Ugly Betty
Genre	Dramedy
Created by	Fernando Gaitán
Developed by	Silvio Horta
Starring	America Ferrera Eric Mabius Alan Dale Tony Plana Ana Ortiz Judith Light Christopher Gorham Ashley Jensen Becki Newton Michael Urie Mark Indelicato with Rebecca Romijn and Vanessa L. Williams
Theme music composer	Jeff Beal
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	27 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Salma Hayek, Silvio Horta, Ben Silverman
Location	New York City, New York, USA ("Pilot") Los Angeles, California, USA (rest of the series)
Running time	60 min (approx. 42 min without commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV)
Original run	September 28 2006 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Remake of Betty la Fea
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Ugly Betty is an Emmy-winning^[1] American television comedy-drama series starring America Ferrera, Eric Mabius, Rebecca Romijn and Vanessa Williams. The series premiered on September 28, 2006, on ABC in the United States and on Citytv in Canada. It follows the life of the unglamorous but good-natured Betty Suárez (Ferrera), and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City fashion magazine "Mode". Betty's status as a "fish out of water" drives much of the plot.

The series is an adaptation of the Colombian 'telenovela' Yo soy Betty, la fea ("I am Betty, the ugly one"),^[2] also simply known as "Betty la fea" ("Ugly Betty") written by Fernando Gaitán (also author of Café, con aroma de mujer). It is adapted into a New York City setting by creator/developer Silvio Horta and co-producers Salma Hayek and Ben Silverman, whose production companies Silent H, Ventanarosa and Reveille respectively partnered with ABC Studios to create the hour-long program for US audience. Hayek has appeared on the show as Sofía Reyes, in addition to playing a cameo role as an actress on a fictional telenovela watched by the main character's family in early episodes.

The show is filmed like a traditional network drama (with motion picture film), rather than the videotape production of the original series. Ugly Betty's second season is now airing.

Setting and storylines

As the series began viewers were introduced to Betty Suárez, a young Latina who lands a job as a personal assistant to newly-installed editor-in-chief Daniel Meade at MODE magazine. Betty is good-hearted and brave, but sorely lacking in social skills, self-confidence, fashion sense, and aesthetic polish. She sports thick-framed eyeglasses and a large and prominent set of dental braces (which have become the most identifiable symbol for both Ferrera's character and the show itself). Her lackluster physical appearance and awkward nature result in her immediately being singled out in the aesthetically-centered world of New York City fashion, and she is quickly saddled with the show's eponymous nickname.

As Betty and her boss quickly become the success story of the fashion industry, they also must deal with how they got there and how it has affected their working relationship. At work the two find themselves dealing with Creative Director Wilhelmina Slater, who wanted the Editor-In-Chief position, while Betty found herself dealing with Marc St. James, Wilhelmina's assistant/henchman and receptionist Amanda Tanen, who wanted Betty's job in large part, initially, because of her attraction to Daniel. The only friends that Betty trusts at MODE are seamstress Christina McKinney and accountant Henry Grubstick, to whom Betty is attracted. Their home lives are also a challenge. At home in Queens, Betty must deal with her illegal immigrant father Ignacio's visa troubles, older sister Hilda and Hilda's son Justin. In Daniel's case, the issues in his home and personal life revolve around his demanding father (and boss), Bradford, who gave both Daniel and Betty their current positions; his alcoholic mother Claire; and, after returning from a two-year disappearance, his transsexual and competitive sister Alexis (formerly known as Alex), who bears a strong grudge against their father; as well as Daniel's own sex and later drug addictions.

Season 1

Main article: Ugly Betty (season 1)

