Why stars of classic TV shows like Geoffrey Owens and Dawn Wells run into financial difficulties

Marketwatch

The Cosby Show's Owens and Gilligan's Island's Wells made headlines last week with their financial issues -- Owens for working at Trader Joe's and Wells for having a GoFundMe page set up for her. "Fans of the respective actors wondered how this could happen," says Alessandra Malito. "Hadn’t they starred in two major sitcoms? But just because actors appear in reruns and still have a level of name recognition, it doesn’t mean they’re rolling in residuals. Television actors get these royalty checks whenever the shows they appeared in are shown on TV. Not all actors are entitled to these paychecks and, even when they do get a cut, it doesn’t always amount to much."