This Just In: Your Favourite TV Stars Are Wildly Overpaid

If the phrase “Charlie Sheen money” calls to mind his reported $US350,000 per episode Two and a Half Men salary as readily as it might the escort-related expenditures of his infamously priapic, cheerleader-devouring bachelorhood, chances are you have already had ample opportunity to be disgusted by the excessive remuneration of your favourite TV personalities. But for those of you prepared to be appalled anew, a press release has compiled a list of boob-tube salaries that will be included in a more comprehensive accounting in the upcoming issue of TV Guide. Such as:

· OPRAH: $US260 million per year (includes what she earns from Rachael Ray, Dr. Phil, and other programs)
· SIMON COWELL: $US45 million per year (for American Idol and other projects)
· JUDGE JUDY: $US30 million per year
· KATIE COURIC: $US15 million per year
· ZACH BRAFF: $US6.3 million (for 18 episodes of Scrubs next season)

After the jump, more lists of the staggering sums being lavished upon the stars of popular sitcoms, widely franchised police procedurals, and daytime perversions of small-claims-court justice. Enjoy:

NETWORK PRIME TIME (all salaries are per episode)
William Petersen (CSI): $US500,000
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men): $US350,000
Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU): $US350,000
Chris Meloni (Law & Order: SVU): $US350,000
Hugh Laurie (House): $US300,000
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (New Adventures of Old Christine): $US225,000
Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy): $US200,000
Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives): $US200,000
Jeff Foxworthy (Are You Smarter Than…): $US150,000
T.R. Knight (Grey’s Anatomy): $US125,000
Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy): $US125,000
Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters): $US100,000

CABLE (all salaries are per episode)
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer): $US250,000
Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck): $US125,000
Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck): $US125,000
Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck): $US90,000
James Roday (Psych): $US60,000

DAYTIME
Judge Judy (per year): $US30 million
Bob Barker (per year): $US10 million
Maury Povich (per year plus profit participation): $US7 million
Ellen DeGeneres (per year): $US5 million
Jerry Springer (per year): $US3 million – 4 million
Tyra Banks (per year): $US3.5 million

• TVGuide.com