Throughout the show's first season, most of the serialized storylines revolved around Betty trying to balance her work, home and romantic life (involving first boyfriend Walter after he cheated on her with Gina Gambarro, and later Henry Grubstick, whose ex Charlie is setting him up by claiming that she is pregnant with his child, though she had in fact slept with another man), her sister's attempt to join her in selling door-to-door products (only to be unemployed afterward) and her new-found talent as a beautician and her father's health and immigration problems (not to mention his admission to murdering his employer after falling in love with his wife, who happens to be Betty and Hilda's mother). Other issues that played out included Daniel's womanizing, his affairs with fellow editor Sofia Reyes and lawyer Grace Chin, and his sudden drug addiction; Bradford's affair with Daniel's late predecessor Fey Sommers, whose murder came at the expense of Claire, who's battling her problems with alcoholism; Alexis' trying to repair her relationship with Daniel but at the expense of Bradford; Wilhelmina's scheming plans to force Daniel out his job with the help of Alexis (who was known early on as the mystery woman, until she revealed to the world that she was alive and now a woman), a plot to marry Bradford so she can take over the company, dealing with her rebellious daughter Nico while winning acceptance from her father; Marc dealing with multi-tasking for his boss, his homosexuality and family acceptance; Amanda's binge eating, being the target of a prank, and learning of her true parentage as Fey's daughter; and Christina being used by Wilhelmina even as she helps Betty.

Season 2

Main article: Ugly Betty (season 2)

The 2nd season of Ugly Betty began on September 27, 2007 and is expected to end in May 2008. The season's theme is "Brighter, Bolder, Bettyer," with Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" being used as the featured song in its promos.

This season will introduce viewers to two new full-time characters, who will be played by Freddy Rodríguez and Illeana Douglas, while Lorraine Toussaint will continue in her role as Claire's fellow prison escapee, Yoga, as a recurring regular. Mo'Nique will also be a recurring regular this season as well, playing weekend receptionist L'Amanda.

Cast

Core regulars

Recurring

Former cast/recurring members

Notes

• Note 1: - Listed as "Guest Starring" in opening credits, but became a full time regular after episode "Sofia's Choice"
• Note 2: - Became recurring after their second appearance.
• Note 3: - Gorham and Light became recurring in the first season; They will become fulltime regulars in the second season.^[5],^[6]
• Note 4: - Alexis Meade was initially played by Elizabeth Penn Payne (when she was listed in the credits as "The Masked Lady"). Rebecca Romijn took over the role in "In or Out".
• Note 5: - Newton also plays another character, Ruthie.^[7]
• Note 6: - Listed as "Guest Starring" in opening credits, but became a full time regular after episode "Sofia's Choice"; Was still listed in credits as a regular but has not been seen since "Brothers" and was dropped from the series altogether.
• Note 7: - Added to cast in second season.
• Note 8: - Former recurring regulars.

Production

The idea to bring Ugly Betty to American TV screens began in 2001 when NBC was planning to adapt Betty as a half-hour comedy, which would be produced by Sony Pictures Television^[8] but it never made past the planning stages until ABC and Hayek's company came on board in 2004 and retooled it as an hour-long comedy-drama.^[9] Two years later, on May 16 2006, ABC announced that Ugly Betty would be part of the 2006–2007 North American season lineup as a weekly hour-long series; the initial order was for thirteen episodes.

ABC had announced the title of the series would be Betty the Ugly, a change from its developmental title, but changed it back to Ugly Betty on July 14,^[10], although the Ugly Betty title was already being used in promotions prior to this date on Citytv. There was speculation that the show would be a daily serial that would have debuted as a summer 2006 or midseason 2007 entry, but given the buzz and growing interest in the show, the network decided to make it a weekly series instead. On August 8 2006, ABC decided at the last minute, a schedule change to move "Ugly Betty" from its previously announced Friday 8 p.m. (ET) time period to Thursday at 8 p.m. replacing sitcoms Notes from the Underbelly and Big Day as a lead-in to top-rated program Grey's Anatomy, due to the growing interest in the show.

The program's pilot was tested on several cable providers to gauge interest and feedback from viewers, most notably the Hispanic community, including those who are fans of the original Betty, who hoped that ABC will maintain the integrity of the original. ABC has also allowed its affiliates to show free off-air screenings to the public at various events ahead of the show's debut. In addition the network screened the debut episode on the web and made the episodes available for download on iTunes after their initial airings on January 5 2007. The encore episodes have also run on ABC Family and SoapNet, both of which have been airing marathons of the show.

