Highest Paid TV Performers (the sequel)

We previously had this thread on salaries of TV performers:

Highest paid TV performers

I guess an update is needed:

Salaries of TV’s Top Talent Revealed

Examples:

Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) - $1M per episode
Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls on Netflix) - $750K per 90 min. episode
Judge Judy - $47M a season
Mark Harmon (NCIS) - $525K per episode
Daniel Craig (Purity on HBO) - $250K per episode

 

Some interesting numbers:

COMEDY



DRAMA



REALITY



With few exceptions, I think these people are worth it. (I think Bill O'Reilly makes less now.)

 

Judge Judy. Who would have thought? What a sweet gig she has going. She should be sharing some of that with Judge Wappner's family.

 

Alexis better save her money. She certainly doesn't seem to have the talent to do anything else and Hollywood was not beating a path to her door after the show ended its long run.

 

No Lester Holt?

 

Where are Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria from The Simpsons? I know there was a bit of a kerfuffle with the fact that the show wanted to pay more to the cast members who voice members of the family, but I don't really think that's fair. Harry and Hank both perform over 20 regular voices on the show, plus lots of bit players. This compared to Yeardley Smith who pretty much just does Lisa or Julie Kavner who only does Marge, her sisters and her mother.

 

After the first 5-6 years or so, the agents and actors on The Simpsons got together and negotiated a "most favored nations" contract that said that all five lead actors (Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, and Yeardley Smith) would make the exact same salary regardless of the number of voices they did. In the last five years, Castellaneta became an executive producer, so he gets an additional paycheck (my guess is another $50K a week). I believe each actor makes $300K per episode ($6M/year), but co-creator/producer James L. Brooks is making more. The late Sam Simons said he made $5 million a year on the show as well, even though he only worked on the first four seasons. I believe nobody gets any residuals except for Brooks and Matt Groening.

Azaria was recently on the Howard Stern Show promoting his very funny IFC series Brockmire, and he admitted he worked less than 3 hours a week on The Simpsons. He also revealed that while they used to record the show with all the voice actors in the same room at the same time, but because they're all so busy nowadays, it was decided they would record all their parts separately, which Azaria prefers. The reason is that he can read the same line 10 different ways, and then the director and producers can decide which interpretation to use in the final show. Azaria had only good things to say about all the people on the show, and said he stayed away from all the controversy.

 

Notice not a single actor from an AMC show on any list.

 

Howard Stern has had Brian Cranston on several times, and Howard asked, "gee, you must have been really well-paid on Breaking Bad," and Cranston literally laughed out loud and said, "not at all -- it's basic cable money!" I got the impression he got about $200K an episode in the last year or so it was on the air, but only a fraction of that for the first few years. However, he said it was the "role of a lifetime" that would give him future work for a long time. AMC has been pretty stingy with budgets and particularly with actors' salaries.

 

Overall, and especially for the TV Networks, these are some of the worst contracts I have ever seen. These contracts are Bobby Bonilla BAD!

I should have become a Hollywood agent. Has to be one of the easiest jobs ever, IF you can get it. Must be like shooting fish in a barrel, given all the absolute crap programming that exists today.

And would someone for the love of all that is Holy, put the Big Bang Theory out of everyone's misery. The only reason to watch that show is for Jim Parsons and its eye candy.

 

Wow, I just read that the 2 asian actors from Hawaii Five O have quit, since they were being paid less than their white counter parts. How is this possible in this day and age!!!!!!

 

I like BBT. Not as funny as its first few seasons when it was more nerdy but it's entertaining and funnier than most of the other supposedly funny shows. Yep, they earn a lot of $$$$$$ but it's been the #1 show for several years.

What boggles my mind is Judge Judy's salary. A show where all of the stupidest people make an appearance - what do they do? Dredge up the bottom of the cesspool of homo sapiens?

 

I hate Big Bang theory but it's the #1 scripted show, #1 comedy still. Only football does better ratings on the big networks. So those stars are worth paying that much to keep the golden goose

 

I loved 'The Bing Bang Theory.' Past tense.

It stopped being funny a long time ago. I don't care if it's nerdy, not nerdy, sci-fi centric, non sci-fi centric, etc. I just want to watch a great show, which it ceased being a long, long time ago.

As I have opined before, it has become 'Friends.' And as bad as that show was, TBBT has become 100x worse.

I used to think David Schwimwmmer was the biggest whiner in TV history; however, Johnny Galeliexki has surpassed him by light years.

I get Jim Paraons' salary. No problem. I understand Kaley Cuoco's salary, no problem. Outside of Melissa, I can do without the rest of the cast.

The problem is, CBS has nothing to replace it with. So here's to X number of future seasons of The Big Bang Friends. Meh.

 

Can I point out, like I do every time these things come out.... even though they have been titled "Highest paid TV performers" these lists are really samples of what actors at different levels are being paid. It's not that everyone on TV who is not mentioned is making less than the people on the list.

 

One of my friends from high school tried being a Hollywood agent in the 1970s. Almost starved to death.

 

No, it's a miserable, difficult, stressful, awful job. If you doubt me, read Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency, which is as much the story of the entire film & TV business over the last 35 years as it is about the (former) biggest agency in town.

I think this is a much more complicated story than what's been reported in the press. The truth is that the two leads on the show were always the stars, and everybody else in the cast is a supporting player. There are no dramas like this where the top five or six characters all get paid exactly the same money. (I would point to Mark Harmon on NCIS as being a good example.)

The story below reveals that the two leads on Hawaii 5-0 were making $200,000 per episode, and the two Asian actors were offered $5000 a week below that. I think one reason is that the two stars' agents negotiated a deal that says they would be the highest-paid people in the show, so they couldn't quite match the extra $100K a year. What is true is that CBS would not give any of the other actors a percentage of the show, and generally that's reserved only for the very top players and producers.

CBS on ‘Hawaii Five-0’ Exits: Network Made ‘Large and Significant’ Salary Offers to Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park

My take is that things have always been like this in Hollywood, and this is not a racial issue at all. There is a pecking order, but it has more to do with fame and celebrity. I also think Daniel Kim had had 6 years on Lost and went right to 6 years on Hawaii 5-0, and it's a rare TV actor's career where they get 12 solid years of a high-paying role. He's already got the huge money and could retire right now.

 

'70s? Does not shock me at all. Salaries of actors/actresses are not even in the same dimension 40+ years later.

If there is anyone on this board that I would believe, it is you. I look forward to your posts of insights and behind the scenes in Hollywood.

Also, I was being somewhat facetious with my comment. I can only imagine the stresses of the job of an agent. I was a "Stockbroker" in NYC and that was pure hell. I can only imagine what it's like to be a Hollywood agent. Especially if you don't have A-list clientele. That must be like the ninth circle of hell. I will have to check out that book that you referenced.

And I would have loved to have been an actor, or more involved with visual arts. I wish I would have taken drama/theatre classes in high school and college instead of all that worthless crap I "learned." I could have been a contender.

Thanks again for the information. Much appreciated.

 

The book is way, way overkill -- it's 800 pages long and interviews something like 200 people -- but it opens the door to a very complex, messy world of contracts and greed and politics and money and fame and all that stuff. It's a very, very ugly story... drugs, suicide, lots of divorces, careers ended, betrayals, you name it. You could literally make a pretty good movie out of it if you just stuck to the more salacious parts.