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Big Bang Actors To Earn $1M Per Episode

Cludge (981852) writes with a snippet from the BBC: "And rich they will be: With The Big Bang Theory commissioned until 2017, the show's three biggest names, Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Johnny Galecki (Leonard) and Kaley Cuoco (Penny) are guaranteed to earn $72m (£42.6m) each over the next three seasons. Unsurprisingly, the cost of producing the sitcom has spiraled." I wonder what that works out per line?

57 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. Nerd Blackface by mythosaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The argument against is that BBT is, essentially, Nerd Blackface.

    The argument for BBT is that the material and situations are relateable, especially with the mainstreaming of geek culture (Dr. Who, BSG, Marvel films).

    Meh. It's funny. I watch. I read the vanity card at the end. I think they're all good actors - at least within the scope of the show.

    1. Re:Nerd Blackface by SQLGuru · · Score: 2

      Even early on, I recognized a very real effort to make the science real (and there have been articles stating as much). For this, I can tolerate the sharks they have jumped (such as introducing the girls and allowing Raj to speak to girls and what not). It became less nerdy and turned mainstream once it became popular -- it's very much a more traditional sitcom these days......but it's one of the more scientifically accurate shows on TV these days. Especially over the more "scientific" dramas that we love to lambaste (the CSI franchise and the like).

    2. Re:Nerd Blackface by RobinH · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Pullleeeze. To even suggest that is to suggest that the persecution of nerds is equivalent to the persecution of African American minorities in the United States. Certainly nerds are persecuted, particularly in high school, but they are in no way equivalent. Besides, it's not like the show doesn't make fun of people who are "smart and good looking".

      --
      "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
    3. Re:Nerd Blackface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      One comment I've read sums it all: "Arrested Development was a smart show about dumb people. BBT is a dumb show about smart people".

    4. Re:Nerd Blackface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Pullleeeze. To even suggest that is to suggest that the persecution of nerds is equivalent to the persecution of African American minorities in the United States. Certainly nerds are persecuted, particularly in high school, but they are in no way equivalent. Besides, it's not like the show doesn't make fun of people who are "smart and good looking".

      Tell that to the parents of any "nerd" that has committed suicide due to the bullying. Go on. Straight to their face.

    5. Re:Nerd Blackface by Dins · · Score: 2

      As a self professed nerd/geek, the "Nerd Blackface" doesn't offend me, and I certainly don't feel "persecuted" by it. But I can't stand it in a TV show, and so I pretty much stopped watching after half an episode. That, and after many modern examples of sitcoms and half hour comedy shows without laugh tracks, I absolutely cannot stand shows with laugh tracks anymore.

    6. Re:Nerd Blackface by E-Rock · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We're talking about a fictional example, but Sheldon is highly successful, and seems quite happy with his life. He doesn't need to be medicated just because he doesn't meet stereotypical norms.

    7. Re:Nerd Blackface by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The argument against is that BBT is, essentially, Nerd Blackface.

      That wouldn't be my argument against it. My argument is that it's not a good show. I don't find the characters relateable. I don't think it's particularly funny. It seems like someone took a very bland, unoriginal sitcom and attached a geek gimmick to try to make it interesting, but in my mind it fails. It's not interesting, and the geek gimmick doesn't really work.

      If you wanted to talk about it's problem with relation to "geek culture", I don't feel like it's right to say it's like "nerd blackface". I would argue the problem is more like, if you had a bunch of kids thinking that they understand urban black culture because they're listening to rap music, but the rap music they're listening to is Vanilla Ice.

      Sorry, no, you don't understand geeks and nerds and "geek culture" from watching Big Bang Theory. You don't understand comic books and Doctor Who from learning the references that the show uses. From the episodes that I've seen, the characters don't seem like authentic geeks and nerds. Not really. It mostly seems like a crappy "Friends" ripoff where the characters are all wearing nerd costumes and talking in nasal voices. I don't think it's mainstreaming geek culture, but more like jumping on the bandwagon of geek culture that has managed to mainstream itself.

      That's my take. I don't require that anyone else agrees.

    8. Re:Nerd Blackface by retchdog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe. But it ends, is my point. It ends, and one is rewarded relatively richly afterward (relative to one's intrinsic ability, of course, and subject to the vagaries of fortune).

      The discrimination against blacks (to whatever extent it is, and for whatever reason) is much more persistent.

