03.24.09 $14 MILLION? REALLY?

“…and over there is the donut station.”

As you probably know, Laurence Fishburne replaced That Guy With The Beard as the star of the original “CSI” franchise this season.  What you probably didn’t know is that CBS is paying him more than FOURTEEN MILLION DOLLARS to do so.  Nikki Finke says:

Fishburne is being paid “north of $14 million” for his CSI gig. And here the world thinks Les Moonves’ CBS Inc is flat broke. His debut on the show, which was also William Petersen’s finale, logged its best ratings since its season premiere, averaging 20.9 million viewers and a 5.8 rating/15 share among adults 18-49, easily winning its hour. Since then, it’s still a Top 5 show.

Excellent call by CBS.  You really need a big star like Fishburne to replace a big star like That Guy With The Beard.  I mean, That Guy With The Beard was in Fear!  He practically MADE Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon!