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For a TV talk show host Who’s not even in prime time Thai’s $8219178 a day A show What do you think Oral Roberts the piker ($45 million hah!) thinks of that ? When people argue about the absurdity of the money paid to professional athletes or to the s Don Johnsons and Johnny of the world I always say they deserve every penny of it It’s what the market will bear their careers are short they fuel the fantasy lives of millions of actual and prolonged adolescents across this great land and they provide entertainment to boot How do you put a price on that? But geez — Thirty million dollars! People hollered when New York Yankees owner George Stcinbrcnner gave Dave Winfield a contract for $23 million But that was for 10 years! Even if Don Mattingly the greatest baseball player on the planet wins his arbitration case with Stcinbrcnner and is awarded the $1975000 a year he’s asking for he’ll have to play for — wait a minute let me get out the calculator — for 16 seasons or until he's 41 years old to make what Oprah will make in one season And no one is throwing at her head at 90 miles a fastball an hour Figuring Don Johnson is now making what some people consider a gluttonous $60000 an episode to do “Miami Vice” he’d have to do 500 of them — 23 seasons’ worth (three years longer than “Gunsmokc!") — to match Oprah’s take in one year Johnny Carson who has endured for 24 seasons only makes about $10 million per annum He’d have to work three years to match Oprah’s one though of course Johnny doesn’t do Mondays he takes more vacation than Ronald Reagan and he has Ed and Doc to help carry the load Seniority counts for something guess Speaking of Reagan he would have to serve 50 years as president or until he was 226 years old to match what Oprah who’s 34 makes in one year As for plain folk a college professor earning $30000 a year would have to teach for 10 centuries — one thousand years — to make what Oprah makes in r j j (Wed) Hogue" (Fri) “Life on the Mississippi" TNN Fandango (CC) © DIS the News (Wed) (CC) ' Presents (Mon) College Basketball Truth About Alex (Mon) Platypus Cove (Wed) The Talk Show (Thu) MAX Cinemax (Fri) Comedy Experiment NIC Danger Mouse NBC News ABC News ED Rambo CBN Hardcastle Circus SportsLook Not Necessarily of for Warsaw O O O O f Dance" HBO Videocountry WKRP in Cincinnati (R) (CC) Odyssey (Fri) DSN Dumbo's HBO Adventures Uncle" of the Earth (CC) ED Defenders (Fri) (Mon ‘Dusty’ TBS Down Ghostbusters ED the Gun Proctor Street Contact (D House (Tue) “Monkey's Uncle" “Monkey's O of Disney Chase (Tue) and Son Movie— ESP Fri) Movie— The (Wed) NIC Court People's Diff’rent Strokes CBN Jones and - TV (Thu) Benson (Thu) MAX Movie— of Lite Newton's OWL Tonight (Mon) SportsCenter HBO Movie— (Tue) “Roller Boogie" of Strangers HBO Survival (Wed) Family 3:30 the Mimi (D American Hunchback (Wed) “Macaroni" a Deal Road to the White lock TBS Great of Europe Family Island WSC O O Lassie “The WGN Facts Entertainment ESP Transformers 4:00 Paper Sanford TBS ED SilverHawks DIS Portraits of Power (Fri) DSN Welcome to Pooh Corner (Thu) “The Idolmaker O TMC BSB Willow" SHO TBS of Life BtWT Large Animals of the Arctic (Fri) TMC Movie— (Fri) “Mambo" O “The (Thu) Royal SHO CD Boomerang ED Brady Bunch EBB 3:35 DSN Welby MD Movie— (Thu) “Ladyhawke" Can't Do That on Television You NIC Town’ New Country Dance Party USA WGN Live O O Safe at Home Road Rocky (Fri) TMC Movie— USA Facts WSC (Fri) Marcus MAX Chase TMC ic Lamp" TBS (Tue) “Mass LIF and Cartoons WGN Mickey Mouse Club SportsCenter (Mon) NHL Hockey (Tue) College Basketball HBO Loser Take All (Mon) Ups Downs DSN ESP Soldier” Concert Stages SHO Drive (Fri) Young King Arthur Flintstones (Thu) “Victory” (Tue) “Uphill Season" (Fri) “A Shining Dame" Notre Game Movie— Mark Journal Fishing (Fri) Broadcast" Floor Debate (Thu) Creative (Wed) Antiques to Beaver ED Leave CBN Fattier Knows Best NIC (Wed) Magazine Circle (Mon) the Way” Control (Thu) MAX Movie— (Mon) Voyage of the Mimi (Fri) Kitchen (Mon) We’re CookCD International ing Now (Tue) Magic of Oil Painting Cattle Racing Winner’s (Tue) HBO Educational Programming DIS Today Waterskiing HBO Movie— ESS (Fri) DSN (Fri) ESP NBA Horse (Mon) Asian Insight (Tue) Ten Green World (Wed) Brown - Violin Maker John (Thu) Salt Water “The Charge at (Mon) River” TNN WGN Bottles Royale” (Mon) Jilting of Granny Weatherall Movie— (Tue) “Aladdin and His Mag- TNN Guatemala Disappearing Doo Movie— Feather DIS and David" (Wed) “By the Light of the (Fri) “Blackbeard (Thu) Moon" Green Acres CBN Teacher" (Mon) “Teacher Winkler Meets William Shake- Scooby TMC Catherine" the Silvery Pirate" (Wed) speare (Tue) The Bridge of Adam Rush Rabbit (Thu) The Spe(Wed) Velveteen cial Magic of Herself the Elf (Fri) TBS (Tue) “Great “Casino (Thu) Beverly Dare Double SHO “Claudia Wind" (Tue) “Ghostbusters" SHO the e- Song’ (Mon) (Mon) "Avanti!" Movie— Appeal" TNN Crook USA (Thu) MAX Movi- “Torch Hillbillies (Tue) Inside Tom Mann Outdoors America Sports the PGA Tour (Wed) NIC ED NIC Dennis the Menace ED America's Biggest Bargains (Thu) Down AMC Movie— (Mon) “Whistle of Silence" Question (Mon) (Tue) “Daisy Miller” (Wed) “The Chosen" (Fri) “Malibu” (Thu) “Malibu” MAX Madeleine (Mon) Cooking Are for Cooking (Tue) Microwaves Hooked on Seafood (Thu) Good from Jane Brody’s Kitchen (Fri) Gourmet CD “Something the Thu) (Wed Wrestling Melody” “Interrupted TBS TMC (Thu) ESP Scholastic (Wed) Jazz Singer" to Beaver New Leave “The (Mon) Robinson Country New Friends (Fri) (Thu) Old Friends Pock DSN Mouse Factory (Wed) Pontoffel Foible Human CIS Movie— SHO Rifleman CBN Adventures Smurfs’ MB 3:00 O Days Our Lives O Newlywed Game O ValueTelevision O Mister Rogers (R) one Oprah has apparently told her staff in Chicago that the Variety report is somewhat exaggerated How somewhat she won’t say it But however somewhat doesn’t change this staggering fact: Oprah Winfrey talk show host is now the highest paid person in show business Lots of jokes are made about people making more than the gross national product of some small nations Usually it’s hyperbole So I went to the Almanac to check it out this time Oprah’s show is in $125 million-a-yethe ballpark Grenada the whole darned island we sent the Marines to save only has a GNP of $110 million Heck Greenland’s is only $430 million You ever see how big Greenland looks on your map? It’s even bigger than Oprah! I’m sorry Oprah I like your show But $30 million a year for an hour a day of chitchat is obscene Week of Feb I j j ! |