Budget row hits TV show

Sarah Silverman has threatened to quit her TV show after network bosses slashed its budget by more than 20 per cent.

Comedy Central has said it will pay $850,000 for each half-hour show in the third series of The Sarah Silverman Program, down from $1.1million last season.

A typical budget for a single-camera comedy would be around $1.5 to $2 million, but Silveman’s show also features expensive animated sequences and musical numbers.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, executive producers Dan Sterling and Rob Schrab have also said they will quit if the broadcaster doesn’t raise the budget – saying they don’t want to jeopardize the quality of the show for the sake of saving cash.

However Comedy Central is having to make across-the-board cuts as the advertising market shrinks. Parent company Viacom laid off seven per cent of its work force in December.

Both sides are now trying to reach a compromise that would keep the show on the air.

Published: 2 Mar 2009