Alec Baldwin is leaving the public eye by starring on Law and Order: SVU
Flickr CC By: taylorw_ss

Alec Baldwin sure has an interesting way of trying to escape the public eye. The media-hating actor is set to guest star on NBC's Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as a — wait for it — newspaper columnist. The network confirmed the stunt casting to Deadline. He'll play a controversial writer named Jimmy MacArthur whose reporting interferes with the investigation of a hate crime/rape case.
Katie Couric is also slated to appear on the episode, in which she will challenge herself by playing a television show host that grills Baldwin's character. If this wasn't exciting enough, the show is also SVU star Mariska Hargitay's directorial debut. Executive Producer Warren Leight described the chemistry between Baldwin and Hargitay as "palpable," so it looks like we know what we'll be watching March 19.
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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