“ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS SEE HOW MANY FEWER VIEWERS ARE WATCHING BROADCAST TV. THAT HAS AN IMPACT ON SALARIES.”
BEING TV’s highest-paid sitcom star ain’t what it used to be.
Gone are the salad – as in, lettuce – days of Ray Romano raking in $2 million-per-episode for “Everybody Loves Raymond,” or Kelsey Grammer’s $1.6 million-per-episode salary for “Frasier.”
“Two and a Half Men’s” Charlie Sheen is now TV’s top-paid sitcom star, after inking a new deal yesterday that pays him – get out the crying towel – $350,00-per-episode, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
While it’s a generous deal – Sheen will earn roughly $8 million for the season – it pales in comparison to the mid-to-late-’90s megadeals paying sitcom stars anywhere from $30-to-$40 million a year.
Has the air gone out of TV’s money balloon?
Yes – and no.
“The economics of TV certainly have changed and continue to change,” says one top talent agent. “All you have to do is watch the [viewership] levels to see how it’s changing – how many fewer viewers are watching broadcast TV.
“And that has an impact on salaries.”
And, unlike Romano, Seinfeld, Allen and Grammer, Sheen is a hired actor – without much creative input into his show.
“You can’t compare him to Romano or Seinfeld because those were their shows, they were executive-producers, creators, co-creators,” says a top-level Hollywood agent, who asked that his name not be used.
“When you create a show, they can’t go on without you, basically. Charlie is simply a performer on this show – and I think there’s a bit of difference there.
“Without Kelsey Grammer, what was ‘Frasier’ going to be called, ‘Niles?’ ”
But Sheen’s deal can also be looked at in another way.
“I think in the overall picture, that $350,000 [per-episode] number is deceiving,” says one high-ranking Hollywood agent.
“Sheen had at least 10 percent of the adjusted gross going into the show, which is a huge piece of the action.
“His back end is going to be worth maybe $50-to-$60 million.”
Sheen’s new deal reportedly raised his per-episode salary from the low-six-figures, and was spurred, in part, by the sale of “Two and a Half Men” into syndication – meaning beaucoup bucks.
“Two and a Half Men,” now in its fourth season, is TV’s top-rated sitcom, averaging around 17 million viewers.
“Keep in mind [Sheen] is getting that $350,000 on top of that [syndication money] – and he has bonuses built in to [the show’s] ratings,” says the agent.
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TV’s gravy train
Star — Show — Salary per episode
Ray Romano “Everybody Loves Raymond” $2 million
Kelsey Grammer “Frasier” $1.6 million
Tim Allen “Home Improvement” $1.25 million
Cast of “Friends” “Friends” $1 million each
Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt “Mad About You” $1 million each
Jerry Seinfeld “Seinfeld” $1 million