      --
      "They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
    9. Re:Nerd Blackface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, GP is right about how the characters are treated. I've only watched a few episodes, but it looks like the main character (Sheldon) has some serious issues that need to be addressed with medication or counseling. To use it as a form of entertainment for others is just insulting to those who have those kinds of problems,

      Then you won't be reading slashdot any more either, right? Because the Sheldon Cooper characterizes epitomizes a significant fraction of the posts here - myopic, minimal empathy and a retreat to 'logic' that is really just selfish rationalization.

      Perhaps you haven't watched many sitcoms but the standard sitcom character is a stereotype that is greatly exaggerated for comedic effect. If they didn't do that with the characters it wouldn't be a situational comedy as all humor is rooted the misfortune of others.

    10. Re:Nerd Blackface by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3

      I would argue the problem is more like, if you had a bunch of kids thinking that they understand urban black culture because they're listening to rap music, but the rap music they're listening to is Vanilla Ice.

      Well most people would see that as satire and not that the elements of geekdom are to be taken literally as 100% true. There is a category for shows like that: documentaries. I would argue most TV shows does not follow subjects faithfully. Since you mentioned "Friends", I don't think people really believe that New Yorkers spend all of their time hanging out in a coffee shop. Chuck probably does not represent a true government agent any more than Will Smith was your average Bellaire teen.

      Personally I thought one of the funniest episodes was "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis" where Howard and Raj decide to settle a dispute by wrestling. In real life, two people angry at each other would have actually wrestled regardless of lack of skill instead of the hilarity of two nerds circling each other endlessly.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    11. Re:Nerd Blackface by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      If the minimal rigors of (gasp) public education are enough to convince one to put an end to it, then they are probably better off leaving this world.

      Dude - people don't kill themselves because "learning is hard," they do it because of the way other people have treated them. Or a chemical imbalance.

      Sometimes it amazes me how ignorant the educated can be.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    12. Re:Nerd Blackface by CanHasDIY · · Score: 4, Funny

      As a self professed nerd/geek, the "Nerd Blackface" doesn't offend me, and I certainly don't feel "persecuted" by it. But I can't stand it in a TV show, and so I pretty much stopped watching after half an episode. That, and after many modern examples of sitcoms and half hour comedy shows without laugh tracks, I absolutely cannot stand shows with laugh tracks anymore.

      (cue laugh track)

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    13. Re:Nerd Blackface by roc97007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We're talking about a fictional example, but Sheldon is highly successful, and seems quite happy with his life. He doesn't need to be medicated just because he doesn't meet stereotypical norms.

      This. The Sheldon character holds down a high paying job and manages to interact with an admittedly small circle of friends. He's already doing better than a good segment of the population. That his personality quirks should be wrung out of him through therapy and/or medication is more than a little offensive.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    14. Re:Nerd Blackface by roc97007 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I agree on the annoyance of laugh tracks, but TBBT is filmed in front of an audience, and it's the audience's actions you hear, not canned laughter.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    15. Re:Nerd Blackface by AudioEfex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh please. I don't think many of you have ever seen a sitcom before.

      Sam Malone had a sex addiction problem. Monica Gellar had severe OCD. Roseanne had anger management issues.

      That's what's hilarious about the folks who cry about BBT - they take it so seriously because it hits a lot closer to home than they would like folks to believe and they simply don't have the ability to laugh at themselves.

      Did folks criticize Mary Tyler Moore Show for not being an accurate enough representation of life in a network news room? Probably, if they worked in one and didn't have a sense of humor.

      As to TFA, I'm very glad for them - they earned this - this show is going to bring in billions because of the syndicated deal, the hell is merchandised out of it as well (I was at a LCBS yesterday and they had an entire section of BBTS merch), and they are getting a small cut now. Is everyone on TV overpaid to some extent, sure. But comparatively, these are not outrageous salaries, particularly in this current climate of a hit TV show being as rare as it is, particularly on networks. If the entire industry is going to rake in such money, I'm glad that the folks in front of the camera who are largely responsible for my enjoyment of the show as opposed to executives who just sit and approve shit.

    16. Re:Nerd Blackface by Kaenneth · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sheldon is one disfiguring accident away from being a Batman villain.

    17. Re:Nerd Blackface by Knuckles · · Score: 2

      The audience's actions being prompted by people with cue boards, etc., of course.

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    18. Re:Nerd Blackface by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Perhaps for the young and healthy.

