Talk and Act
The success of MasterChef Australia is seeing television networks from five countries signing on for Aussie version of the show, originally a UK format.
Shine International have struck deals with television networks in India, Israel, Belgium, Ukraine and the Netherlands to make their own local versions of the culinary show. A production company in Iceland is also considering the show, while in India, Star TV has already signed a Bollywood star Akshay Kumar to host its version.
“The outstanding showing of MasterChef in the US and Australia, and new sales of the format in one of the most populous countries in the world, demonstrates that there is no bigger food show on the planet,” said Chris Grant, the president of Shine International.
The US has already begun broadcasting their local version with FOX as the producer. Taking a slight risk, celebrity foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay is co-producing the show as well as starring as one of the 3 judges who will eliminate the amateur home cooks from the top 50 down to the winner. Gordon has promised to tone down his expletives for the amateur cooks as they are just learning and not professionals like in his Hell’s Kitchen series.
There is a lot at stake for the contestants or cheftestants. $250K prize money plus a book publishing deal. Not bad for a few months work, if you win. However in the Australia version, contestants had to commit to 9 months on the show with no pay, only an allowance, sign confidentiality agreements and only have 1 phone call to family per week. So there is a lot on the line and it will only pay off for 1 person.
The love of food appears to be universal and may provide boom ratings long desired for the associated television networks. Whilst the concept has been around for a while, the UK version experienced an resurrection in popularity when Fremantle Media purchased the rights for the Australian adaptation. Aside from the cooking, a little drama was added to reach audience emotion. The background stories of the contestants were shown, tears flowing and people coming back from elimination all added spice to a very well worn elimination formula. And it worked. After 2 seasons, estimates have placed a value of $100 million on the program through advertising, magazine and merchandise agreements.
In Australia, the finale of MasterChef for 2010 was the most watched non-sports show since 2001, with 2009’s finale right behind it. Only two sports events top the Masterchef finale, which was watched by about 1 in 4 people in Australia. If we do the conversion to the US, that would mean approximately 75 million people would be watching which is an incredible number. No wonder that FOX is banking on this Summer show to claw back ratings.
Tags: chef, Cooking, Entertainment, food, Television
Posted in Entertainment · September 3rd, 2010 · Comments (0)
Hugh Laurie, Charlie Sheen, Matt Lauer, Ryan Seacrest and Oprah Winfrey are among TV’s highest-paid entertainers in various categories, according to a newly released breakdown of star salaries from TV Guide. Even in a time of financial crisis, it’s nice to know that some of us are still able to make dough (please excuse the dripping sarcasm)
Though TV studios have been cracking down on paydays overall to keep costs in line amid sinking broadcast ratings, lead performers still draw stunning paychecks. It is incredible when you look at this list, the salaries that some are receiving given the declining ratings of their shows. Most notably, Hugh Laurie star of House M.D. has experienced declining ratings in his series since it peaked 3 years ago yet he ranks as the top drama earner with over $400K per episode. In terms of actors, far and away the highest earner is Charlie Sheen and side kick Jon Cryer with their show Two and a Half Men still rating very well after seven seasons. By far the biggest money earner is the Oprah. The talk show host rakes in a massive $315 million per year.
It’s interesting that someone like Gordon Ramsay who has many shows running concurrently like Hell’s Kitchen and the newly broadcast MasterChef would not rank. With the growing popularity of MasterChef, Gordon may find a ranking on this list next year. With Fox hoping for a similar ratings bonanza as MasterChef in Australia, Gordon has his work cut out for him. Here is a snapshot of the greatest money earners in the entertainment industry for 2010.
Comedy actors (per episode, US dollars):
Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) $1.25 million
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) $550,000
Marcia Cross (Desperate Housewives) $400,000
Tina Fey (30 Rock) $350,000
Jeremy Piven (Entourage) $350,000
Steve Carell (The Office) $297,000
Adrian Grenier (Entourage) $200,000
Ed O’Neill (Modern Family) $100,000
Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory) $60,000
Drama actors (per episode):
Hugh Laurie (House) $400,000+
Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) $395,000 (each)
David Caruso (CSI: Miami) $375,000
Marg Helgenberger (CSI) $375,000
Laurence Fishburne (CSI) $350,000
Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) $250,000
Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) $200,000
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) $175,000
Lauren Graham (Parenthood) $150,000
Nathan Fillion (Castle) $100,000
Jon Hamm (Mad Men) $100,000
Alex O’Loughlin (Hawaii Five-0) $100,000
Anna Paquin (True Blood) $75,000
Talk show hosts (per year):
Oprah Winfrey $315 million
Judge Judy Sheindlin $45 million
David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million
Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million
Conan O’Brien (The Conan O’Brien Show) $10 million
Ellen DeGeneres (The Ellen DeGeneres Show) $8 million
Reality TV (per year):
Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) $15 million
Joel McHale (The Soup) $2 million
Piers Morgan (America’s Got Talent) $2 million
Kate Gosselin (Kate Plus Eight) $250,000 per episode
Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi (Jersey Shore) $30,000 per episode
News (per year):
Matt Lauer (Today) $16 million+
Katie Couric (CBS) $15 million
Diane Sawyer (ABC) $12 million
Bill O’Reilly (Fox News) $10 million
Wolf Blitzer (CNN) $3 million
Tags: Entertainment, general, news, Television
Posted in Entertainment · September 1st, 2010 · Comments (0)