The highest paid stars on TV

In looking at this list it's pretty obvious that the numbers are just plain wrong, or at least not representative of cash income vs. non-cash income. There is no way that Simon Cowell is making $45 mil per year - the economics of television in general and American Idol specifically aren't favorable enough to pay him at that level. The $45 million figure is most likely an unverifiable rumor.

Remember, Scrubs is an 18 episode show. And this post did not point out it mean per episode for the TV actors.

Is anyone surprised that Oprah Winfrey won again? $260 million, which I assume comes mostly from her eponymous show (although I know she also produces other shows).

If you watch her show, there is a commercial every 5-6 minutes for 2-3 minutes. Plus all the product placement.

Judge Judy gets $30 mil a year to be a bitch and judge people on syndicated TV? I'll do it for 22.

Ah I understand. Braff isn't employed directly by a network but rather by Buena Vista or what was it again? *scratches head*

If you click on the link, you'll see that # 6-10 on this list are actually the top 5 for network prime time.

They just didn't read the article that closely.

"One thing I don't understand is, where are late night hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno?"

It doesn't look like they have a late night category on this list. Maybe because there are fewer late nigt talk show hosts than there are prime time actors they didn't feel like it would be interesting enough.

What kind of idiot composed this list?

"Two and a half men" had 24 episodes last year times 350k is 8.4 mil.

Jesus.

I think the math is wrong on Z.B.'s listing but even if you divide that by 22 (average # of episodes) that still puts him at #10 on the list.

So I say props to Zach Braff, if you can manage to be the 10th highest paid star on TV while starring in a show that has an ensemble cast and which ranked 87 in the ratings I say more power to you.

Plus...its not like Katie Couric is earning her salary either...