most of those shows take place indoors. The actors are probably the most expensive things about those type of shows.

Even whole seasons of 1 hour dramas are unlikely to cost more than a movie. It's simply too big of a risk to invest a lot of money in these typeof shows. A good example is Terro Nova, whose Pilot episode cost $ 20 million (I think it's the most expensive Pilot ever), and had poorer ratings than Two and a Half Men. A show would need huge ratings (American Idol levels, or more) to justify costing as much as a movie.

Most 1 hour shows cost about $ 2-3 million/episode tops, and sitcoms probably don't even cost $1 million/episode.