Cowell Tops Forbes Highest Male TV Earners List

It pays to be snarky in Hollywood, or at least it has worked out for ‘American Idol’s‘ Simon Cowell, who is now considered the highest paid prime-time television talent.

Forbes ranked the top-earning men of prime-time and listed Cowell on top — the music mogul took in a whopping $75 million this past year — above such stars as Donald Trump (’The Apprentice‘) and Steve Carell (’The Office‘).

Cowell’s fellow ‘Idol’ personality Ryan Seacrest ranked third on the list earning $38 million in the same time period.

While reality television appeared to earn the big bucks, sitcoms helped Carell and Charlie Sheen (’Two and a Half Men‘) round out the top five with earnings hovering around $20 million.

With money flowing for the men of prime-time, what about the fairer sex?

In October, Forbes listed the collective total the top five women at $116 million with Tyra Banks topping out at $30 million — a far cry from Cowell’s figure.

Other women who made the cut this year were Katherine Heigl ($18 million), Marg Helgenberger ($9.5 million) and Eva Longoria Parker ($9 million).

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