On October 13 2006, ABC ordered a full season pick-up for the series, beyond the original 13 ordered at the May Upfronts^[11] due to its premiere ratings. ABC originally announced 22 episodes for the season 1, but increased the number of episodes to 23 by one. The season finale is the episode called "East Side Story." On March 21 2007, ABC renewed the series for a second season.^[12]

Since its debut, "Ugly Betty" won two Golden Globe Awards on January 15, 2007, for "Best Leading Actress in a Comedy Series" (America Ferrera) and Best Comedy Series. Ferrera also won a SAG Award on January 28, 2007 for "Best Actress in a Comedy Series". On June 4 2007 the series was honored with a Peabody Award for its storylines, which explores clashing concepts of beauty, class, race and footwear with intelligence, warmth and wit.^[13]

Although he is joining NBC as their new entertainment head, Ben Silverman will remain co-executive producer on the show, but in a limited role.^[14]

Competition with other "Betty" offshoots

Although Buena Vista Television has sold the series to foreign territories, the English-language version is expected to compete with the in-house versions in several of the locations.^[15]

As noted by the international broadcast table posted above, several of these broadcasters have not only acquired this version, but the counterparts as well, including those that were produced by the broadcasters themselves. So far the series has been sold to TV networks and broadcasters in over 130 countries, making this version the most successful of the "Betty La Fea" franchise ^[16]

In the U.S., Univision aired the Mexican counterpart La fea más bella, which ran weeknights at 8PM (E/P), including Thursdays during the same time Ugly Betty airs. The star of the Mexican version, Angelica Vale, was supposed to make a cameo in the 22nd episode, playing Betty's "counterpart" from the series, Leticia 'Lety' Padilla Solís ^[17], but the story turned out to be false. Vale appeared in the season finale playing Angelica, an orthodontist's assistant who looks exactly like Lety (pre-makeover).

There is even talk of a Arabic version of "Ugly Betty", which would be produced and shot in Dubai. This would be the first "Betty la Fea"-inspired series to be adapted from the American version.^[18]

DVD releases

Edits

The phrase "Fashion TV" has been removed from the Region 2 DVD releases. When spoken, the two words are bleeped out; when displayed, the word "television" is blurred, leaving just the word "fashion" on the screen. As there is a French cable network also called Fashion TV, the changes were made to avoid any copyright conflict in European markets. It is also the name of the Canadian television series FashionTelevision and its specialty channel spinoff FashionTelevisionChannel, however, the "Fashion TV"' logo and references were not edited from the Region 1 versions released in Canada.From Season Two 'Fashion TV' has been changed to 'Fashion Buzz'^[19]

Ratings

United States

In the following summary, "rating" is the estimated percentage of all televisions tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use that are tuned in.

"Viewers" is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions, while "ranking" is the approximate ranking of the show against all prime-time TV shows for the week (Sunday to Saturday).

Based on average total viewers per episode of Ugly Betty on ABC:

Seasonal

In other countries

United Kingdom

The premiere on Channel 4 on January 5, 2007 attracted 4.5 million viewers.^[22] Two weeks later, Ugly Betty hit a new high, with 5.5 million viewers watching the third episode.^[23]

The figures and shares were very much similar each week, flirting around 2-3 million viewers with 10-15% share. Disappointingly, the finale rated less than the premiere episode, attracting 3.1 million viewers with 15% share.^[24] Yet still, it managed to perform reasonably well, when pending on Channel 4's standard and expectations with viewing figures.

Because of the show's success and the fanbase it has achieved in the UK, Channel 4 has decided to move up the second season schedule launch to Friday October 05, 2007, thus allowing viewers to see the series one week after its US airings, a rarity in UK television, though now increasing due to television networks wishing to offset the use of illegal downloading for watching US shows (other examples Lost, Desperate Housewives and Prison Break).

Australia

Its debut episode on the Seven Network pulled in 2.03 million viewers, beating Nine's airing of 60 Minutes and Ten's airing of The Biggest Loser in the same time period. Since its debut the series has remained in the top 5 in the Australian TV ratings.^[25].

The season one finale aired August 5, 2007 and received the lowest rating of the year - 1.051 million, and only in the 13th slot of the night. This was predominantly because it aired in the same timeslot as the season premiere of rival program, Australian Idol.^[26]

Ireland

The European premiere took place on RTÉ Two on January 1, 2007. Season Two again premiered on RTÉ Two on October 4, 2007.

Mexico

There is a dispute over who owns the rights to "Ugly Betty" in that country. TV Azteca had acquired the rights in 2006 and was set to debut it in 2007, but Sony Entertainment Television, which is also airs on cable and satellite systems in Mexico, has the Latin American rights, resulting in several delays until the matter is settled. SET will air the series in the rest of Latin America, including Brazil, in November 2007.

