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Are actors paid for reaired shows?

By Rich Heldenfels, Tribune News Service
Published: July 19, 2020, 5:02am

You have questions. I have some answers.

I am curious: With SO MANY TV shows being reaired, are payments made to the actors over and over?

The answer can be complicated, as you can see when reading one of the agreements with performers’ union SAG-AFTRA found online. I asked a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson for help and here are the basics. Actors (other than background actors) get paid again when a performance is rerun. In TV’s past, those payments ended after a certain number of replays; now they can go on forever — making those “Law & Order” reruns an annuity for the actors.

As for how much the performers are paid, it varies. Some residuals are tied directly to a specific presentation such as a network telecast, and some residuals are based on a percentage of revenue from the off network sale to cable or secondary digital syndication channels such as Antenna TV.

I think “Council of Dads” is a GREAT show. I hope others respond as well, enough that NBC will change its mind and renew the show. Most TV shows nowadays are not worth watching.

As I mentioned before, the ratings were disappointing. And NBC had tried to bring viewers to it, for example with a special preview following the season finale of “This Is Us.” But it still did not draw enough. Still, if you want to let NBC know your feelings, it has an online feedback system at www.nbc.com/contact-us.

The new “Magnum P.I.” has an actor named Tim Kang who plays Katsumoto. We saw him on another show years back. Was it “The Mentalist”? And will “Magnum” be back?

Kang’s CBS bio lists many credits but says he “is perhaps best known to television audiences for his role as Detective Kimball Cho on ‘The Mentalist.’ “And yes, “Magnum” has been picked up for another season.

Some time back I saw an episode of Carol Burnett’s old variety show where she said, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” I didn’t know what she was referring to. Then I saw you mention “Mary Hartman.” Can you tell me what this refers to?

“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” was a satire of soap operas that ran in syndication from 1976 to 1978. Produced by Norman Lear, the five-nights-a-week show starred Louise Lasser as the title character, a housewife enduring all sorts of bizarre trials and tribulations. The large cast also included Greg Mullavey, Debralee Scott, Mary Kay Place, Martin Mull and more. When Lasser left, the show’s name was changed to “Forever Fernwood.” The complete series has been released on DVD.

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