‘ET’s’ Techniques

I just finished Brian Lowry’s article on “Entertainment Tonight” and I want to thank him for bringing their methods to the attention of the viewing public (“ ‘Entertainment Tonight’ and the Cult of Celebrity,” March 7).

I would like to make the public aware of one more aspect of the way that show works. On Jan. 13, they did a “Weekend Special” called “Whatever Happened to TV’s Favorite Stars.” They did stories giving updates on Jim Nabors, Ricardo Montalban and yours truly, to name a few. The story they did on me I found to be extremely offensive and inaccurate. They used quotes from interviews, interspersed with commentary on the events of my life since the end of “Little House on the Prairie.”

To the uninformed eye, it looked like a story I not only agreed to, but was also interviewed for. Not true. The piece was made up of quotes from interviews I’ve done over the past 10 years or so promoting the various other projects I have worked on.

My publicist contacted the folks at “ET” to let them know how unhappy I was and they basically said that they saw nothing wrong with the story and that they had reported accurately and fairly. I disagree. Had I been interviewed for the show, my answers would have been much different from the answers they chose for me. Consequently, I will no longer be speaking to “ET” about any projects I do in the future. It shouldn’t be a problem for them. If they want to do a story on me, they can just use some more old footage they have on file.

Hopefully they will read this and decide to never do a story on me again. There are those who say, “No publicity is bad publicity.” Not in my book, and I will speak out whenever I feel that I have been wronged.

MELISSA GILBERT

Los Angeles