TVSquad

On Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen plays a vulgar playboy, a shallow guy who's more interested in booze, women and having a good time than being responsible and working hard. The role has earned him a couple of Emmy nominations and a lot of money. A lot of money. In fact, in a new poll from TV Guide, Charlie Sheen is the highest paid actor on TV, making $825,000 per episode; in a season of 23 shows, that comes out to nearly $20 million.

That's more than he could make in the movies, and unlike films, Charlie can keep on raking it in on Two and a Half Men for years. The show is a huge hit in syndication, so more episodes will simply mean more money down the road.

Right behind Charlie on the list is fellow CBS leading man, CSI's William Petersen. He's making $600,000 an episode. He's only doing ten episodes this season, but since he's also an executive producer on the series, he's probably making even more.

When Law & Order: SVU returns on September 23, it's bringing a trio of guest stars with it. Luke Perry (90210), Sara Gilbert (Roseanne, 24), and Julie Bowen (Ed, Lost) are all set to make appearances. Perry and Bowen play a couple accused of abusing their foster child. Gilbert is on board to play the child's biological mother.

In addition to the main foster-child abuse storyline, the premiere is going to deal with Benson's (Mariska Hartigay) attempted rape a the end of last season, as well as Fin's (Ice-T) possible transfer out of SVU. The premiere also marks the debut of the new ADA played by Michaela McManus (One Tree Hill).

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ ANY FARTHER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW SEASON OF SVU!!!!

The big news about the season premiere of NBC's Law & Order: SVU is not that it is the show's 9th season, or the fact that Cynthia Nixon guest-stars in a pretty chilling role. The big news is that Mariska Hargitay cut her hair! How could she? Frankly, I loved her long locks.

But, I guess that she didn't, and they seem to be back to pre-season 7 length (don't ask me how I know this). Plus, even after the events of last season's finale, her character Olivia Benson still seems to be partnered with Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). From the promo you'll see after the jump, they'll need to work very closely together.

(S08E21) I hate it when the promos ruin an episode. It's hard to tell whether this episode of SVU was a good one because I knew from the promos that the girlfriend was a "black widow". It took a really, really long time for the story to unfold and I felt impatient because I wanted to see the evil side of this girl.

(S08E19) This was the best episode this season, hands down. Det. Olivia Benson's entire world came crashing down around her. Her entire motivation for being an SVU detective was brought into question. There was an awful lot revealed in this episode about Benson's past.

The writers and Mariska Hargitay did a spectacular job convincing me that she had completely lost her mind. Det. Benson appeared to be blindly helping her brother evade the law because she couldn't believe that he was a rapist, just like their father. After the last episode with Simon, I fully believed that he was guilty and I thought she did too.

Lead actors Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have both agreed to stick around on Law & Order: SVU for two more seasons. It seems that money did the talking. Variety is reporting that both actors received about a $6.5 million raise for each year season. The publication says Hargitay is going to receive approximately $300,000-$340,000 per episode, pushing her up among the highest-paid female actors on television. Looks like baby August gets to go to private school!

Both actors had a hell of a lot of bargaining power in their contract negotiations. That show delivers consistently strong ratings for NBC and it absolutely would not be the same without Dets. Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler (Think: The X-Files without Mulder and Scully). Let's hope the network gives an incentive to keep Richard Belzer around, too.

SVU is currently in season 8, which means we're guaranteed seasons 9 and 10, which is exactly how long the sexual tension will last.

The nominees for the 13th annual Screen Actors Guild awards were announced earlier this morning. Like the Golden Globes, the SAG awards focus on both movies and television. We don't give a darn about the movie nominees (that's what our sister site Cinematical is for), but we very much care for the television nominations. That's because we are, you know, TV Squad. So, here they are:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

James Gandolfini, The Sopranos

Michael C. Hall, Dexter

Hugh Laurie, House

James Spader, Boston Legal

Kiefer Sutherland, 24 / 24 – Jack Bauer - FOX

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Patricia Arquette, Medium

Edie Falco, The Sopranos

Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Kyra Sedgwick,The Closer

Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy

(S08E10) This episode was all about Elliot's concern about growing apart from his daughters. The beginning of the episode shows Elliot in church with his fractured family and his middle child hating him very much. He is tipped off to an investigation from his priest, who heard the confession of a man dying of lung cancer. He won't tell Elliot what the confession was, but he suggests Elliot visits the man, named Judson Tierney (played by Brian Dennehy).

