TV salaries: Jeffrey Donovan should buy Jon Hamm a beer

Attention aspiring television celebrities: Syndication pays, and it's good to be Oprah Winfrey.

If the numbers on TV Guide's annual list of the small screen's top earners are accurate, it's more lucrative to be funny than to be dramatic -- and news anchors and chat-show hosts stand to get much richer than anyone wasting time memorizing words off a script.

Then there's Oprah, who at an estimated $315 million a year should just go get a list of her own, and stop hurting all the other TV kids' feelings.

Unlike Forbes, which fully explains the methodology used to compile its various power and salary lists, TV Guide has chosen a "just trust us" approach as it delivers this ranking, making us wonder if a few salary numbers might have been gleaned from, say, actors' Internet dating profiles. (Perhaps that's the out for the producers of "The Big Bang Theory" when Jim Parsons demands to know why he's reportedly making a third less per episode than costars Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki?)

So, taking the numbers at face value, we have a few observations: For example, if Jon Hamm and Jeffrey Donovan were to go out to dinner, we think the "Burn Notice" star should grab the check, as he apparently earns double the "Mad Men" star's $100,000 per episode.

Charlie Sheen, at $1.25 million per show, still makes more than double what costar Jon Cryer does. About which we will say no more.

Punching in at $45 million a year, Judge Judy makes triple what Katie Couric does. Heck, that's triple Ryan Seacrest's paycheck as well. Plus she gets to yell at people on her show, which is worth a lot.

Bill O'Reilly probably doesn't care too much when he's Keith Olbermann's worst person in the world ...

... because the Fox News host is reportedly banking $10 million a year compared to the MSNBC anchor's $7 million.

Kyra Sedgwick appears to be $100,000 per episode better off in 2010 compared to TV Guide's report in 2007, when she earned a mere quarter-mil for each installment of "The Closer." If her character becomes the chief of police, does she go up another pay grade?

While Jeremy Piven's "Entourage" character, Ari, is taking a percentage of every dollar Adrian Grenier's Vince earns, the real actors are taking home $350,000 and $200,000 per episode, respectively. Still, Vinnie does get the chicks.

And at $30,000 an episode for "Wizards of Waverly Place," Selena Gomez makes about as much per season as former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo was taking home per year -- before benefits.

(See the whole 2010 list here, at TV Guide.)

-- Christie D'Zurilla 

Photos: Jeffrey Donovan, left, as Michael Westen on "Burn Notice," and Jon Hamm, right, as Don Draper on "Mad Men." It's always the guy making the big bucks who shows up in jeans and no tie, isn't it? Credits: Justin Stephens / USA Network, left; AMC, right

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Comments

[Mike]

Let's get a few things straight:

1) Jeffery Donovan stars on a USA show that actually draws viewers and has a strong fan base. Jon Hamm stars on a AMC show that is "critically acclaimed", but doesn't even pull 2 million viewers a week. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Mad Men, but those are the facts.

2) Jim Parsons, from the Big Bang Theory, should go on strike until he is paid the same as the other 2 actors. He has the funniest character on the show, by far. The show WOULD NOT function without him, so he actually has leverage in the situation.

3) Jeremy Piven deserves more than Adrian Grenier. Piven had a much stronger career when the show started and is even more popular (3 Emmys) now. The show is almost more about the Ari Gold character than the Vincent Chase character (mostly because the Vince plot lines tend to repeat themselves and are flat, boring stories).

[Fabrisse]

One of the things that struck me about the list was that many of the USA or TNT shows pay their actors well per episode, but they'll still end up making less than the less well paid actors on the broadcast networks because they get fewer episodes per year.

If Jeffrey Donovan and Thomas Gibson of Criminal Minds go out to dinner, who should pick up the check. Gibson apparently earns the same as Hamm, but with 22 to 24 episodes a year, he still comes out equivalent or better than Donovan.

[woody]

I wanna be a TV actor.
So fricking bad......

[Doug]

Kind of a dumb point about Donovan vs. Hamm. Donovan has moved himself up to a producer credit on "Burn Notice." If Hamm gets that for "Mad Men," then doubtless he'll be in that same salary field.

[tehachapian]

Charlie Sheen is cute, cute. But Jon Cryer and the young man are the *actors* on the show!

[Jeff]

No mystery that Jim Parsons is getting a noticeable chunk less than Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki. Both came to the show with a lot more experience - Kaley had been on two series before and Galecki had been on one, and both had a boat-load of other work (according to IMDB). For Parsons this was his big break, his resume didn't have anywhere near the amount of experience as the other two.

Still, he should get a bump when his contract comes up for renegotiation. He's proven himself and has a couple of Emmy nominations to show for it.

[BNLover]

Salary=ratings.

Like Mad Men, watched sometimes...

Love Burn Notice, never miss it, can't wait for the season to start.

[Kopek]

"It's always the guy making the big bucks who shows up in jeans and no tie, isn't it?"

He has the gun, so I wouldn't question it.