Okay, this is total BS. Could you even imagine if the writers happened to be more conservative and had a character named, oh I don't know, Rosie O'Connell raped and killed. There would be SO much backlash and people would probably boycott the show. I mean, have your own opinions, that's totally fine, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

I don't agree. I'm not a fan of Elisabeth's, I don't agree with her politics, I don't watch the View, but I do see where she is coming from. Now if the guy had been nicer about it and she had still said those things, well then yes, I could agree. I can respect Law & Order for doing what they do, and they are allowed to use whatever name they want, she doesn't own her name or any version close to it. But from what your article and the clip said, it was not handled correctly. And no, I don't think her producers should have thrown her off the air. I think L&O have the right to do as they please and visa versa. They probably figured she would find out and say something about it on air, these are not stupid people.

Whether Dick Wolf & Co. have the right to do what they did is immaterial, as is Hasselbeck's politics. It was an incredibly cynical and scummy move on the part of the writers and producers of L&O. While I don't agree with Hasselbeck's thinly veiled threats in response, I'm sure she said those things out of anger. If someone had done that to me or someone I cared about and then hung up the phone on me I would have probably threatened them with death, not just a ban from "The View".

I agree with JasonR. Elizabeth H seems quite loathable from what little I know of her, yet I don't think this justifies having such an ill-fated character vaguely named after her. (Imagine her family seeing this episode?) I'd be annoyed, too, I think anybody would be. It's rather distasteful and seems to cross the line, even more so than L&O's other episodes that are 'ripped from the headlines'. I think the SVU producer handled things in a poor manner and I don't think EH's handling of the situation on the air was outrageous---so she banned them from 'the View', so what?? She didn't malign them or rip them a new one. The L&O actors will scarcely be affected by this ban and neither will the producers of SVU---can't see them having much of the same audience. (Ice Cube on the View??)

shit, got my rappers mixed up, it shouldve been 'Ice-T', not Ice Cube. doh!

I agree with Sarah, the first poster. If this had happened to Rosie O'Donnell, she would have also threatened to ban SVU actors from the show, and who knows if it would have stopped there. Elisabeth Hasselbeck doesn't seem to hold any power within the entertainment industry, so it makes sense that the only way she can hold her own in this matter is to use her show as leverage. It's also been said that Barbara Walters was extremely disturbed by the SVU script, and we all know you don't cross Barbara. I think the SVU episode also struck a chord with Elisabeth because she and her husband were accused of child abuse last year by a crazy stalker, so her feelings of vulnerablility are probably at an all-time high.

a bit of context:

i watched the first half or so of this episode. when the name 'elizabeth hassenbeck' came up, it raised my eyebrows, but folks, the character gets killed off in the opening scene of the episode--the part that runs before the theme and credits. the episode concerns the prosecution of a rapist who repeatedly rapes the same victims, who are treated with skepticism by the police, who assume that the women are suffering from PTSD when they report the subsequent rapes. the hassenbeck character calls one of the SVU detectives (the one played by chris meloni; can't remember the character's name) after she is raped for the second time--she tells meloni she is in pursuit of the rapist (if i'm remembering right, she had a gun). when the cops reach the scene, they find the hassenbeck character's body.

while it seems likely that the SVU writers were venting a little contempt for mrs. hasselbeck with the eerily similar character name, her righteous indignation implies a much more egregious liberty than the one actually taken, given that the character is in and out of the episode so quickly (the plot abandons hassenbeck completely and focuses on another victim, who has been impregnated by the rapist).

i liked lizzie on survivor, but she needs to watch her f&$%ing hat size. the SVU people were absolutely right to hang up on her when she started threatening boycott.

I'm sorry, but I think Elisabeth deserves to be freaked out by this. There are too many screwed up people in this world who can get a crazy idea by watching SVU and then act on that idea. And this is not a matter of her personal politics, it's a matter of personal safety (but I do find her ideas refreshing in such a liberally biased entertainment industry.)

The example that #1 and #7 brought up if the character's name was Rosie O'Donell that was raped and murder...do you remember when Scope Mouthwash named Rosie O'Donell (when she had her original show) the least kissable person in America? She told her audience to boycott Scope, they did, and sales of Scope plummeted. Then, she had a kissing promotion where starts would come on her show and give her a kiss and donate money to a certain charity, in Listerine's name. So, yes, something like this could turn into a boycott, especially if Elizabeth Hasselback could get Rose O'Donell to back her up on it.

Oh please. Whine me a river!

As some one who watches a nearly disturbing number of crime shows--in particular the L&O franchise--Lizzie Oakley is as usual shrieking hysterically for no reason. Aside from having a similar name, were there any similarities to her? Was Hassenback a whiny talk-show host? A former reality TV faux-celeb? Not to mention that the character was only in the episode for about five minutes.

I have an admittedly common name, and there are often victims in shows with similar names to mine. Does this mean that the producers of the shows should have to listen politely to my illogical and shrill rantings? I would have hung up on her, too.

She's too frigging sensitive. She needs to STFU, post haste.

As for not allowing any L&O actors on the View...way to alienate the blue-hairs, because many of them LOVE Dick Wolf and all his work.

Also, I think Rosie would probably get a kick out of being a L&O TV SHOW victim. Probably because she HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR.

To Tati - scary thought that Ice T actually HAS been on the View.

I'm about as far as can be from her on the political spectrum, but I don't think that her response was unjustified, esp if the phone call with the producer really went down as described. And Babs seemed pretty suppotive; I got the impression that she's behind EH on this.

When I first heard about this I could understand why she would be upset, but after watching the episode I think she totally overreacted. As jack stated, the character was in the episode for about three minutes and in no way, shape or form resembled Elisabeth. She was not blond, there was no mention of a reality or talk show or of her husband being a football player. The only likeness was the similarity in names and most people that I talked to didn't even realize it until after she went on air about it.

L&O constantly totes is show as "ripped from the headlines" so she should be happy that they didn't actually devote a whole episode to the troubles that she went through last year. There are other celebrities (Michael Jackson, K-Fed and Britney, Tom Cruise) that have been portayed and you don't hear them complaining about it. Elisabeth gives herself too much credit.

Killing an effigy of one of your political enemies on one of the most-watched television shows ever is a sure way to get positive publicity!

In my opinion most people watching L&O:SVU wouldn't have noticed the victim's name and if they did pick up on that, they probably wouldn't have remembered the name of the whiny blonde chick on the View to make the comparison. I never remember her name and I watch Survivor (though not the View). I agree with a previous comment that she shouldn't have mentioned it 'cause it just gives L&O publicty but it could be she wanted some favorable press. Wouldn't put it past most fame hungry celebriality whores.

Waa Waa Waa, stop being a crybaby. I think this was a way for her to get some publicity, because she is on the verge of being fired. Who hired this girl to begin with? Go back to survivor island, and shut the F up you no talent twat!

KH