With the fall TV season approaching, some Americans may be wondering what Ashton Kutcher will pocket for yucking it up in place of Charlie Sheen on CBS' Two and a Half Men. What will Lea Michele earn for strenuously belting her heart out on Glee? Here's a sampling of TV's star salaries:
$125,000
Typical salary per episode for lead actors on a new prime-time network series, according to Stephen Battaglio and Michael Schneider at TV Guide. (Most network series have 22-26 episodes per season.)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
$1.2 million
Salary per episode that Charlie Sheen took home in his final season of Two and a Half Men
$700,000
Salary per episode that Ashton Kutcher will receive for replacing Sheen on Two and a Half Men
$600,000
Salary per episode of Kutcher's less famous Two and a Half Men co-star, Jon Cryer
$225,000
Salary per episode Tim Allen and Kiefer Sutherland will each receive for returning to TV this season for the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing and the Fox drama Touch, respectively
$1.25 million
Salary per episode Tim Allen received on Home Improvement during its final season
$550,000
Salary per episode that Kiefer Sutherland received for the Fox drama 24 in 2009
$225,000
Christina Aguilera's salary per episode to judge The Voice, according to Brian Moylan at Gawker
$75,000
Salary per episode of Aguilera's Voice co-judges Adam Levine, Cee-Lo Green, and Blake Shelton
$15 million
Katie Couric's annual salary before she left CBS Evening News. Her replacement, Scott Pelley, "started at under a third" of that figure.
$17 million
Matt Lauer's annual salary for hosting the Today show. That's $4 million more than Brian Williams, $5 million more than Diane Sawyer, $6 million more than Anderson Cooper, and $7 million more than Bill O'Reilly.
$225,000
Ted Danson's per-episode salary for CSI, on which he'll replace Laurence Fishburne this year. Fishburne took home $350,000 per episode.
$400,000
Salary per episode earned by The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, and Kaley Cuoco, says James Hibberd at The Hollywood Reporter. Their show was TV's most-watched comedy last season.
$1 million
Salary per episode earned by each of the Friends stars at the height of their show's popularity
$300,000
Tina Fey's per-episode salary for 30 Rock
$40,000
Lea Michele's per-episode salary on Glee, which typically attracted twice as many viewers as 30 Rock last season
$100,000
Per-episode salary of each overly-tanned Jersey Shore cast member
Sources: Access Hollywood, Entertainment Weekly (2), Gawker, Hollywood Reporter, Richest, NY Times, Screen Rant, TV Guide (2)
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
What to know when filing a hurricane insurance claimThe Explainer A step-by-step to figure out what insurance will cover and what else you can do beyond filing a claim
-
How fees impact your investment portfolio — and how to save on them
The Explainer Even seemingly small fees can take a big bite out of returns
-
Enemy without
Cartoons
