Television star salaries

Posted on by Forest in General, Opinion

Entertainment is huge business, but of course you already know that. But do you know just how huge? Televisions stars are commanding ever growing salaries and I am sure you have had heard the odd story hear and there about so and so getting this much per episode and so and so getting this much. When you actually commit the figures to screen it’s quite astounding that anyone could ever get paid the cash some of these stars do. So what are those figures?

Television star salaries listed

Here are some of the biggest salaries commanded by television stars in the United States. Brace yourself, it will make you feel a little ill!

Zach Braff – I didn’t expect Zach to be even close to this amount for staring in the popular Scrubs show but he reportedly gets $350000 per episode. Yowza!!!

Chris Meloni & Mariska Hargitay - Both of these starts work on Law & Order Special Victims Unit and draw $350000 per episode each!

William Peterson – William earns a stunning $600000 per episode of CSI!

These 4 stars are the smalltime though compared to some of the salaries that are running wild out there.

Charlie Sheen - Unbelievably Charlie Sheen is now drawing 1.25million from every episode of the massive show 2 and a Half Men.

James Gandolphi - Believ it or not he grabs $22 million per year for staring in The Sopranos.

David Letterman – His annual salary is closing in at $40 million per year.

Dr Phil - I am suprised he beats Letterman with a nice little $45 million.

Oprah Winfrey - You knew she would be top right? And her salary makes the others very jealous I am sure. She rakes in $350 million every year for her show.

Do these television stars deserve their salaries?

I’m all for one to share the wealth and everything but I have to say in the current system of the USA (which of course I would like to change) they do deserve their cash. The fact is their shows drag in more than they earn via advertising and other deals. Millions of American’s keep tuning in and some of these stars shows carry the entire network.

I’m still shocked at Zach Braff’s earnings let alone the likes of the talk show giants and obviously this list is only a snapshot of the money that is being thrown around. Even though stars like Oprah are not joining the Giving Pledge for now it’s still clear that many of them do use a lot of their money for good and you would think their tax bills could get everyone off the streets or something all by itself!

What do you think about the amount of money being paid to these stars?

Tags: how much do tv stars make, how much does oprah winfrey earn, tv stars wages, who earns the most on tv