People's Choice Buzz Blog » Hugh Laurie

TV Salaries: How Much Is Your Favorite Star Worth?

pcavote — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:34:21 +0000

Even though you’re never supposed to discuss religion, politics, or money at the dinner table, as far as I know nobody forbids a conversation to do with outer space. Which is how we’re going to get around this sticking point, because it’s that time of year again when we need to bring up TV stars’ salaries. Which are once again of such an otherworldly, extraterrestrial, positively meta-planetary nature that it seems okay to discuss because it’s not really earth money, after all. And also because TV Guide did – in a really good feature story that breaks it all down. (I’m just going to give you some big names and dollar signs, but I think you’ll be interested in/appalled by some of these digits). Now before we get to the actual numbers, let’s remind ourselves that starring on a network television show is hard work. It may not require the physical wherewithal of say, hard manual labor. It may not require the intellect of a tenured university professor or a nuclear energy specialist investigating cold fusion in a lab. It may not be as strenuous and 24/7-ish as raising a family – but it certainly isn’t easy. This much we know. Plus, it’s a lot of pressure: you probably can’t eat too much or do anything stupid like go to jail and you have lots of people on your payroll and you’re wildly suspicious of everyone. The second thing we need to remember is that for every insane, ridiculously inflated dollar these guys earn per episode, there are people behind the scenes who are earning much, much more. I’m talking about the networks and the producers. Why? Because it’s all kept afloat by advertisers, and if an advertiser is happy he or she will pay handsomely to keep his or her product out there in front of our viewing faces. That said, let’s look at the bottom line. Among the drama fellas, the big earner is of course Hugh Laurie. Dr. House brings in $400,000 per episode. Any ideas on what you’d do if your work week ended with one of those checks in your mailbox? Mark Harmon brings in $375,000 per episode, Laurence Fishburne’s haul is $350,000. Denis Leary? Reportedly this firefighter brings in $350,000 as well, while Chris Meloni’s paycheck is $395K. Now to the comedies, where Charlie Sheen himself puts everybody else to financial shame with his $1.25 million bucks an episode for Two and a Half Men. (His partner in crime Jon Cryer brings in $550,000). Jeremy Piven? How about $350,000 a week for Entourage (you really can take an Emmy to the bank). Once he closes that Office door, Steve Carell kisses $297,000 a week goodbye. Although Steve may have even bigger dollars in store for him later, and we haven’t even mentioned the news anchors or talk show hosts. Now, not all TV stars make a fortune by Charlie Sheen standards. Selena Gomez only makes $30 grand per show. Kaley Cuoco brings in $60,000 for Big Bang Theory (her costar Johnny Galecki earns the same, and both of them trump Jim Parsons by twenty grand. Go figure). On the other hand, Miranda Cosgrove, another young’un, brings in $180,000 for iCarly. And fortunately – so as not to provoke the biggest catfight of all – each Desperate Housewife pockets $400K a show. Whew!

Now, lets take a peek at some of the ladies who shine on the little screen; voice your choice in today’s featured poll and and tell us who is most deserving of their paycheck:

Mariska Hargitay ( $395K/per episode)

Kyra Sedgwick ($350K/per episode)

Julianna Margulies ($175K/per episode)

Tina Fey ($350K/per episode)

The top earners, by category:

Drama (per episode)

Hugh Laurie (House) $400,000+
Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) $395,000 (each)
David Caruso (CSI: Miami) $375,000
Marg Helgenberger (CSI) $375,000
Mark Harmon (NCIS) $375,000
Laurence Fishburne (CSI) $350,000
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) $350,000
Denis Leary (Rescue Me) $350,000
Gary Sinise (CSI: NY ) $275,000
Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) $250,000
David Boreanaz (Bones) $200,000
Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) $200,000
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife ) $175,000
Dana Delany (Body of Proof ) $150,000
Lauren Graham (Parenthood) $150,000
Jada Pinkett Smith (HawthoRNe) $150,000
Jimmy Smits (Outlaw) $150,000
LL Cool J (NCIS: Los Angeles) $125,000
Chris O’Donnell (NCIS: Los Angeles) $125,000
Mark Feuerstein (Royal Pains) $125,000
Jason Lee (Memphis Beat) $125,000
Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds) $125,000
Tom Selleck (Blue Bloods) $125,000
Michael Weatherly (NCIS) $125,000
Matt Bomer (White Collar) $100,000
Nathan Fillion (Castle) $100,000
Thomas Gibson (Criminal Minds) $100,000
Jon Hamm (Mad Men) $100,000
Cole Hauser (Chase) $100,000
Alex O’Loughlin (Hawaii Five-0) $100,000
Timothy Olyphant (Justified ) $100,000
Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-0) $80,000
Angie Harmon (Rizzoli & Isles) $75,000
Anna Paquin (True Blood) $75,000
Blair Underwood (The Event) $75,000
Zachary Levi (Chuck) $60,000
Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries) $40,000
Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager) $40,000
Ashley Tisdale (Hellcats) $30,000

