Who Are TV’s Highest Paid Stars - TV Guide Tells All

By Tom Rose
Fancast.com

Pinching pennies? Easing up on the gas pedal? There’s a solution: the August 11th issue of TV Guide Magazine confirms once again that having your own TV show is basically a license to print money. E! Online has seen an advance copy and are reporting that Oprah tops out the list with a stunning $385 million a year from her various multimedia ventures. And Charlie Sheen is the top earning Actor piling up $825,000 an episode. But the easy money is in insulting wanna be Pop Stars. Simon Cowell will be raking in $50 million dollars this year sniping for American Idol.

Go to the jump for a summary of the also-rans who missed out on the biggest payday:

William Petersen rakes in $600,000 per episode on CSI.

Law & Order: SVU’s Mariska Hargitay banks $400,000 per.

The Closer Kyra Sedgwick earns $275,000 a night, making her the highest-paid Actress in a cable drama.

Family Guy and American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane just signed a $100 million, five-year deal with Fox making him the highest paid series Writer-Producer.

David Letterman makes $32 million a year as host of The Late Show.

Katie Couric is getting $15 million for anchoring the CBS Evening News.

The cast of The Simpsons are really making some hay: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith each earn $400,000 per episode.

This kind of dough means these highly paid stars may be out scouring for the perfect second car - an armored truck.