Netherlands

Net 5 began airing Ugly Betty on August 20, 2007 to excellent ratings. Its rival Tien aired Lotte, the Dutch adaption of Yo Soy Betty, la fea, which by the way is a daily serial. Lotte gained an audience of between the 250,000 and 300,000 viewers, while Ugly Betty does better, with a weekly audience of between 400,000 and 600,000 viewers.

New Zealand

"Ugly Betty" joined Greys Anatomy and Desperate Housewives as TV2's highest-rated overseas shows. It went on a two month hiatus after airing Sofia's Choice as the audience for sister channel TV1's Dancing with the Stars was deemed too similar. In the meantime, TV2 aired Day Break.^[27]

Germany

This was the only country where "Ugly Betty" failed to connect with audiences. Sat1 cancelled the show after two episodes due to low ratings. Germany has had its own local adaptation of the "Betty la Fea," "Verliebt in Berlin", which also aired on Sat1 and was more popular with viewers than "Betty."

Italy

The season premiere aired on italia 1 in May averaging about 3.5 million viewers making it one of the most watched programme of the night, the first part of season 1 (episodes 1-14) aired from May till June averaged 3.2 million viewers and the second part (episodes 15-23) aired in September averaging 2.5 million viewers. The series did really well in the 18-49 years old target with an average share of 13%.

India

Season One premiered in July 2007, on Star World at 9:00 pm every Wednesday evening. It has been a success among teenagers mainly. India had aired Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin which was a Hindi adaptation of Yo soy Betty, la fea. It was a grand success, and Ugly Betty has been mistaken as the original, although it premiered much later than its Hindi counterpart, which in turn had been mistaken as the inspiration for the American adaptation.

Turkey

Season One was aired in early 2007, on Mymax at 10:00 pm every Wednesday evening.

Books

In April 2008 Hyperion Books, a Disney owned publisher, will release a companion book to the series, aptly titled "Ugly Betty: The Book", which will be a 160-page hardcover about the show in general. Around the same time, Random House's children's books division will publish a "magazine"-inspired book tied into the series, complete with photos and mock ads as if they were published by Betty herself, targeted for younger readers^[28].

Television parodies and references

In the October 7 2006, episode of "Saturday Night Live," cast member Fred Armisen spoofed the character of Betty by playing a look-alike named Fugly Betsy^[29][30]. Not to be outdone, a February 17, 2007 episode of MADtv has Ellen DeGeneres (played by Nicole Parker) interviewing an actress on her talk show who plays Ugly Betty with Salma Hayek (played by LisaNova) always pointing out how ugly she is. The Ugly Betty actress (played by Crista Flanagan) claims it is only make up and costume but is ignored^[31].

On April 22 2007, the 2007 TV Land Awards parodied the series with a spoof aptly titled Ugly Betty White, with White playing Betty Suarez, Charo playing Hilda, Erik Estrada playing Ignacio, Joan Collins playing Wilhelmina, Peter Scolari playing Alexis, and George Hamilton playing Daniel.^[32] Thanks to her performance in that parody, the producers cast White in a guest role in which she will play Wilhelmina's mother, Victoria Smith-Slater. White's appearance is expected to happen during the second season.

Even the cast poked fun at their alter egos. On October 30, 2006, three of the series' cast members, appearing in their characters (Ferrera as Betty, Mabius as Daniel, and Newton as Amanda) gave New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick a 'makeover' to make him look more like quarterback Tom Brady in a spoof that was featured on ESPN's Monday Night Countdown.^[33]

It was also referenced in other shows, most notably in "Up All Night", the February 8, 2007 installment of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, in which Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) says "this would've worked on Ugly Betty" when she fails to crawl out a door without being seen. The scene was patterned after the Ugly Betty episode "Swag" in which Betty crawled through a fashion show^[34].