Eriq LaSalle, who played Doctor Peter Benton on ER from 1994 to 2001, returns to NBC's prime-time schedule in January. This time, though, he won't be acting. Rather, he will be behind the cameras as he directs an episode of Law & Order: SVU.

LaSalle will be reunited with SVU cast member Mariska Hargitay, who portrayed Cynthia Hooper during the fourth season of ER, and Michael Michele, who played Doctor Cleo Finch (and Benton's girlfriend) for two seasons on the medical drama. In the episode itself, which will air January 9th, a messy marital estrangement and subsequent custody battle (are there any others on SVU) will pit Valerie Sennet (Michele) against her estranged husband Miles Sennett (Blair Underwood) and result in some secrets being discovered by detectives Benson (Hargitay) and Stabler.

(S08E09) I can't decide what I liked better about this episode-- Bob Saget or the return of Mariska Hargitay. Det. Olivia Benson comfortably slipped back in to being Det. Elliot Stabler's partner without much fanfare. No fanfare, really. She barely got a "Welcome Back" from Elliot. Casey was cold toward her, even though Olivia came back in time to help her get a conviction on a rape case. I think Det. Munch gave her the warmest reception. All these police types: bottling up their emotions! Sheesh!

(S08E06) First of all, let me just say that the "eco-terrorists" have surprisingly good fashion sense. And access to showers. As someone who lives in Oregon, where we have real eco-terrorists, I kept having to chuckle at their portrayal on this episode of SVU. But enough of the nit-picky stuff... Mariska Hargitay is back!

After her maternity leave, Mariska looks amazing. I thought the writers came up with a great storyline to get Det. Olivia Benson out of her undercover gig. She got bored with the squeaky clean environmentalists she had infiltrated so she started investigating the murder of the head of a pharmaceuticals company when her friends are suspected of his death.

Just a reminder that Mariska Hargitay returns to Law & Order: SVU with tonight's episode. This is the post-pregnant Hargitay that will appear, not the pregnant, puffy jacket Mariska that was shown in the season premiere.

However, it's not like she walks right back into the squadroom and goes 'Hey everybody, I'm back! Let's get some coffee'. If you remember from the first episode of the season Mariska's character, Detective Olivia Benson, went undercover to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group based out of Oregon. In tonight's episode she returns to New York to assist A.D.A. Casey Novak in presenting evidence in a rape case. Of course, this could impact the work Olivia has been doing on the West Coast.

(S08E04) This week we're back to the case and off the personal issues of the detectives. And the case is particularly disturbing. A single mother and her 10-year old daughter are found bound, raped and murdered in their apartment. The initial suspect is a very dirty, mouthbreathing Jerry Lewis.

Lewis really stole the show, didn't he? He was heartbreaking as a man who was so depressed that he became demented. He ended up being Det. John Munch's uncle who came up to NYC from Florida in June to see him but forgot what he was doing and ended up on the streets. He experienced a remarkable change in personality. Basically, he turned from crazy homeless man to, well, Jerry Lewis. And then he changed to crazy Jerry Lewis.

As we reported earlier this week, Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay gave birth to a boy on Tuesday, June 28th. We've now learned that she and her husband, actor Peter Hermann, named their son 'August'. He was born by c-section a week after his due date. Baby August weighed in at 10 pounds, 9 ounces.

A rep tells People magazine, "Mother and baby are doing wonderfully. She is ecstatic--over the moon." Her website also has the announcement, but no photo.

Congratulations to Mariska Hargitay! She and her husband, actor Peter Hermann, welcomed a baby boy to this world yesterday. He was a big fella... weighing in at 10 pounds, 9 oz (geez!). The baby was born by c-section one week after his due date. Mariska will be on maternity leave when Law & Order: SVU begins shooting its fall season. Her temporary replacement is Connie Nielsen.

No word yet on a name. Hopefully she'll update her very groovy website with a name and a photo (so we can see whether he inherited her enviable jawline).

[Via Celebrity Baby Blog]