Ray Romano’s reported $1.8 million-per-episode deal became a flashpoint during a 2003 cast-pay dispute on Everybody Loves Raymond. But the available reporting does not show that the salary nearly destroyed his television career. Romano later said he had kept working steadily after the sitcom ended.
How much did Ray Romano make per episode?
In 2003, the Los Angeles Times reported that Romano’s new contract would pay “at least $1.8 million per episode,” making him television’s highest-paid actor. The Associated Press described his pay during the show’s eighth season in 2004 as about $1.8 million per episode. These are contemporaneous media reports, not a full public disclosure of the contract.
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| 1 |
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Everybody Loves Raymond: The Complete Series (RPKG/DVD) | $51.87 | Buy on Amazon |
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Everybody Loves Raymond: Complete Series | $64.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Everybody Loves Raymond: Season 1 | $18.94 | Buy on Amazon |
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Everybody Loves Raymond: Season 2 | $16.96 | Buy on Amazon |
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Everybody Loves Raymond: Season 3 | $8.32 | Buy on Amazon |
The reports used different wording—“at least” and “about”—so the safest summary is that Romano was reported to earn around $1.8 million per episode. The sources reviewed do not establish a total contract value or disclose the terms of his ninth-season deal. In 2019, TIME described his pay at the end of the series as a reported $1.7 million per episode, a different figure that should not be merged with the 2003 reports.
How that compared with other sitcom salaries
Contemporary reports put Romano’s deal above two other prominent sitcom figures, though all of these amounts were reported rather than independently audited payroll figures.
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| Actor or cast | Reported pay per episode | Source and context |
|---|---|---|
| Ray Romano | At least $1.8 million | Los Angeles Times, 2003 |
| Kelsey Grammer | $1.6 million | Los Angeles Times comparison, 2003 |
| Each Friends cast member | $1.2 million | ABC News comparison, 2003 |
Why the salary triggered a cast dispute
In August 2003, Brad Garrett held out while seeking a new contract with CBS. The show wrote him out of its first episode as negotiations continued. Garrett’s representatives at Raw Talent told the Associated Press that he earned less than 10 percent of Romano’s reported salary and called the supporting cast “grossly underpaid.” That was the representatives’ account of the pay disparity, not a statement by Garrett himself.
CBS responded that it had negotiated new contracts with Garrett twice during the preceding four years. AP later reported that Patricia Heaton, Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts also reached new deals for more money. The dispute shows that the gap became a real bargaining issue; it does not, by itself, establish every cast member’s precise pay or the full effect on working relationships.
What Romano said about the money and the final season
Romano acknowledged the widely reported $1.8 million figure in a TV Guide interview published September 23, 2004, and apologized for it. He said his concern about returning was whether the show would be “running it into the ground,” adding that the decision was about preserving the stories and quality rather than simply the money.
That comment places the salary in context: Romano did not describe the final-season decision as a career crisis. The series went on for a ninth and final season of 16 episodes. In 2005, CBS described it as ending as television’s No. 1 comedy (AP; CBS). That outcome does not resolve every question about pay equity, but it is inconsistent with a simple account in which Romano’s deal immediately brought the production down.
Rank #3
- Standup comedian Ray Romano stars as Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter who deals with his brother and parents, who happen to live across the street. Frank (Peter Boyle "While You Were Sleeping") and Marie (Doris Roberts "Remington Steele"), love to meddle in his life while older brother, Robert (Brad Garrett "Suicide Kings"), sometimes resents his success. Nevertheless, Ray manages to keep a b
Did the salary almost destroy Romano’s television career?
The evidence available does not support that claim. In 2004, Romano said that after the film Welcome to Mooseport he needed to regroup and was unsure whether movies would work for him. That is evidence of uncertainty about his film prospects at the time, not evidence that his sitcom salary caused a career collapse (TV Guide).
Asked in a 2019 TIME interview why viewers had not seen him as often after Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano said he had worked constantly since the series ended, continuing stand-up and pursuing other work. His own account does not fit the claim that the reported salary nearly ended his television career.
Rank #4
- (Comedy Series) Standup comedian Ray Romano stars as Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter who deals with his brother and parents, who happen to live across the street. Patricia Heaton ("The Goodbye Girl"), Peter Boyle ("While You Were Sleeping"), Doris Roberts ("Remington Steele"), and Brad Garrett ("Gleason") round out the stellar cast. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR
Romano’s early doubts came before the big deal
Romano later told the Associated Press that he doubted his acting during the sitcom’s first season. He recalled that the series was low in the Nielsen rankings before it aired after The Cosby Show for four episodes, held its audience and rose slightly. Those early worries preceded the 2003 salary negotiations; they should not be folded into a story that the later deal caused a career crisis.
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