Everybody Loves Money

For the eighth season of the show, Romano will earn about $50 million. What?! Romano will earn between $1.8 – 2 million an episode, a slight increase from his current deal of $800,000. Frasier’s Kelsey Grammer negotiated with Paramount and NBC two years ago and has since been making $1.6 mill.

Romano’s rep confirmed that he did sign a deal, but would not comment on the price tag. CBS refused to comment on the deal between Romano, CBS, Worldwide Pants and HBO Independent Productions. Raymond is ranking ninth among prime time shows in its seventh season and still attracting 18.3 million viewers. Romano’s contract was to expire this month and he has been very vocal about the fact that he’d like to leave the sitcom while it was still a winner in the ratings game. Romano is looking to do more on the big screen and has two movies coming out in late 2003/early 2004.

Now let me ask you this…who needs $50 million for a season on television? The paychecks that these actors are receiving are just ridiculous. Of course entertainment is important, but isn’t $50 million a little excessive? The negotiations keep happening. The Friends gang each make $1 million per episode….with 22 or so episodes a season it ain’t too bad a deal. Yet the real heroes – teachers, firefighters, policeman, among others – work for close to nothing. Makes sense, right?!