Late Night/Talk Syndication (per year)

Oprah Winfrey $315 million
Judge Judy Sheindlin $45 million
David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million
Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million
Conan O’Brien (The Conan O’Brien Show) $10 million
Ellen DeGeneres (The Ellen DeGeneres Show) $8 million
Jimmy Kimmel (Jimmy Kimmel Live) $6 million
Chelsea Handler (Chelsea Lately) $3.5 million
George Lopez (Lopez Tonight) $3.5 million

Reality (per year)

Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) $15 million
Joel McHale (The Soup) $2 million
Piers Morgan (America’s Got Talent) $2 million
Kate Gosselin (Kate Plus 8) $250,000 per episode
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi (Jersey Shore) $30,000 per episode

Comedy (per episode)

Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) $1.25 million
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) $550,000
Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives) $400,000
Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives) $400,000
Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) $400,000
Eva Longoria Parker (Desperate Housewives) $400,000
Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons) $400,000
Julie Kavner (The Simpsons) $400,000
Tina Fey (30 Rock) $350,000
Jeremy Piven (Entourage) $350,000
Steve Carell (The Office) $297,000
Angus T. Jones (Two and a Half Men) $250,000
David Duchovny (Californication) $200,000
Kevin Dillon (Entourage) $200,000
Adrian Grenier (Entourage) $200,000
Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly) $180,000
Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) $175,000
William Shatner ($#*! My Dad Says) $150,000
David Spade (Rules of Engagement) $150,000
Ed O’Neill (Modern Family) $100,000
Patrick Warburton (Rules of Engagement) $85,000
Betty White (Hot in Cleveland) $75,000
Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory) $60,000
Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) $60,000
Ty Burrell (Modern Family) $50,000
Jane Lynch (Glee) $50,000
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) $40,000
Matthew Morrison (Glee) $30,000
Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) $30,000
Dylan and Cole Sprouse (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) $20,000 (each)
Rico Rodriguez (Modern Family) $15,000

News (per year)

Matt Lauer (Today) $16 million +
Katie Couric (CBS) $15 million
Brian Williams (NBC) $12.5 million
Diane Sawyer (ABC) $12 million
Meredith Vieira (Today) $11 million
Bill O’Reilly (Fox News) $10 million
George Stephanopoulos (ABC) $8 million
Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) $7 million
Shepard Smith (Fox News) $7 million
Wolf Blitzer (CNN) $3 million
Christiane Amanpour (ABC) $2 million
Lawrence O’Donnell (MSNBC) $2 million
Eliot Spitzer (CNN) $500,000

Tagged: Charlie Sheen, denis leary, Eva Parker, Hugh Laurie, Jeremy Piven, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Kyra Sedgewick, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Cross, Mariska Hargitay, Mark Harmon, Miranda Cosgrove, paychecks, selena gomez, Steve Carell, Teri Hatcher, TV Guide, TV salaries

