With CBS’ The Mentalist continuing to crush on Thursday nights, the Tiffany Network has come to terms with lead actor Simon Baker on a new extended contract. The handsome, forty-one year old Australian reportedly agreed to add an extra year to his current deal in exchange for a salary bump and a bit of a larger taste of the syndicated backend.
According to Deadline, the new agreement could net the star more than thirty million dollars in total over the life of the deal; however, considering CBS is picking up about 2.3 million from TNT in guaranteed money per episode, that’s really not as inflated a lead actor price tag as it might seem. I won’t point any fingers, but there’s a fair number of network stars that make more than half this figure in one year, and their shows certainly don’t attract more than sixteen million viewers a week.
At the end of the day, this is good news. While The Mentalist may not be the best show on television, it is a polished, well put together hour that deserves its cushy Thursday Night 10 PM timeslot.
