Matthew Morrison is Paid the Same as Snooki, and 5 Other Devastating TV Paycheck Comparisons
You think that your paycheck is unfair? Imagine being an Emmy-winning actress who's being out-earned by a 16-year-old. Or even worse, put yourself in the shoes of an accomplished Broadway and television star who pulls in just as much as a spray-tanned Jersey Shore personality who's best known for eating pickles drunk. TV Guide has put out a new list of TV's highest (and lowest) paid stars, and with that in mind, here are some of the worst paycheck injustices littering the airwaves.
· You've surely heard of potential EGOT candidate Matthew Morrison, who sings, dances, white-raps, and acts on the Emmy-nominated series Glee? His $30,000 per-episode paycheck is the same as Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, who drinks, dances and smooshes on Jersey Shore.
· Kevin Dillon, a supporting actor on Entourage, has an episode fee of $200,000 -- twice what Mad Men's Emmy-winning lead Jon Hamm makes. Hamm also pulls in just as much as the virtually unknown Cole Hauser ($100,000), who is headlining NBC's freshman drama Chase this fall.
· Two and a Half Men star Angus T. Jones, 16, makes $250,000 per half-hour episode. Compare that to Emmy-winning Good Wife actress Julianna Margulies, who pulls down $175,000 per hourlong episode.
· Award magnet (and future Saturday Night Live host) Jane Lynch cashes a check for $50,000 per episode, exactly a quarter of what her fellow Fox star David Boreanaz takes home each installment.
· 30 Rock's absolutely essential Tina Fey ($350,000) makes less than any of the four stars left on Desperate Housewives (Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria), who each earn a healthy $400,000 per episode.
· Kate Gosselin ($250,000) makes more than Edie Falco ($175,000), Ed O'Neill ($100,000), Betty White ($75,000) or Jim Parsons ($40,000) per episode.
Go ahead and weep already.
· Who Are TV's Top Earners? [TV Guide]
Subscribe to the new Movieline on YouTube
Comments
To be fair, Snookie requires a bit more, shall we say, "upkeep".
Snooki should make at least 50 G's per episode. I hope the Situation pulls in more.
Supply and demand...
Overall I doubt most of these actors really care that they make less than trashy tabloid TV stars. Jon Hamm and Tina Fey seemed thrilled and grateful that their shows do well enough to stay on the air. Their shows definitely aren't for everyone, and that's one of the things that makes them so great to watch.
The glee cast is so large, the amount of money they get paid would have to be lower also it I'm sure I read somewhere it costs $2 million to make each episode because of the fees for the music. Also the Jane Lynch vs David, he already had a name for himself and the size of the cast is smaller, also he's in every episode and has a large amount of screen time.
"Devastating"? Come on. They're all making a LOT of money. Nothing devastating about that.
I agree with the previous 3 posts. Especially about the Jane Lynch vs. David Boreanaz thing; Boreanaz is one of the TWO main characters on the show and he is in just about every scene of every episode, while no matter how brilliantly Lynch plays Sue Sylvester, the reality is she's not on the screen all that often. Not to mention how far he takes (and changes with) his character, while Lynch's Sue has to remain the same brilliantly malicious villain 95% of the time.
And nothing about any of these paychecks is devastating. I'd be happy to have the lowest paycheck on this list.
I think the real question is how much does Elizabeth Hasselback make an episode. Because, really, she should pay us.
Kevin Dillon makes twice what Jon Hamm makes? That's bizarre. Of course, at least Kevin Dillon is sort of an actor, whereas Snooki is... a snooki.
Lord that's the truth.
I would think David B. would make more than 200,000 because he's been on tv for so long. But hey I'm sure he's not crying. Kid on Two and A Half men is set for life if he is saving money responsibly.
Yet I clip coupons...
Kate Gosselin pulls in $250 large per episode? And yet she dragged her tired ass all over the Dancing floor as if she was a poor single mom on food stamps trying to keep her kids from starving? She can rot.
AMEN!
(Lucky for her, she doesn't owe me much since I rarely punish myself by watching her).
Do you even go here?
