Sheen tops TV earnings rich list

CHARLIE SHEEN’s role as a wealthy, womanising bachelor on the top-rated sitcom Two and a Half Men has made him the highest paid TV actor this year with earnings of $825,000 (€533,000) per episode, including money from his ownership rights in the show.

At the rate of 23 episodes per year Sheen would be pocketing just under $20m (€13m) a year for a role that also earned him three Emmy nominations.

Trailing Sheen in the number two spot on TV Guide’s list is fellow CBS star William Petersen, who takes home $600,000 (€388,000) an episode for portraying investigator Gil Grissom on the hit police drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Petersen, who also serves as an executive producer on the series, plans to leave the show this coming season after the 10 episodes. His salary makes him the highest-paid actor in a prime-time drama series.

“The fact that (Sheen and Petersen) both happen to be on CBS is coincidental,” said TV Guide editor Craig Tomashoff. “They’re at the very top of their game and are the best at what they do. You’d expect them to be at the top of the scale.”

The top-paid woman, Mariska Hargitay, was number one for TV drama, earning $400,000 (€258,000) an episode for her Emmy-winning role as a New York detective on NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Cable network TNT’s The Closer star Kyra Sedgwick, also portraying a police officer, earns a cool $275,000 (€177,000) per episode.

Daytime television and reality shows can pay handsomely, too, especially if you’re the queen of talk or the king of mean.

Oprah Winfrey, who was named 2008’s most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine, earns $385m (€250m) annually for hosting her eponymous daytime talk show.

Simon Cowell, the sharp-tongued judge on the Fox network’s mega-hit talent show American Idol, earns $50m (€32m) per year, and CBS late-night host David Letterman has an annual salary of $32m (€21m), according to TV Guide.

Finally, lacklustre ratings didn’t keep CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric off the TV Guide list, as Couric takes in $15m (€9.7m) per year.

“Katie Couric’s contract with CBS is legendary, you’d expect to see her there (on the list),” Tomashoff said.