• June 22, 2001

ABC has sealed a $152 million deal with Warner Bros. Television to keep "The Drew Carey Show" on the network through at least 2004. Concurrently, series star Drew Carey has inked a new contract with Warner Bros. to continue leading the show at a salary of between $600,000 and $750,000 per episode. With profits from syndication included, Carey's deal could ultimately be worth as much as $60 million.

ABC already had a deal in place for "Drew Carey's" seventh season this fall. The Disney-owned network started floating another renewal with Warner Bros. around the start of the year, hoping to avoid a high-profile, last-minute renegotiation for the show, which remains the centerpiece to ABC's Wednesday night lineup. Under the new pact, ABC will pay around $3 million an episode for "Drew Carey's" eighth (2002-03) and ninth (2003-04) seasons. That's up from between $2.2 million and $2.5 million per episode, which ABC currently pays under a two-year pact signed in 1999 and set to expire next spring. Warner Bros. will also continue to produce 26 episodes a year of "Drew." Most sitcoms tape between 22 and 24 episodes a season.

- Adam Bernard