Ashton Kutcher is No. 1 on 'Highest Paid TV Actor' list

Ashton Kutcher took Charlie Sheen's job on Two and a Half Men, and he took Sheen's top spot on Forbes' Highest Paid TV actor list.

One difference: Sheen was No. 1 with earnings of $40 million. Forbes estimates that Kutcher earned $24 million between May 2011 and May 2012.

Coming in at No. 2 on the list: Hugh Laurie and Ray Romano, who both earned $18 million. What?

Forbes explains Laurie's Fox show, House, ended its eight-year run in May. Romano made a brief return to the small screen with short-lived TNT's Men of a Certain Age. But his big money comes from reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond and the Ice Age film franchise, in which he plays woolly mammoth Manny.

30 Rock'sAlec Baldwin and NCIS star Mark Harmon tie for fourth place with $15 million each.

Others in the Top 10: Tim Allen, $14 million; Jon Cryer, $13 million; Patrick Dempsey, $12 million; Jason Segel, $8 million; Jim Parsons, $8 million and Johnny Galecki, $8 million.