      For the unhealthy, suicide can be a logical exit.

      Geeky, if you were going to be in severe pain for the rest of your life and drugs wouldn't help- you wouldn't be able to sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch without being woken up by the pain-- how long before suicide would seem like a rational way out.

      Not everyone's pain is physical.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    19. Re:Nerd Blackface by roc97007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Sheldon character holds down a high paying job and manages to interact with an admittedly small circle of friends. He's already doing better than a good segment of the population.

      Do you really think that an IRL Sheldon without script immunity would be able to do the same? The TV Sheldon also seems to be a pretty crap physicist, given to conspiracy theories, junk science, and an inability to distinguish between fiction and reality.

      Script immunity, reasonable point. Nevertheless...

      I personally know a highly paid programmer who believes in witchcraft and astrology. I had a hard time understanding that someone with such a logical mind would believe in something so illogical, but apparently it's more common than one would think. It's what puts the the "quirk" in "quirky", I guess. Otherwise brilliant people who have strange blind spots in areas where you'd think they'd know better. You really don't know anyone like that?

      My dad worked with a guy very much like Sheldon. He was brilliant, and so dedicated to his work that he would rarely and only under certain circumstances acknowledge the existence of others. Arguably someone with even more intense quirks than Sheldon. Although admittedly, Dad said that the guy had a "handler", a guy almost as brilliant as him who acted as confidant, kept him out of trouble, and acted as interpreter to the more normal people.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    20. Re:Nerd Blackface by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Remember. There is selection bias.

      Live studio audiences for {Network_Comedy_Show} is composed primarily of uberfans from flyover states on vacation in sunny California, those willing to wait hours in line just to gush over seeing a C-list celebrity do a cameo with Kaley Cuoco 40 times until they get it right from all angles.

      Of course they laugh like hyenas. The stand-up comedian that warms them up doesn't hurt either.

      I had a friend attend a BBT taping. He reported it was the funniest thing he had ever seen -- but of course he went to the taping, because he thinks the BBT is the funniest thing, so... there you go.

    21. Re:Nerd Blackface by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      Well, to be fair to the above responders, we aren't used to seeing posts from Tarzan, the Lone Ranger, or Spongebob. And when those guys do post, they explain they don't get reception in their area, for obvious reasons.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    22. Re:Nerd Blackface by radarskiy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you were paying attention you would notice that they are not making fun of nerd culture as distinct from not-nerd culture. The basis of the humorous situations typically turn out to be the kind of things that really happen to anyone: poor communication in relationships, one spouse making significantly more money than another, existential crises over career shifts, overbearing parents, etc. The closest they get to a distinct nerd situation is when the PhDs mock Wolowitz for only having a Master's degree.

      There may be the meta-criticism that they are mocking nerds for not recognizing that their problems as problems anybody could have... then again *you* failed to recognize this as well.

    23. Re:Nerd Blackface by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      Pullleeeze. To even suggest that is to suggest that the persecution of nerds is equivalent to the persecution of African American minorities in the United States. Certainly nerds are persecuted, particularly in high school, but they are in no way equivalent. Besides, it's not like the show doesn't make fun of people who are "smart and good looking".

      Tell that to the parents of any "nerd" that has committed suicide due to the bullying. Go on. Straight to their face.

      Tell that the families of thousands of blacks who were lynched simply because racist white guys wanted to. Go. Straight to their face.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    24. Re:Nerd Blackface by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 2

      Dharma & Greg: "The show starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as the title characters, whose characters were complete opposites: Dharma's world view being more spiritual, 'free spirit' type instilled by "hippie" parents, contrasted with Greg's world view of structure, social status requirements, and "white collar duty" instilled by his generations of affluent parents/ancestors." (from wikipedia)

      Two and a Half Men - same basic "mismatched cohabitants" schtik.

      BBT - Mismatched cohabitants combined with a mismatched love interest.

      It's the guy who reinvented "The Odd Couple" for a new generation. The geek stuff is used as a punchline, not for any geek value. They may as well have written an actual "Odd Couple" script and inserted the word "tech" at random points when something wasn't as funny as they would like, and have a consultant fill in the gaps with things like "Write a GUI in visual basic to backtrace the IP address" only without the obvious mistakes.

      The only reason it's not nerd blackface is the cast seems to be actual nerds, at least in spirit. It is just as insulting to nerds as blackface was/is to actual black people. It is just as based in stereotype and conventional wisdom, and ultimately ignorance.

