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THR reports that Scrubs star, occasional pop-star despoiler, and Burgeoning Voice of a Whiny Generation Zach Braff has reached a deal to ascend to the highest echelon of TV-actor remuneration: Charlie Sheen Money:

The multihyphenate has cut a one-year deal with "Scrubs" producer ABC TV Studio that will pay him in the neighborhood of $350,000 per episode for the 2007-08 season of "Scrubs," sources said. Braff's deal is contingent on NBC picking up the single-camera comedy for a seventh year, which is expected.

If so, Braff's new deal would put him in the top echelon of highest-paid male actors on television, alongside "Two and a Half Men" star Charlie Sheen, whose paycheck also is in the $350,000-per-episode range for the Warner Bros. TV-produced CBS sitcom.

Whether or not you're a Scrubs fan or think Braff is worth the hefty raise, it's disturbing to be reminded once again that the paycheck of Two and a Half Men's mumble-mouthed star is officially the benchmark for overpaying TV actors. As such, at some point in the negotiations for Braff's new deal, his agent at CAA probably angrily hung up the phone after uttering the threat, "Listen, unless you come back to us with Charlie Sheen Money by the end of the day, I fucking swear to you my client will walk off the set and spend all of next year doing nothing but making those shitty movies where he sits around in a doorway crying his puppy-dog eyes out during a conveniently timed rainstorm because he just can't figure out what it all means. Neither of us wants that, so get back to me when you're serious about making this happen."