News & Notes...

Chris Rock (seen here with his wife Malaak at the premiere of his new flick I Think I Love My Wife) sits down with James Lipton on Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio Monday, March 12 at 8pm.


Grey's Anatomy cast members are getting paid. Ellen Pompeo, James T. Pickens and Chandra Wilson have all signed on the dotted line with regards to their mid-contract pay increases, with Pompeo's new deal fetching her nearly $200,000 per episode, sources tell the Hollywood Reporter. Justin Chambers and T.R. Knight are said to be close to inking their respective deals, while talks continue for Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh and Katherine Heigl (whose negotiations stalled when they became public last week).

Kate Walsh, who's fronting the prospective Grey's spin-off, accordingly has a fresh deal in place, while the contract status of Isaiah Washington remains unclear, the trade reports, as it is being kept under tight wraps by the show's producer, ABC TV Studio.

I can understand why ABC wants to "show them the money." They certainly don't want any key cast members to jump ship (as George Clooney and Julianna Margulies did on ER) and take the ratings with them (as what happened on ER).