      There is nothing for any true nerd or geek to like, other than having someone finally represent your demographic, even taking it as the backhanded compliment that it is. Occasionally, as with Two and a Half Men, there is a really good joke that I did not expect to hear on network TV, and for that reason alone I'll watch if there's nothing more interesting available.

    25. Re:Nerd Blackface by nine-times · · Score: 2

      Since you mentioned "Friends", I don't think people really believe that New Yorkers spend all of their time hanging out in a coffee shop.

      Yeah, but nobody was trying to say, "Friends is a great show because it's finally New Yorkers' chance to feel represented." People do seem to be latching on to "Big Bang Theory" as some sort of recognition, appreciation, or celebration of geeks and "geek culture".

    26. Re:Nerd Blackface by nine-times · · Score: 2

      In this case it's not even that people think they understand geeks/nerds from watching this show... it's that they think they ARE geeks/nerds because they watch this show. "I love BBT! I'm such a nerd!"

      Yeah, there's something about that aspect of it that annoys me when people talk about the show, and the Vanilla Ice comparison was the best thing that I could come up with. You don't understand black inner-city culture because you listen to rap. You're certainly not part of that group because you like a crappy version of rap.

      So yeah, there's something in the appropriation of "nerd culture", but also the extremely poor way in which it's done. "I'm understand you, and I'm just like you, because I watch a sitcom in which the characters watch the same SciFi shows you watch."

      I mean, if you want to understand and identify with "geek culture", at least actually watch Star Trek and BSG. Don't just watch a show where the characters watch those shows, and where that fact is used as a punchline. I can appreciate someone trying to bond with me, saying, "I'm such a nerd now. I just started watching Doctor Who!" It doesn't make you a nerd, but at least you're actually watching something that I like, and we can kind of bond over that. But don't be like, "We have so much in common now! Sheldon is my favorite character, and he loves Doctor Who just like you! But I wouldn't watch that show because it looks dumb. Wanna watch football?"

      Or maybe it just annoys me on the same level as if someone said, "I'm really into serious mythology because I love the show 'Once upon a time'."

      ... or whatever. I don't know. I don't know how to explain it, and I suspect I wouldn't care at all if it were just a funny show. I mostly put it in the same category as "King of Queens", in that I'm sure that if I watched enough of it, I'd eventually find some laughs. But do I really want to work that hard to find some laughs?

    27. Re:Nerd Blackface by Xest · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is exactly what's great about The Big Bang theory, and especially discussions on Slashdot about it, there are always a bunch of geeks who will sit and say they don't relate to it and it doesn't represent "proper" geeks, all the while completely oblivious to the fact they're sounding exactly like Sheldon hence disproving their own theory that it's not representative. If you sat Sheldon down in front of a show like the Big Bang Theory this is probably exactly what he'd say:

      "That wouldn't be my argument against it. My argument is that it's not a good show. I don't find the characters relateable. I don't think it's particularly funny. It seems like someone took a very bland, unoriginal sitcom and attached a geek gimmick to try to make it interesting, but in my mind it fails. It's not interesting, and the geek gimmick doesn't really work. "

      It's like a kind of circular ignorance of what makes the show great. I'd say that contrary to your assertion people watching Big Bang Theory exactly understand geeks and nerds, because when they think of Sheldon and what he'd have to say about it, they'd imagine exactly the sort of holier than thou, no true geek (aka no true Scotsman) argument you've made.

    28. Re:Nerd Blackface by nine-times · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's a great, clever argument, since it basically closes off my options. No matter what I say, you can just respond, "Oh you, you're such a Sheldon! That's exactly what he'd say!" In reality, you're only illustrating the sort of dumb ideas that the show inspires. It makes people think they understand-- like I said, in about the way that a bunch of rich white suburban teenage boys, a couple of decades ago, might think that they understood inner city black culture because they bought a Starter jacket and listened to Vanilla Ice. And it's not a "no true scottsman" argument and more than it would be to say, "in fact, Vanilla Ice was not a true inner-city black person".

      But fundamentally, it's not a "no true geek" argument. Really, it's a "these characters are weak, poorly written, and representative of nothing" argument. It's a "I've tried watching this show, and found it painfully unfunny" argument.

    29. Re:Nerd Blackface by nine-times · · Score: 2

      Jesus, you're dumb. Not "everyone else", just you.

