Indeed, this makes talk of “pay parity” - let alone fairness - a rather moot point in TV-land.

And every so often in this relentless quest for more money, behind the cheesy smiles and on-air banter and buffoonery, the clashing egos mean the viewing public gets a glimpse into what really goes on behind the cameras.

These meltdowns are not the exclusive domain of any particular network or show. Both Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic have experienced explosive exits from their mantles, though it was Karl - who no longer speaks to Wilkinson - who managed to stage a stunning comeback to Today, while Lisa has clearly adopted a scorched-earth approach with her new book leaving a trail of destruction at her old network Nine (which also owns this masthead).

Over at Martin Place, a Sunrise insider told me last week the set was “happier than it has been for years”. Clearly that wasn’t the case this time last year when I dared write about former co-host Samantha Armytage’s star waning. She protested loudly at the time, only to quit just months later, though she’ll soon return to Seven ... in a cameo on dating show Farmer Wants A Wife).

In recent days Wilkinson has given us much more than just a glimpse of TV’s inner sanctum - it has been a full vivisection of the internal workings of commercial television, with claims of sexism and boys clubs, unfair pay deals, ugly rivalry and toxic management.

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But it’s hard to imagine how the average punter - the mums and dads who watch commercial TV breakfast shows, who battle to pay mortgages on their modest homes and hang on to jobs - can relate to a multimillionaire’s quest for a $2 million salary.

Sure, these “stars” rise early morning after morning, arriving at work when most of us are sound asleep. I’m sure hair and makeup sessions at ungodly hours are taxing - so too having a professional wardrobe assistant to pick your outfits, all washed, pressed and waiting for you - let alone reading a script prepared by a team of researchers and producers earning a 20th of your salary.

Maintaining any level of witty repartee or keeping a fake smile on one’s dial for three-and-a-half hours each morning, five days a week - only to repeat everything every half hour, sprinkled with bouts of confected hilarity - certainly sounds hell. But is it $2 million-a-year hellish?

In recent days we have been focussed on Wilkinson’s version of events surrounding her departure five years ago, an account which has been questioned by others who were there at the time, but who are not prepared to “fuel the publicity machine” by responding, as one put it to me.

The publicity machine is well and truly in full swing when it comes to promoting Wilkinson’s new memoir It Wasn’t Meant To Be Like This. That’s because there’s a lot riding on it.

Publisher HarperCollins paid Wilkinson a huge advance in a deal struck years ago. PS has been reliably informed it is more than $400,000, on par with the likes of Jimmy Barnes and Julia Gillard.

With the hardcover price set at $45, Wilkinson will need to sell an estimated 80-100,000 copies across print, ebook and audio book before the advance is “earned out”.

Those in publishing say her memoir could easily do those sorts of numbers given her popularity with viewers, and the enduring fascination with what goes on behind the small screen.

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