Seriously? These "low paid" celebrities make per episode what I make in a year working my ass off....and I have a master's degree and an enormous amount of student loans. Boo Freaking Hoo. I'm sure they can all go home and cry on their big piles of money.
To me the most insane one is that Jim Parsons only makes $40,000 an episode. Isn't Big Bang Theory like the #2 comedy in America right now? If Angus T Jones can make $250,000 an episode, can't Jim Parsons (who is way more essential to his show's success) at least get $100k? I am not even a fan of Big Bang Theory (only seen in on airplanes) but that just seems crazy to me.
That baby machine Gosselin makes $250k per episode while Jim-freakin' Sheldon-Parsons makes only $40k?! If CBS can afford to pay that scumbag Sheen a million an episode, I think they can spare at least $200-250k on the comic genius of DR. SHELDON COOPER!
Didn't each of the Friends make a million per episode at one point?
In their last season, yes. So did Ted Danson for the last year of Cheers, and Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt for the unplanned last season of Mad About You when NBC's Thursday lineup was starting to look vulnerable. Also, Anthony Edwards is rumored to have been paid more than anyone in history for staying with ER for 3 more seasons.
That Gosselin paycheck is being split 9 ways though, so it doesn't come out to nearly as much. Who the hell cares' about Parsons?? Big bang theory is a comedy devoid of laughs, so they don't really deserve to make anything substantial. The exec's most likely realize that they don't have any other options, career-wise.
I mean I kind of agree with you on the quality of Big Bang Theory, BUT it is the number 2 comedy in America right now and if Charlie Sheen can take home $1 million for the number 1 comedy, Parsons clearly could be taking home more than $40,000 per ep.
This is really a stupid article but one they pull out at least once a year. They are comparing actors at different points in the history of their respective shows...actors on shows that have been on the air for several years are going to get paid a lot more than actors in new shows; they get raises every year the show is on the air and they negotiate raises if their shows become hits, (Jim Parsons and the Big Bang cast are renegotiating their contracts right now). Tina Fey undoubtedly makes far more than $350k per episode since she is the creator/producer/head writer and owns a piece of the show. And, please don't start the whole "It's shocking and horrifying that these over paid stars make so much money" whinefest. Yes, actors on tv shows make a lot of money, but you have to remember that their peak earning years are relatively brief. A fry cook, accountant, nurse or teacher can work at their jobs for 20, 30, 40 years and gradually earn more money. Actors on television usually get ONE hit show that lasts 4 to 8 years; the majority of them after that are back in low paid theater land/teaching/just getting by after the glory years. Case in point: Lauren Tewes, the star of megahit "The Love Boat" is now reportedly a cheese clerk in a Seattle grocery store. And, yes actors on tv shows can make big bucks but you have to also remember they have a LOT more people they have to pay to get those big paychecks; every successful actor in this article is also paying out 15, 20, 25% of their salaries to agents, managers, lawyers and publicists on top of big, fat tax bills. A third banana on a semi-hot show that runs 7 years might average out a million bucks a year but they are NOT taking home $7million bucks. After taxes and agent/manager fees they are probably taking home half that and the odds are that those are their peak earning years; in the seven years AFTER their show ends they might be taking home an average of $100k a year (if they don't book a new series) and their income is gradually going to decrease even further as they age. Smart actors on hit series save for that rainy day; dumb ones blow all their money on big houses, cars, drugs and the whole Hollywood lifestyle and end up as brokeass has-beens living in Encino.
We get outraged at insane CEO salaries, but the Desperate Housewives are getting $400, 000 per episode (8.8 million per 22 episode season)?
I'm not saying they don't work hard, or don't deserve decent money, but it does seem ridiculous...
@Bro Until the Desperate housewives are asking for a bailout, I could care less what they make. The CEOs on the other hand are being paid with American tax dollars. That is what people have a problem with. Not what they're paid, but how they're paid.
I think the Jane Lynch vs David Boreanaz thing is fair...I mean, she's a supporting actress who isn't in Glee all that much, as awesome as she is. David Boreanaz is one of the two stars, and is in almost every scene. It's also Bones' like fifth season or something, so his pay would have gone up, as opposed to it being Glee's first season.
The other's are outrageous though.
Next »