In a fun little study put together by the good people over at the Los Angeles Times, funny lady Chelsea Handler was named as the most overpaid person on TV, when you take into consideration her salary versus how many viewers she has. Turns out, writing borderline funny but not really the great jokes about things in the news pays like freakin’ mad, as she pulls in $16.70 per viewer.
Chelsea Handler may not have a lot of viewers, but she gets paid a lot of dough for the ones she does have on Chelsea Lately. Jon Stewart is likewise laughing all the way to the bank. And it’s time for CNN’s Anderson Cooper to come out … as possibly overpaid. But not every TV star triumphed at the negotiating table with the network suits. Ashton Kutcher may have nabbed $17 million a year to replace Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men, but that’s not necessarily a king’s ransom given that sitcom’s popularity (it’s also less than Sheen made). Ted Danson cut CBS a real bargain for his services on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. And Jennifer Lopez and Ryan Seacrest? The folks at American Idol are getting them for a song.
Coincidentally, silver fox Anderson Cooper is right behind Chelsea with $13.54 per viewer, although let’s try and back this up here: Anderson is a Vanderbilt who’s covered almost everything, including going into dangerous war zones himself for the sake of a story, slowly building credibility and esteem. Chelsea wrote a couple books about how cool and awesome she is and how she’s better than you. One deserves their salary more than the other is all I’m saying.
