Has it been really that much? How do they know? Also, is the chump change thing about Seinfield and friends accurate? Considering they paid the actors on Friends about $120 million dollars just for the last season one would imagine that the series also earned the network a good deal of money.

But anyways, the article beyond the two opening paragraphs is interesting, talking about the specific difficulties of developing prime time animated series. I’m specially struck by the similarities between the few long running hit series in the genre (Simpsons, King Of The Hill and Family Guy, with American Dad as a promising newcomer). They all play on FOX, they are all about families and they all use humans instead of, say, cute animals. Of course, within these limits there is a lot of room for differentiation, but one wonders how much space there really is for new series. 

Read the rest, if you are interested in the topic.