Former Nickelodeon star Jennifer Hyatt Tedmori recently showed that not everyone who appears on a popular TV show gets a big residual check.
Tedmori, who made most of her television appearances as a youth, has appeared on shows like Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide and the 90210 reboot.
“POV: You were on a TV show 20 years ago and a random envelope still shows up in your mailbox. Time to open my latest Ned’s Declassified residual checks,” Tedmori wrote in the caption to an Instagram video showing her opening up a stack of these envelopes.
“Residual checks are one of those weird parts of being a child actor that people are always curious about, so I figured I’d open them with you. Who’s ready to find out if I’m buying coffee… or a yacht?”
The first residual check she opened was for an appearance on Ned’s Declassified and was literally for two cents.
“See all of this paper I’m just littering in my car for two f—— cents,” she said. “I know, hard times [and the] economy is s—, but like two cents? Keep it. Just f—— keep it. I don’t want it.”
The rest of her checks for the show that she opened were for $1.11, $1.01, $1.01, 63 cents, 68 cents, 87 cents, 36 cents, 45 cents, two for three cents, and three for 81 cents.
The check for 90210 that she opened was, surprisingly to her, for $21.43.
“For‘Ned’s Declassified, that brings us to a grand total of $8.63. With 90210, [it’s] $30.06,” she said. “Maybe I can go buy a coffee at Starbucks? Do I even report this to the IRS? They’re not even gonna give a f—. I hope you all have a great day. I hope you get out there and make more than $8.63.”
Only the biggest names get any real residual money from TV shows
While Jennifer Hyatt Tedmori wasn’t a huge star, sometimes even bigger names don’t make any residual money.
Jodie Sweetin, who played Stephanie Tanner for eight years on the popular sitcom Full House, recently revealed just how little money she now receives from the show. Despite appearing on the show from 1987 to 1995 and in all 193 episodes, Jodie Sweetin revealed that she recently received a residual check for a penny.
Also, despite The Brady Bunch remaining on the air in reruns for over 50 years, Eve Plumb, who played middle daughter Jan Brady, recently said in an interview that she doesn’t make anything from them.
When it comes to Hollywood and TV shows, not everyone can be Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow.