Reportedly she makes $36K per episode which adds up to $20M a year (maybe some of that is from other sources). Either way, not bad. Not bad at all. She is talented but my goodness doesn’t this make you think why the heck go to college and study and work why not just make money for interviewing celebs and goofing around. I think Ellen makes about the same. Crazy money.
Skip Bayless, an ESPN talk show personality, recently announced he was leaving ESPN to go to Fox for, I believe it was, $6M per year. Unreal. And ESPN counter offered for a about that amount to keep him!
Just to put this in perspective, what Bayless does is argue with a guy named Stephen A. Smith about sports. Based on that me and my friends, when I was 10, should have been earning a few million per year each.
He expresses his opinion about sports. And makes millions. Let that sink in on your way to work this morning. The same with Kelly Ripa. Nice lady. Pretty. Perky. No doubt about it she is cool but $20M a year to babble about what her kids poop and what movie she saw or whatever!!!???
I’ve never watched her show, but I imagine she makes so much money because she generates strong ratings and makes her advertisers happy. I believe she also does commercials and either has savvy financial advisers, is pretty savvy herself, or both. She was a working actress before she was hired for the show, which doesn’t just happen.
Ellen doesn’t only interview celebs and goof around either, of course. She was a highly successful standup comedian at the start of her career, which led to her success as an actress, writer, and talk show host.
I don’t mind performers raking in the dough, just as I don’t mind athletes making a ton. People want to see them. I’m old enough to remember all the crabbing when baseball players started making huge salaries. The owners didn’t want to share, but no one goes to a game to watch the owners.
I guess I think it is our business, in a way, because of this:
“You gave two great examples that show people are not paid based on value to society.”
We tend to define people’s “worth” based on their salary. I like Kelly Ripa. I don’t think she is more valuable than a day care worker to society. The value issue is interesting to me.
I don’t obsess about it but it does bother me at some level. $20M for basically hanging out with a co-worker a whole hour, an entire hour, per day, about half the year. Oh yeah, I know, they have production meetings and what not. Sounds brutal. How she manages I’ll never know.
Give her credit.
Some people are obscenely lucky.
So when Michael announces he is quitting she pitches a fit. Hey, Kelly, you are making big bucks, chill out sister. Anyway, apparently, she thinks he is a diva, can you believe that? The drama on the set of a job that good? So she thinks he is a diva because he shows up to meetings late and has an entourage and he is jealous of her because he only made $3M per year for doing the same show.
Is it wrong that I am happy that both of them found ways to be unhappy based on minor things like that? I bet 99.9% of the people here deal with more drama before seven am each day than Kelly and Michael deal with all year.
We can have an opinion about something even if it is none of our beeswax. Okay, maybe I am, a bit, jealous. When I hear of people like the ones I cited making millions to do something I know I can do I always think … hell, I can do that. My kids could do that. Should I send them to school and tell them to study their asses off or send them to Hollywood and tell them to hope for the best. Maybe they should study film and TV production.
In nine minutes K&M is on. Live. I wonder what she is wearing today? I bet M wears a blue suit. I have to be at work but not until 1130 so I will probably watch. And then there is that issue about breakfast. Eggs or waffles? I need to really get moving here.
I really can’t fault Kelly Ripa for her salary. If her mgmt/agent hammers out a deal for $20M a year, what is she supposed to say? “No thank you?”
I do believe, however, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the laws of supply and demand when people can make money hand over fist for doing nothing (I’m looking at you, entire Kardashian clan), while a sitting POTUS makes $400K. (Of course, any retired politician can potentially fall into the overpriced category upon leaving office).
It is for this reason that certain people are held in higher regard because they have money. It elevates them in society . Then that fuels more self esteem, respect , and rising up in society.
I am sure there are an enormous amount of people who try and don’t make it in Hollywood and just the same as professional sports.
I would choose the same pathway as my family has. Education. Also, there is no guarantee that an enormous amount of money changes your life for the better.
