TV Guide has published its annual list television's highest-paid actors, and there are some serious shake-ups in the 2014 pecking order.
For one thing, the number 1,2, and 3 spots all belong to Big Bang Theory cast mates.
The former Tool Man's return to television has netted him some big bucks. Allen receives an estimated $250,000 an episode for Last Man Standing.
Yes, as you may have heard, Kaley Cuoco and her co-stars signed $90 million contracts after protracted negotiations, making them the most well-compensated cast on the small screen by a fairly wide margin.
Kaley and the Geek Squad (as Charlie Sheen dubbed them when he was the brightest star in the CBS galaxy) will pull an estimated $1 million an episode for the next three years, and will also enjoy an undisclosed portion of the show's profits.
Industry insiders say the TBBT actors may be the last stars to receive such astonishing paydays due to audience fragmentation brought about by cable and streaming services, as well as "cast churning" (the practice of frequently dispatching series regulars, say with a Valyrian steel blade).
The trend of lower salaries for TV's biggest names can already be seen in this year's list. The Big Bang deal made headlines in large part because it's so unheard of nowadays.
TV's highest-paid dramatic actor - Mark Harmon of CBS' NCIS - pulled in a paltry-by-comparison $525,000 per episode. Compare that to 2007 when James Gandolfini - a cable star, no less - pulled in over $1 million an episode for The Sopranos.
But in 2014, for the second year in a row, CBS paid its stars the most, with Two and a Half Men stars Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer rounding out the top five.
So while Netflix and HBO may be on the rise, "America's most watched network" is still the place to make the bigbest bucks...for now.
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