I love seeing what people earn, particularly when it is a lot amount of money. Then I like to pretend that I earn that much, in exchange for doing nothing. I’m not suggesting these people do nothing, that’s just how the game goes in my head. Much more fun than “I go to work for 15 hours, then I come home and sleep on 400 thread count sheets after eating really good take out”. It’s much more fun to begin the day sleeping til noon…

Anyway, the list is this one…

TOP FIVE
(all salaries are per year)

Oprah Winfrey (“The Oprah Winfrey Show”): US$260 million
Simon Cowell (“American Idol”): US$45 million
Judge Sheindlin (“Judge Judy”): US$30 million
Katie Couric (“CBS Evening News Anchor”): US$15 million
Zach Braff (“Scrubs”): US$6.3 million

NETWORK PRIME TIME
(all salaries are per episode)

William Petersen (“CSI”): US$500,000
Charlie Sheen (“Two and a Half Men”): US$350,000
Mariska Hargitay (“Law & Order: SVU”): US$350,000
Chris Meloni (“Law & Order: SVU”): US$350,000
Hugh Laurie (“House”): US$300,000
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“New Adventures of Old Christine”): US$225,000
Ellen Pompeo (“Grey’s Anatomy”): US$200,000
Eva Longoria (“Desperate Housewives”): US$200,000

DAYTIME
(all salaries are per year)

Judge Judy: US$30 million
Bob Barker: US$10 million
Maury Povich (per year plus profits): US$7 million
Ellen DeGeneres: US$5 million
Jerry Springer: US$3 million – 4 million
Tyra Banks: US$3.5 million

NEWS ANCHORS
(all salaries are per year)

Katie Couric (“CBS Evening News” anchor): US$15 million
Matt Lauer (NBC “Today” co-anchor): US$12 million
Meredith Vieira (NBC “Today” co-anchor): US$10 million

NZ Herald

How do the supporting players in a TV show feel when they see the lead star getting paid so well? For example, I would have thought the cast of Desperate Housewives got paid equally?

Like with Sex and the City, you couldn’t make the show without all four of the women, so Kim Cattral won her bid to be paid equal to Sarah Jessica Parker. Then again, I couldn’t care less if they killed off a couple of Housewives.