There was speculation in recent months that their Law & Order SVU franchise was in jeorpardy because notorious tightwad producer Dick Wolf wouldn't give big fat salary increases to the two lead actors who've become two big-- well, one big star and her TV partner.
Realizing too late that he made a mistake by allowing his actors to become bigger than their roles, the man who shuffles, kills off, mixes, matches and replaces players on his flagship Law & Order franchise, has bitten the bullet and anted up, signing series Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni to big, fat, rich two-year deals.
Variety reports the pair have gotten huge raises, making them among the highest-paid actors on TV, with new annual salaries of more than $6.5 million a head (no pun intended, but Mariska is the daughter of legendary blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield, and was with her mom in the car crash that either did or did not decapitate the star of The Girl Can't Help It*).
The low-key Mariska, whose wattage has slowly increased in intensity since the seires debut in 1999, has broken out as a major Hollywood star. But since Meloni, who was a bit of a wild card on the set in the early years that he split his time between the Special Victims Unit and a full-frontal nude role on Oz is joined at her hip and will probably make about as much money as she does.
But the question remains: Why after all these years handling horrendous sex crimes, do these two cops act as if every sex crime scene is the first they've ever encountered?
(*The Girl Can't Help It, directed by the incomparable Frank Tashlin, is on the list of Tabloid Baby's 50 Greatest Movies of All Time!)