TVSquad

First Jerry Seinfeld's wife, now a View host.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck has been sued by another author who accuses her of stealing ideas for her book The G Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide. The plaintiff, Susan Hassett, says she sent a copy of her own book Living with Celiac Disease to Hasselbeck last year. And now this year Hasselbeck comes out with her own book (written with Peter Green) on the topic, and there seems to be a lot of similarities, including chapter titles and certain phrasing of words.

Gawker has some of the similarities and TMZ has the court documents.

Obviously, this is in the "rumor" category, but Elizabeth Hasselbeck might be leaving The View for Fox News. It's probably just a stunt anyway to get a higher salary. It's not likely there aren't other women of conservative ideologies in the world who couldn't replace her. If it does end up being true, it would be a mistake for her to leave.

Even if you don't agree with her views, the mainstream publicity of her on-air feuds (such as the one with Rosie O'Donnell that made Rosie leave the show and start her own variety show. Let's blame Hasselbeck for that one) make for great ratings. Actually, she represents a demographic of woman that could stop watching the show if she leaves.

Naturally, I'm not what you would call an avid fan of The View. Quite the opposite. In fact, if I go to Hell when I die, I'd likely end up in the audience of The View. But even I recognize a bad career move when I see one. At Fox, Hasselbeck would be one conservative voice among many. On The View, she is unique.

It might not be Festivus quite yet, but I feel it's time from some airing of grievances and asking of random questions:

1. Am I the only one who feels Cristina Yang is the most annoying character on TV? The rest of the characters on Grey's Anatomy are self-centered to some extent but sometimes I think she might actually throw Meredith under a bus to get a cool surgery.

2. Is there a place where I can bet on the tabloids eventually finding Dr. Phil has two other wives and helped build houses in Iraq?

I was circumcised 6 years ago or so, when I was 34. I bring this up for two reasons: 1.) I don't get enough chances to talk about my penis in public, and 2.) I know it can be a very uncomfortable, painful procedure when you're an adult (yes, as a baby too, but at least when you're a baby you don't have to stand up and work and move around as much, and you won't even remember it).

Joy Behar said on The View today that, as a penance, Mel Gibson should be publicly circumcised, to be welcomed into the Jewish community. Sure, that might be just Payback, but I'll ask all the female readers out there, is that really What Women Want?

Does a day go by on The View where they don't talk about something controversial? Where an argument doesn't occur? Where somebody doesn't freak out?

YouTube has the latest meltdown, from today, when Elisabeth Hasselbeck gets into an argument with Joy Behar about the 72 hour pill and pregnancy and rape and the sanctity of life. Then Barbara Walters gets into it, and displays that phony "voice of reason" tone that she so often has.

It honestly looks like Hasselbeck is going to walk off the set, or at the very least start crying or pouting. Guest host Lisa Loeb just looks really, really uncomfortable and is probably thinking, "I should have gone to Regis and Kelly."

Video after the jump...

[via Gawker]

According to People, Brandy will be a guest-host on The View next Wednesday and Friday. She's currently on America's Got Talent, playing judge between David Hasselhoff and that one English guy that was clearly put there for "Simon" purposes, but this stint on The View might lead to a permanent spot. Apparently, ABC wants to "audition" different people before picking a replacement for Star Jones (similar to what CBS did before finally deciding on Craig Ferguson for the Late Late Show).

Do you think Brandy would be a good person to fill Star Jones' suspiciously fast-shrinking shoes?

Comedienne Sandra Bernhard recently appeared on The View. She made a few remarks about Mariah Carey's album and an immediate tension grew between her and Star Jones. Then, Bernhard made a some politically-charged comments, calling Laura Bush "heavily medicated", and Elizabeth Hasselbeck jumped to the First Lady's defense. Claws came out, everyone started talking at once, Joy Behar stalked off for a few seconds, and I suddenly remembered why I can never sit through ten consecutive minutes of this damn show. Whenever an argument starts, all the women start talking over each other, louder and louder, until all their shrieks turn into a unified wail, too high for human ears. For a while, I thought I accidentally sat on my remote's "mute" button, but then I saw my neighbor's dog's head explode.

There's video here if you really feel the need to see it.

Lloyd Grove of the New York Daily News is reporting that The View's youngest host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, is being stalked by phone. Apparently, a woman "with a Southern twang" has been calling Grove and New York City's Administration of Child Services making unsubstantiated allegations against Elisabeth and her husband, New York Giants' quarterback Tim Hasselbeck.

Huh. Of all the people to stalk, this woman picks the least interesting person on The View and Eli Manning's understudy. I guess there's all kinds of nutjobs out there.