07.13.09 RYAN SEACREST: $15M A YEAR FOR ‘IDOL’

Ryan Seacrest has signed a contract extension for “American Idol” that will pay him $45 million over the next three years.  Wow.  I wonder what it’s like to know you’ll definitely have a job two years from now.  Oh yeah, and the money’s good, too.  I guess.

Under the pact, which is believed to be the richest ever for a reality host, Seacrest will be exclusive to CKX in broadcast TV primetime to host “Idol” or any CKX-produced show that might succeed it.

The pact, which had been in the works for the past several weeks, gives Seacrest a gigantic pay raise, more than trippling [sic] his previous salary of slightly less than $5 million per season.  [Hollywood Reporter]

Good Lord.  I can’t even pretend to understand.  Don’t get me wrong, Seacrest is one handsome midget, and he’s very good at a job that’s much harder than it looks (hosting live television in primetime).  But $15 million good?  I dunno.  I feel like the “American Idol” cast is getting more and more like the New York Yankees.  And not like the Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig all-time great Yankees.  The Johnny Damon-Carl Pavano Yankees.