Fixer Upper

A Los Angeles couple filed a lawsuit Friday against a writer for the CBS show "CSI," alleging she named two shady characters in an episode after them to get revenge for a real estate deal gone bad.

Real estate agents Melinda and Scott Tamkin are suing writer and producer Sarah Goldfinger for defamation and invasion-of-privacy. They allege the show hurt their real estate business and are seeking $6 million in damages.

The lawsuit references an episode that featured a real estate agent named Melinda, who dies under mysterious circumstances, and her husband Scott, a mortgage broker who watches pornography, drinks and is suspected of killing his wife.

Really? Realtors in Los Angeles being seen as shady? And especially in a declining real estate market filing a lawsuit for $6 million claiming the episode "hurt their real estate business."

The episode aired in February - did you see it? Neither did I. Chances are, if I had, and later was contacting the Tamkins for a real estate deal, I wouldn't remember, buried as it would be in my brain among American Idol, Two and a Half Men, and The Simpsons.

But now I will remember the Tamkins . . . and think, "wow, they are certainly a litigious couple so why the hell would I want to do business with them? Seems to me in a town whose livelihood is based upon the entertainment business, these two yahoos would enjoy the free publicity and make a joke of it, rather than biting the hand that feeds them. Huh, guess they can't be too smart . . ." and move on to the next Westside realtor couple, of which there are plenty.