JULY 26, 2007: The highest paid "Desperate Housewife" shares the same position with the most expensive "Grey's Anatomy" star on the just released chart of top paid entertainers in the TV industry.
According to this week's TV Guide, "Grey's" star Ellen Pompeo (snapped yesterday at "The Bourne Ultimatum" premiere in LA) who plays the titular character on the show and the recently wed "Desperate Housewife" Eva Longoria both earn $200,000 per episode giving them #7 on the chart of the highest paid TV stars.
The top prime-time position went to William Petersen of CBS CSI who earns half a million USD per episode.
The highest paid TV ceebrity overall is of course talk queen Oprah Winfrey with an unbelievable $260 million per year.
The highest paid news anchor is the lowest-rated one: Katie Couric who moved from NBC's Today to CBS Evening News earns $15 million per year.
Here are the charts:
TOP FIVE (all salaries are per year)
Oprah Winfrey ("The Oprah Winfrey Show"): $260 million
Simon Cowell ("American Idol"): $45 million
Judge Sheindlin ("Judge Judy"): $30 million
Katie Couric ("CBS Evening News Anchor"): $15 million
Zach Braff ("Scrubs"): $6.3 million
NETWORK PRIME TIME (all salaries are per episode)
William Petersen ("CSI"): $500,000
Charlie Sheen ("Two and a Half Men"): $350,000
Mariska Hargitay ("Law & Order: SVU"): $350,000
Chris Meloni ("Law & Order: SVU"): $350,000
Hugh Laurie ("House"): $300,000
Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("New Adventures of Old Christine"): $225,000
Ellen Pompeo ("Grey's Anatomy"): $200,000
Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives"): $200,000
DAYTIME (all salaries are per year)
Judge Judy: $30 million
Bob Barker: $10 million
Maury Povich (per year plus profits): $7 million
Ellen DeGeneres: $5 million
Jerry Springer: $3 million - 4 million
Tyra Banks: $3.5 million
NEWS ANCHORS (all salaries are per year)
Katie Couric ("CBS Evening News" anchor): $15 million
Matt Lauer (NBC "Today" co-anchor): $12 million
Meredith Vieira (NBC "Today" co-anchor): $10 million
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI guess salary doesn't include money they get for being a producer?
In that case Ellen Degeneres would be much higher ranked, I guess.
thanks Justin for the most interesting post
ReplyDeleteI don't think that SVU is doing good enough in the ratings to justify Chris/Mariska's huge salary (although I have a thing for Chris from his Oz days!)
And Ellen Pompeo is far from the star of her show, which is ironic because she is the title character. She doesn't get more screen time than the others, and it seems that Katherine Heigl is going to be gunning for her salary after Knocked Up did so well.
you're very welcome. I also believe Patrick Dempsey is right there neck by neck with Pompeo. No surprise given how some people go ga-ga over him.
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