system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Difference between "Starring", "Also starring", "Guest/special appearance", "With", "And", "And X as Y" in a TV show intro.

Sometimes an actor is credited as "Special appearance by..." yet their character is seen in a lot of back to back episodes or even the majority of a certain season. Is this somehow money related? Do actors have a special clause in their contract for this? If there are a lot of superstars in a TV show, how does a network decide whose name comes up first/last?
gpt
The order that the names appear is called billing, and it's a very big deal in Hollywood. Generally, the top stars are listed first, and that's a negotiating point with the agents and the studios.

Sometimes if there are multiple big names, one or more might be "last-billed." While first-billed is best, no big star wants their name lost in the middle of the credits. So they might negotiate to be last-billed, where it says "With ..." or "And X as Y" after the main cast.

The network doesn't decide it at all. The *studio* determines that as a result of contract negotiations with the actors.