Success abroad

The buildup to "Bettymania" by various broadcasters also began to take shape overseas, especially in the United Kingdom. On December 6 2006, Channel 4 began to advertise the show. The ad shows seemingly attractive models gathered around a pool, but as the camera angle changes a model comes out of the pool wearing Betty's glasses, then as the models smile, they are all wearing Betty's braces. Another ad parodies Marks and Spencer's successful fashion advertising campaign, as well as Dove and Gap campaigns. A voice over then says, "Fashion has a new face. 'Ugly Betty' Coming Soon To 4." After a week of these teasers, clips from the actual programme were included in the trailers. In mid-January, in the UK, Davina McCall, presenter of Celebrity Big Brother dressed up as Betty live on Channel 4 before the titles of the second eviction show of the evening. Interestingly on February 16 2007, Ashley Jensen (Christina) also dressed up as Betty during an airing of Channel 4's Friday Night Project, where she was the guest host. The children's channel CBeebies also parodied the title sequence, with one variation mixing faces of regular CBeebies characters until finally settling with Tiny from Little Robots.

In Australia, during the lead up week to the huge Sunday Premiere of Ugly Betty, February 12 to February 17 2007, Channel Seven devoted a week of Deal or No Deal to the show by having the models dress like Betty, complete with the Guadalajara poncho. Channel Seven also used the series to promote its successful "Beautiful Sundays" schedule.

In South Africa, M-Net teamed up with Ogilve Johanesburg to hype up its campaign for the show, which included a picture of Betty on the mock cover of ELLE magazine^[35]

And New Zealand's TV2 also hyped-up Ugly Betty by promoting Tuesday nights as "True Beauty Tuesday" and also launched competitions for a replica of Betty's Guadalajara poncho.

Cultural impact

Ever since the show's debut, the main characters, especially the title character, have quickly become the latest fixures in the lexicon of pop media culture, and already they found their way onto parodies, news media stories and art-imitating-life situations, as well as recognition from the United State Congress itself.

The show's impact on issues and culture has also attracted the attention of the United States Congress, where on January 17, 2007 California congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-32nd, El Monte) saluted Ferrera on both her Golden Globe win and for bringing a positive profile to the Latin and Hispanic communities.^[36]

In addition to that recognition, on May 8 2007, star America Ferrera was honored by Time Magazine on their annual list of the 100 most influential people. The event took place at New York's Lincoln Center and the actress was recognized for defying stereotypes with the show.^[37]

The success of Ugly Betty and how it deals with body imaging among women in general would inspire a series of reports on Entertainment Tonight, in which reporter Vanessa Minillo went undercover in a fat suit to see if women were discriminated on the basis of how they look.

Ugly Betty won the Outstanding Comedy Series award by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in April 2007. [1]

On July 19, 2007, the series received 11 nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in the Comedy category (the most of any comedy series)^[38], including Outstanding Comedy Series, Best Actress (Ferrera), Best Supporting Actress (Williams), and Best Guest Starring Actress (Hayek for her role as Sofia; Light for her role as Claire. Both lost to Elaine Stritch). It won three awards: Best Casting in a Comedy Series, Best Direction in a Comedy Series (For the show's pilot episode), and Best Actress in a Comedy Series (Ferrera)^[39].

Reviews

• Ugly Betty Reviews at Metacritic.com
• first-look in USA Today (August 15 2006)
• Review in USA Today (September 28 2006)
• Comparisons between Ugly Betty and The Devil Wears Prada in USA Today (September 26 2006)
• "It's a 'Bettification' project" from USA Today (October 4 2006)
• from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (September 27 2006)
• from The Los Angeles Times (September 27 2006)
• from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 27 2006)
• from Seattle Post-Intelligencer (September 28 2006)
• from Canoe.ca (September 28, 2006)
• "Ugly, The American" from Time (November 27 2006)
• From North Jersey.com (December 15 2006)
• "Be Ugly '07" campaign announced in USA Today (December 20 2006)
• Articles from TV Addict

See also

• List of Ugly Betty cast members
• List of Ugly Betty episodes

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Ugly Betty

• Bettysuarez.com Betty's "personal site"
• Ugly Betty at the Internet Movie Database
• Ugly Betty at TV.com
• The Ugly Betty Spot at Fanpop
• Ugly Betty MySpace Group Ugly Betty MySpace Group
• Bettyalamode.com Ugly Betty Fansite
• Instant-Connection Henry/Betty Fansite
• Ugly Betty Italia Ugly Betty Italian Fansite
• Ugly Betty Brazil Ugly Betty Brazilian Fansite
• MNbetty Ugly Betty Resource site