Oprah Winfrey pulls in $260 million annually.

'Judy Judy' makes $30 million per year.

Kyra Sedgewick brings in $250 grand per episode of 'The Closer.'

Matt Lauer of 'Today' makes $12 million each year.

Talk shows have been very, very good to Oprah Winfrey.

Like $260 million a year good.

That's good enough to be the best-paid TV personality on the air, according to a new TV Guide survey.

Winfrey's paycheck includes fees for producing her own daily chatfest and for having a hand in the shows of Rachael Ray, Dr. Phil and others.

Besides producing her friends' talk shows, Winfrey is the producer of prime-time specials and movies for ABC, which help kick up the bottom line.

So Winfrey's not heading for the poorhouse anytime soon. Neither are a load of famous TV names in the TV Guide list. In fact, Winfrey's salary dwarfs that of caustic "American Idol" judge and music producer Simon Cowell, who pulls in a hefty $45 million a year for all of his ventures.

And, "Judge Judy" Sheindlin, the former New York jurist who has parlayed an aggressive approach to the bench into a successful daytime show, is pulling down a cool $30 million a year, according to TV guide.

Take a gander at the list — it's in this week's issue of TV Guide — and it's easy to see there are a bunch of folks making a whole lot of dough.

CBS' Katie Couric leads the news anchor list with an annual paycheck of $15 million. Couric's former on-air partner on "Today" Matt Lauer earns $12 million a year. Couric's "Today" show replacement, Meredith Vieira, is making $10 million a year.

On cable entertainment shows, Kyra Sedgwick, the star and executive producer of TNT's "The Closer" gets $250,000 an episode. Likewise, Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh, the stars of FX's "Nip/Tuck," each earn $125,000 per episode. Their "Nip/Tuck" co-star Joely Richardson (she plays Walsh’s wife) earns $90,000.

Cable shows tend to do fewer episodes, between 13 and 16 a season, while broadcast networks tend to order upward of 22 or more a year.

William Petersen, who plays Grissom on the hit show "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," earns $500,000 an episode, which, based on 22 episodes a season comes out to about $11 million a year.

Charlie Sheen earns $350,000 an episode for his work on CBS' popular comedy "Two and a Half Men."

Zach Braff, who fronts NBC's quirky comedy "Scrubs," also pulls in about $350,000 an episode, which will generate $6.3 million for the 18 episodes he'll do during the 2007-08 season.

Why so much?

"Without Zach Braff, you don’t have a seventh year of 'Scrubs,’" an executive told TV Guide, noting one more season adds a lot more value down the road.

Richard Huff