He hasn't won an Emmy (although that might change in a little over a week from now) and he's not going to win People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive (although I think he very attractive), but at least Hugh Laurie, the star of Fox's House, is being rewarded in another way -- the wallet.

Laurie is getting a raise in salary to $400,000 an episode. That's not as much as 24's Kiefer Sutherland ($500,000) or CSI's William Petersen ($600,000) or Two and a Half Men's Charlie Sheen ($825,000), but it's pretty darn good.

Whether you think Charlie is worth that much money or Bill (who's actually only going to be in half the shows on CSI in 2008-2009) or Kiefer, for that matter, but Hugh Laurie has earned this raise. He's the center of House, the most important character, and there is no show without him.

Pay raises. The original cast members were each offered more money in exchange for adding another year to their contracts, which means another year living in Hawaii. Oh, I bet that decision was real tough. The raise bumps the actors up to about $80,000 per episode, which is a raise of anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 per episode for some actors. The actors agreeing to another year are Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), and Harold Perrineau (Michael). Matthew Fox also signed for another year, but his contract was even sweeter with a reported $250,000 bonus. The only person missing from that list is Emilie de Ravin, who plays Claire. Not sure what that means. The raises put the core Lost characters on the same pay scale as all four Desperate Housewives.