I enjoy watching “Two and a Half Men” on CBS. Normally, I am pretty much an NBC girl, but my dad told me how funny this show was and now I watch regularly. I’ve always been a fan of both Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer and their opposite styles of humor never fail to crack me up.
Apparently, I am not the only one they are cracking up. I read today that Charlie Sheen is ready to finalize his new contract with CBS and it will reportedly make him the highest paid sitcom star on television today.
It is kinda funny because when I read what Charlie’s new contract is – $350,000 per episode – I thought “Is that all?” I guess the big guns of comedy – the “Friends,” “Frasiers,” and “Raymonds” are all gone and the $350,000 per episode is quite a bit now.
But, isn’t it funny that we have grown accustomed to sitcom stars making so much? While most of us struggle to make a decent living, the stars of “Friends” were each making $1 million per episode the last two years the show was on the air. In 2003, there were 24 episodes and in 2004, there were 20 – not at bad payday for Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and Lisa Kudrow.
If you thought those were big salaries, they got even bigger. Kelsey Grammer, who it seemed played Frasier Crane on television for about 30 years, signed a contract with NBC for his 2002 and 2003 seasons that paid him $1.6 million per episode. With 24 episodes per season, that is a little over $38,000,000 a year. Wow! Then, when I thought it could not get any worse, along came Raymond. Ray Romano broke Kelsey’s record by getting $1.8 million an episode. I’m sorry, but for that price, Ray should come perform personally in my living room.
So, you may see now why I thought Charlie’s salary was not very much. And what about Jon Cryer? The show wouldn’t be nearly as funny without him. I couldn’t find what his salary is, only that he makes less than Sheen.
What do you think? Are sitcoms stars worth their price?