You Can Watch 1 Show: Pick your Favorite

pcavote — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:00:31 +0000

So it’s Wednesday. Happy Birthday to PCA faves Alyson Hannigan and Jim Parsons.You know who else has a b-day today? The late, great Steve McQueen. One of the silver screen’s more rugged, hunky, mysterious, badass, aloof, funny and totally charismatic actors — who encapsulated a generation and managed to inspire countless others (we can think of a few leading men who owe a thing or two to him, can you?) Speaking of the male mystique — and what it takes to make zillions and zillions of women swoon – and then buy DVDs: New Moon went on sale this past weekend and boy, did it sell. The second film in the Twilight Saga even blew away its predecessor in first weekend sales, moving over 4 million DVDs! Not bad for a couple of cute but very serious kids in a rainy town fighting off baddies while they wait (along with the rest of us) through 3/4s of the film for the hot guy to return for 6 minutes. Did you watch “American Idol”? And if so, are you wondering about the whole Miley Cyrus guest-mentor thing? In other reality TV news, here’s something new. Do you love Paula Abdul? How about Kenny Ortega (the mastermind behind High School Musical and This Is It, just for starters). If you are a fan, that’s good – because it looks like this pair’s really got something cooking. Maybe it’s a brand new reality show all about flash mobs. Really. Apparently that’s the latest, er, guess about Paula Abdul’s next career move. We’ll keep you posted. Now obviously reality TV is huge with or without Paula Abdul (I happen to think it’s more fun to have her around). And doesn’t the whole DVR/Tivo thing make it that much easier to get addicted to several shows at once? Now let’s try and recall a time when you couldn’t just watch anything you wanted at any time (and this from a blogger who actually convinced her parents to buy “The Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller” on VHS just so she could watch his famous ‘Grammy Moonwalk’ daily). How long could we survive nowadays without lots of different TV at our fingertips, 24/7? Thus for today’s poll, let’s just say you can watch one (1) show all summer. As many times as you want, as many episodes as you like, but just one show. You can’t watch anything else. Voice your choice in today’s featured poll and let us know, if you could only watch episodes of a single TV show for the entire summer, which of these would you choose?

1) American Idol

2) Dancing With The Stars

3) House

4) Supernatural

Tagged: Alyson Hannigan, DWTS, High School Musical, Hugh Laurie, Jim Parsons, Kenny Ortega, Michael Jackson's Thriller, Miley Cyrus, New Moon DVD, Paula Abdul, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, This Is It, Twilight

Celebrity Novelists

fredonelson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:12:43 +0000

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad

The apocalypse is upon us: Lauren Conrad has written a novel. And it was published. On purpose.

The former star of MTV’s Laguna Beach and The Hills has penned the first of a three book deal. It’s called L.A. Candy. The plot sounds an awful lot like Conrad’s life so far, but I won’t judge. I also won’t read it.

Check out Lisa Schwarzbaum’s fantastic take on the whole thing on EW.com (http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20285499,00.html) Schwarzbaum gives L.A. Candy a grade of C, but she also reminds us that other stars-turned-novelists have fared better with their literary endeavors.

Namely, she assigns B grades to novels by Hugh Laurie, Steve Martin and Blair Underwood. Which one are you most likely to read? Voice your choice in today’s featured poll. That is, if you’re able to put down your copy of L.A. Candy long enough to click your mouse.

Tagged: Blair Underwood, Hugh Laurie, L.A. Candy, Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, Lauren Conrad, MTV, Steve Martin, The Hills

House Takes Best TV Drama

pcavote — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:43:57 +0000

Remember when Hugh won for himself and everyone stood up? It seems He’s just won again. Do you gusy think its deserved? I certainly like he show but I must say that I certainly like Grey’s and I’ve not seen a lot of CSI (too scary) so …anyone wanna weigh in on the House victory? I mean Hugh Laurie is certainly compelling. But I do cry during Grey’s a lot. For example, the great Chandra Wilson just got up and started talking about helping people. I got all misty. So did the right show win?

Tagged: Chandra Wilson, CSI, Grey's Anatomy, House, Hugh Laurie

So HUGH LAURIE in a stunner …

pcavote — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:53:19 +0000

…notbecause its a stunner that he won the Favorite Male TV star…but rather here’s the deal…when Teri Hatcher announced his award it sees that THE AUDIENCE STOOD UP. It was a moment of reverence I tell you. thyre not getting up for anyone else. Oh maybe they will be they haven’t yet. No this is a nice testament to Hugh’s rather elegant stature. Like I said, stunning.

Tagged: Hugh Laurie, Teri Hatcher