TV Chatting

Access Hollywood is reporting that Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay has a partially collapsed lung, but the ailment won’t keep her from finishing the season.  According to a source, the actress has been on vacation and her injury did not occur on the set of her show.  The show’s producers say she is "doing great."

This most likely explains her absence from the Golden Globes on Sunday, where she was nominated for best actress in a television drama.

Hargitay, the daughter of  Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay, has played Detective Olivia Bensen on Law & Order: SVU since its debut in 1999.  She was honored with a Golden Globe in 2005 and an Emmy in 2006 for the role.

Law & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Tuesdays at 10pm.

ADA Alexandra Cabot will be back in court on Law & Order: SVU when Stephanie March guest stars in six episodes of the crime drama beginning February 17. 

March starred on Law & Order: SVU for four seasons but left the show in 2003.  Her character was written out when she was forced into the witness protection program after an attempt to take down a drug cartel. She appeared again in 2005, when she came back to testify against a member of the drug cartel.

During Cabot’s return, current prosecutor Kim Greylek (Michaela McManus) will be temporarily on assignment with the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

March will also appear in the upcoming movie This Side of Truth with Ricky Gervais.  

Law & Order: SVU airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

Sara Gilbert will become a regular on the second season of The Big Bang Theory. The role reunites her with Roseanne co-star Johnny Galecki, who played her boyfriend (and later husband) on the series.

Gilbert guest-starred on Big Bang three times during the first season. She will continue her role as Leslie Winkle, a university colleague of the guys and sometime love interest to Galecki’s character, Leonard.

Gilbert will also appear in the season premiere of Law & Order: SVU, along with Luke Perry (90210) and Julie Bowen (Boston Legal, LOST). Gilbert will play the biological mother of a boy who is being abused. Perry and Bowen play the accused foster parents.

The Big Bang Theory premieres on Monday, September 22 and Law & Order: SVU premieres Tuesday, September 23.

Reports on the web are telling us that Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn has been cast as Lt. Elliot Stabler’s mother on Law & Order: SVU. She is currently only slated to guest star on one episode but her storyline is said to be “explosive.” It should be interesting to see just what kind of relationship Elliot has with his mom.

According to EW’s Michael Ausiello, her visit could have something to do with a soon-to-be-revealed bombshell concerning Elliot’s daughter.

Burstyn won her Best Actress Oscar for her role as a young widow and mother in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (but I’ll always remember her as Linda Blair’s mom in The Exorcist).  She also recently had a guest role on HBO’s Big Love.

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