Ashton Kutcher - Forbes' Television Top Earners Revealed: Ashton Kutcher Leads the Pack.

Forbes' Television Top Earners Revealed: Ashton Kutcher Leads the Pack.

Two-and-a-Half Men is the show that forks out the most for its lead actors; last year Charlie Sheen topped Forbes' list of TV's Highest-Paid TV Actors list with $40m and this year its new lead Ashton Kutcher has taken over the prestigious spot, albeit with a decidedly smaller sum of just $26m.

Hugh Laurie for his role in 'House' and Ray Romano, for a now cancelled 'Men of a Certain Age' were runners up to Kutcher, each raking in $18m. We'd all be happy to plum for second place in this race. Aside from Laurie, it was entirely sitcom actors that scored the bigtime in this list, with stars of 30 Rock, Last Man Standing, Men, and The Big Bang Theory - Alec Baldwin, family favourite Tim Allen, Jon Cryer, and Jim Parsons and Alan Galecki, respectively, all managing to make it into the top ten.

However, as much as it's always great to celebrate in the successes of others, for women in the equivalent category, financial success seems to not be quite so easy. Sophia Vergara from Modern Family is this year's female top earner, but at just (ha! just?) $19m, she's lagging behind Kutcher by $7m! Plus, the genres in which these women find their careers is far more varied than men - still including comedy, but also drama, reality and medical dramas all find their way into the list. Desperate Housewives is one show that truly shows women multitasking, and Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria, two stars of the show, both appear in the top ten. Although men still earn more than women, it seems the ladies can take the prize for versatility.