Thanks for starting this thread, @GoNoles85. I, too, have been curious about Kelly and her success.
Cute and perky but often inane, IMO.
What I truly do not understand is why she takes on additional gigs such as commercials, etc. With $20 million coming in annually, why work other jobs? Wouldn’t some free time be of more value than more money?
But regarding advice to kids for their future, please realize the extreme odds against anyone “making it” into a high-paying performance career, and the same goes for sports. The odds are against being able to support yourself in such a field, much less make big bucks. Go for it if you wish, but do so recognizing the reality.
Compensation in our economy is driven by many factors, and value to society is not primary among them.
I am not jealous of these stars, as I am blessed to have more than enough, and don’t see the need for more. That is why my particular curiosity is why those with such high incomes take on additional work. Why does Oprah (for whose success I am really glad, as I consider her of much more value than Kelly Ripa) put out a magazine? What am I missing?
Edited to add:
P.S. I think Lin-Manuel Miranda is PRICELESS – am delighted that his production of Hamilton is doing so well and that all involved are, I assume, reaping financial rewards, as well as significant personal satisfactions. Hope Hamilton’s success inspires more of that kind of work.
This type of success is even more unlikely than that of Kelly Ripa and all those professional athletes. A show like Hamilton comes along once in, maybe, a generation. The financial success that Lin-Manuel is achieving, and the show has made him a millionaire many times over and it will only grow and continue, is an extreme rarity in the theatre world.
OP, I think you’re being terribly dismissive of her. I’d be pissed, too, if I found out my co-host of four years was leaving when everyone else did. She’s been a part of that show for more than 10 years and a loyal ABC employee her entire adult life (I used to watch her as a teen on All My Children). She should have been given the respect to let her know about the changes to HER show before it was announced to the media. I sincerely can’t see them doing this to a man.
As for what she earns, I don’t care. If they’re willing to pay it, my guess is she earns it.
^^ @alwaysamom:
Yes, of course I am aware that the success of Miranda and Hamilton are very rare. But it is still something I celebrate. (I am obsessed with LMM, the show, the educational initiatives, and so much else connected with the Hamilton “phenomenon.”)
I was mainly using LMM as an example of a “personality” in show business that I am very glad is experiencing significant financial rewards, and who I think is worth LOTS of compensation.
The producers could obviously replace Kelly Ripa with somebody they could pay a lot less. But how much would it cost them in ratings and advertising dollars if they did that? That’s the calculation that matters here.
I never watch any of those (ESPN, talk shows in general, Kelly Ripa specifically) so I feel like I’m doing my part by not contributing to their salaries.
I think the economics is pretty simple. Viewers watch those shows, that attracts advertisers, and that pays the salaries.
Even though she makes a lot more money than Michael, I can’t help thinking she is jealous of his Good Morning America position. She might feel like she’s stuck in a dead-end job (albeit high-paying) and that might be why she is doing other things, like commercials. I think she’s a very smart woman, who “plays dumb”. I am somewhat worried about her health, after seeing her in person. She is extremely thin.
I just wonder if people really buy more Tide or Prilosec or whatever based on watching a particular show and its commercials. Don’t most people simply tune out the commercials? I suppose companies have done studies on whether among watchers of certain shows, sales go up. I’m scratching my head right now trying to think of a time when I’ve bought a product because I saw it in a commercial. (Oh, yeah, I went to Pollo Loco because their salads looked so good on the commercial. But just once, because in reality they were terrible.) False advertising.
I don’t watch any of that stuff and I’m sure I couldn’t pick Kelly Ripa out of a lineup.
That being said, there are probably 1000 or more people who want her job and could do her job just as well but somehow she got it. There is luck, there is knowing people, there is making a deal with the devil, but there are very few who make it like she has so I wouldn’t encourage anyone to waste a lot of time and effort trying!
And ugh, my H listens to what I call sports gossip all the time. There is nothing like sports and politics to generate a lot of completely meaningless discussion. Most of it is guys wanting to hear themselves talk. Not for me!