Are they overpaid ?

[Ome]

Are you ready to feel really, really poor? Because you're about to look at the salaries for the highest paid TV actors of 2018 (via Variety).

Although ratings are down, The Walking Dead is still a behemoth of a show, so it's no surprise that Daryl actor Norman Reedus pockets a whopping $1 million per episode.

But he's not actually the highest paid TV star (in terms of pay per episode) out there right now. According to the report, Javier Bardem is being paid $1.2 million per episode for an untitled Amazon series, while Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon make $1.1 million an episode each from another untitled show, this one from Apple.

Julia Roberts, meanwhile, makes $600,000 per episode for Amazon's Homecoming and Avengers star Anthony Mackie is making $475,000 per episode of Altered Carbon after taking over from Joel Kinnaman, while Henry Cavill is getting a cool $400,000 for each episode of The Witcher.

Keeping with Netflix, they are paying Winona Ryder, David Harbour, and Millie Bobby Brown $350,000 for each episode of Stranger Things.


Meanwhile, their castmates Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, and Noah Schnapp earn $250,000 per ep, while Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery take home $150,000 each time.

Meanwhile, their castmates Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, and Noah Schnapp earn $250,000 per ep, while Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery take home $150,000 each time.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I don't blame the actors for earning what they do. If they demand $1 million per episode and some producer is willing to pay it...then more power to them. I just think the producers would likely get more value for their money if they hired middle-range (or lower) actors and place more importance on production values like sets, locations, writing, and overall quality. I like to see new actors get "discovered" in a breakout role, which is something daytime soaps used to do all the time. Now it seems producers are too scared to trust their instincts with an unknown actor, and instead recycles "name" actors. They place too much faith in the likeability of the "name" actor, because too often, viewers will tune in hoping that actor will play this new role in the same vein as the other role that they liked (regardless of what this new character is like).

I don't think these people "earn" that amount of money for the work they do, but salaries rarely line up with job difficulty. I mean, a lot of their salary is due to good negotiation, not the amount of labor involved. That guy digging ditches in the Everglades doesn't have a shark for an agent.

 

[Jessie]

I personally think they get paid too much but if they get paid what they demand I guess they deserve it.

 

[darkshadows38]

yes some of them are paid way to much but none of them at all are as bad as anyone who plays a sport there is not or has been anyone who is on any team that is worth the kind of money they get paid i don't care how good you are not a single one of them are worth the amount of money they get paid for each game or each season. when half the time you have some of them i dunno the percentage at all who blow all their money away at some point my guess after they retire anyways. while true not all of them do that but i'm talking about those who do. there are a lot of great athletes don't get me wrong i may not be a sports fan but i can say that but none of them are worth the $50 million or higher bucks they make for each season or for however long they stay on the team or before they retire.

when they go broke i feel not one ounce of pity at all. tv actors there are some of them that are greedy the Friends Cast is a good example while i can respect they all wanted to be paid the same they got greedy at some point on how much they were being paid. now the longer a show is on i can see them getting a raise from say $10,000 per episode to say $20,000 to use a shorter salary for a shorter term show. but getting paid a million bucks for a tv show or more is just plain greed i think.

other than paying their agents which prolly get their usual 10% or is it higher? i honestly dunno that's part of the problem to but i get the agents have to be paid too. i just think for some shows some of them are paid way to much that's all

 

[Barbara Fan]

Personally I think they are very over paid - actors and sportsmen and I find some of the salaries obscene that someone can actually earn so much by learning a few lines or kicking a ball on a field

Its greed, and you can only do so much with money when you have that much. I feel greed a horrible quality in a person

When you look at the skill and dedication of someone like a brain surgeon - who can change a life and make a difference - they are the ones who deserve the money

Even down to the fact that a BBC political correspondent can earn more than a PM - of any party in Govt is wrong or that Gary Lineker can earn so much for presenting a show on football

 

[the-lost-son]

Of course, these amounts are ridiculous. Entertainment and Sports are good examples for obscene developments.

But I don't blame the actors or sport stars. Let's not forget that this massive amounts of money are generated by advertising/commercials/streaming fees/sales.

The money is there and has to be distributed. Of course, in a just world the people who run this system - should profit somehow. All the co-workers in social care looking after sick, handicapped or elderly people, for example.

But as the money is there I'd rather give it to the football player who risks his health or the actor getting his financial reward for choosing a profession which normally doesn't pay the rent instead of the owner of some film studio.
It feels like the lesser of two evils.

Believe it or not - the richest person in Germany is the owner of a hospital chain. It's preposterous to profit from the fate of the sick ones.

 

[Angela Channing]

Of course they are overpaid but it's free market economics so people are paid as much as the market can take. I believe excessive salaries should be taxed at a higher rate so those on lower incomes don't have to pay as much.

I'm currently reading a book about the The Tonight Show on NBC and it mentions how Johnny Carson signed a contract worth $30 million which for 30 years about was an obscene amount of money. However, NBC was making $140 million from advertising and sponsors connected with the show so in that context you could argue why shouldn't he get paid that much.