      Part of my point here is actually that "geeks" and "nerds" are people, and not just a set of stereotypes. You don't get to claim to understand who I, as a person, am, just because you watch a show with a poorly formed stereotypes that share relatively cosmetic features with me.

      I've been called a geek and a nerd, and not been happy about it. I've then reached the point where I'm like, fuck it, I'm a geek. Fine. You have this stereotype, and I apparently fit it. But now, there's this weird attachment of people trying to claim themselves to be geeks also because, I don't know, it's trendy or something. OK, yeah, whatever. But then on top of that, there's a new contingent that wants to say, "I understand you, nine-times, and we can have a bonding moment, because I watch a show where I laugh at people fitting your stereotype. That makes us somehow the same, even though I don't even really understand the references, but I still laugh because they're a bunch of nerds!"

      And you know what, I don't even really care that much about that. It's dumb, but that's not what really bothers me in the end. What bothers me in the end is that the show itself isn't funny, and yet I can't avoid idiots praising it in dumb ways.

    30. Re:Nerd Blackface by roc97007 · · Score: 2

      In Modern Family, it's the handheld camera that will flag a joke. There will be a pause in the conversation for the audience to "get it", and the camera will twitch or zoom in and out slightly to tell you there's something to get.

      Although, I'll admit that this is less irritating than a canned laugh track, it's still a "tell".

      Side issue: Why isn't Modern Family considered "gay blackface"?

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    31. Re:Nerd Blackface by radarskiy · · Score: 2

      "Adding the girls took it from a show about nerds and nerd culture "

      Clearly, female characters are incompatible with nerd culture.

  2. Re:They are the rich by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They've made quite clear that Sheldon is paid well by the university, and that he's got piles of un-cashed checks laying around.

    Only Penny is ever in need of cash.

  3. Not unheard of by OzPeter · · Score: 2

    Seinfeld was in the $600,000 to $1,000,000 range (depending on the actor) back in the late 90's

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    1. Re:Not unheard of by ark1 · · Score: 2

      Jerry apparently turned down $5 millions/episode for 22 episode to continue for a 10th season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...

  4. Re:It's not that much by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 3, Interesting

    considering Miami Vice was pulling these kinds of numbers in the '80s. Granted, it was only for one actor, but still.

    Yes, and if you remember, the other lead actor was paid less well because he was rather less white, and he was rather pissed off about it, understandably.

    These star actors cost a lot, yes, but they also brought in a lot of money. So I suppose it was, and still is a sound investment.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  5. Re:Over paid by edawstwin · · Score: 2

    How are they overpaid? The production company and the network make millions off of this show. The actors are (obviously) an integral part of the success of the show, and therefore the revenue, so why not pay them whatever they can negotiate?

    --
    I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying. - Woody Allen
  6. Re:Over paid by timeOday · · Score: 2

    Just accept on faith that the market valuation is infallible by definition, it makes everything so much simpler that way.

  7. Shouldn't they be starving to death? by denzacar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    After all... it's a show about and for people and culture who promote file sharing. Sorry, piracy.

    Checking Piratebay it is obvious that it is heavily shared, with thousands of seeds.
    Why isn't this show being canceled due to everyone involved with making of it dying from starvation?
    I was told that sharing... sorry, pirating of video directly hurts people who make these shows.
    I demand that someone does something about it!

    Like... take them all behind the shed and shoot them in the head.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  8. I'd love to be wrong, but ... by xfizik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given that the show is going into season 8, I wouldn't be too surprised if it went downhill from here, like it usually happens to long running sitcoms. It's not like money will reflect the quality of acting.

  9. Re:that's some expensive laughtrack by E-Rock · · Score: 2

    I assumed it was a laugh track too, but they film in front of a live audience.

  10. Re:They are the rich by jedidiah · · Score: 2

    You never know. He might have and those are just pay stubs. It all could just be a colossal misunderstanding on this part.

    A fictional character can be as much of a dufus as the rest of us.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  11. Re:Uncoceivable by Hadlock · · Score: 2

    This is the first time I've seen (and hopefully the last) BBT discussed on /.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  12. Yawn by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't get the controversy. I like the show. It makes me laugh. I don't care what the actors get paid. It's none of my business. I think the comparisons to "black face" are in error. Poking fun at people because of their behavior is not the same as poking fun at people because of their skin color. It's just a sitcom. They come and go. It hasn't jumped the shark yet (not for me, anyway). When it does I'll probably stop watching. And if CBS should cancel it tomorrow, I won't care. My life does not revolve around characters on a tv show, nor does it revolve around the actors and writers. They're getting $1million per show... yawn.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
    1. Re:Yawn by geekoid · · Score: 2

      Family Guy makes fun of america through their stupidity.

      Friends only made funny of people when they weren't being 'cool'

      Cosby didn't make fun at the expense black people

      " The only thing that defines "geek culture" is that it is not mainstream."
      Thank you. Being into something a lot that is mainstream is not being a geek.
      Someone tattoo that on Will Wheaton's forehead, PLEASE.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  13. Re:It's not that much by edawstwin · · Score: 3

    Yes, and if you remember, the other lead actor was paid less well because he was rather less white

    If you think PMT was less-well-paid because he wasn't white, then you don't understand anything about TV. If people tuned in to watch PMT more than Don Johnson, he would have been paid more than Don Johnson. The truth is, Don Johnson and hot girls in bikinis were about the only reasons to tune into that show. Just about any decent actor (white or not) could have played Tubbs, and we wouldn't have cared.

    --
    I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying. - Woody Allen
  14. Re:It's not that much by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

    Don Johnson had actually been on one good movie. 'A Boy and His Dog'.

    So he rated more.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  15. Re:They are the rich by sycodon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And the show really isn't that funny.

    Penny has nice tits though.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  16. Re:They are the rich by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sheldon doesn't trust banks because he believes that ATM machines will be the first wave of the robot uprising.

  17. Re:They are the rich by TeknoHog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Only Penny is ever in need of cash.

    OMG, so that's why they named her Penny, rather than something like Trillian.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  18. Re:They are the rich by TeknoHog · · Score: 2

    Why the HELL doesn't Sheldon just set up autodeposit?!?

    Maybe all those uncashed checks are $ 2.56 each, from Dr. Knuth.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  19. Re:They are the rich by vandelais · · Score: 2

    Santa isn't real, but I still like to open presents.

    --
    Game: Player 'Donald J Trump' now has AI skill level 'experimental'.
  20. I hate that fucking show by paiute · · Score: 2

    I play hockey with a bunch of high IQ programmers and scientists. We drink beer after in the parking lot and talk about women, technology, and too much about Marvel Comic movies. Those are the intelligent people I hang around with. Sure, I also know flabby, ugly, borderline Asperger's nerds. But why are the only smart people we see in the media modeled on them?

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    If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
  21. Re:Over paid by EvilSS · · Score: 2

    "so this obviously (well, maybe not to you) makes great sense for all parties involved." except the consumer. Anyone who buys a product, regardless if the watch the show, pays and gets no say.

    I wanted to break this out because I find it fascinating that you feel this way.

    Ignoring the fact that you can vote with your dollars and not buy said product, how exactly do you feel that you are entitled to a say in how a company that you buy a product from spends its money? The vast majority of companies are not monopolies (if they were, they wouldn't need to advertise so much) so you have a choice when you buy a product. For most essentials you can even choose generics that don't have much ad cost built into them.

    I mean, do you believe your employer should be given a say in how you spend your pay? They are paying you for your labor in the same way you are paying a company for a product. Do you think they should be able to tell you how much to spend on beer? Criticize you for buying too fancy a car? Or maybe the customers of your employer should be allowed to criticize them for paying you what they consider too much.

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    I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  22. Re:They are the rich by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The difference - to me anyway - is that fake tits look good under clothes but when you unwrap them they look wrong, move wrong - and most important of all - feel wrong. It's like getting a beautifully wrapped present with a cheap toy inside. Disappointing.

  23. Re:They are the rich by mythosaz · · Score: 2

    Unless you believe you have a realistic chance of "unwrapping" Kaley Cuoco's tits, I'm not sure there's any distinction to be made...

  24. Wrong measure by Camael · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You are using the wrong measure.

    The cast of BBT are not being paid that much because they are good at acting.
    They are being paid that much because collectively, they enable the BBT show to continue being produced, which show generates substantial amounts of income for their corporate overlords through advertising, merchandising, syndication and whatnot.

    The "hundreds of thousands" of other better actors you allude to sadly do not have this earning potential and hence, do not have this kind of paycheck.

    Quality of acting is irrelevant.