Ugly Betty

Ugly Betty
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Genre	Dramedy
Created by	Fernando Gaitán
Developed by	Silvio Horta
Starring	Season 2 Cast America Ferrera Becki Newton Vanessa Williams Rebecca Romijn Christopher Gorham Eric Mabius Tony Plana Ana Ortiz Judith Light Ashley Jensen Mark Indelicato Michael Urie
Theme music composer	Jeff Beal
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	37 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Salma Hayek, Silvio Horta, Ben Silverman
Production locations	New York, New York, USA ("Pilot") Los Angeles, California, USA (rest of the series)
Running time	60 min (approx. 42 min without commercials)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 28 2006 – present
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Related
Remake of Betty la Fea

Ugly Betty is a Golden Globe, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning 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 Suarez (Ferrera), and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City fashion magazine Mode.

The series is an adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea ("I am Betty, the ugly one"), 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 Sofia Reyes, in addition to playing a cameo role as an actress on a fictional telenovela watched by the main character's family in the pilot episode.

On February 11, 2008, ABC picked up Ugly Betty for the 2008-09 television season.

Taglines:
Ugly is the new beautiful.
Fashion has a new face
Not Everyone Is Ugly On The Inside
There's Ugly. Then There's Betty
Style-Challenged Girl Meets High Fashioned World
Brighter, Boulder, Bettyer,

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 single-minded 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 Sommers (originally Tanen until the end of the first season), 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 Jackson Heights in the borough of Queens, Betty must deal with her father Ignacio, 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 Meade, who gave both Daniel and Betty their current positions (prior to his passing from a heart attack); his mother Claire Meade; and, after returning from a two-year disappearance, his transsexual and competitive sister Alexis Meade (formerly known as Alex).

The show contains a degree of surrealism used to express the inner thoughts of its characters. For example, in "I See Me, I.C.U.", Betty speaks with an earlier version of herself about how far she has come since her first day.

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 was setting him up by claiming that she was pregnant with his child, though she had in fact slept with another man), Hilda's attempt to join Betty in selling door-to-door products (only to be unemployed afterwards) and her new-found talent as a beautician; Ignacio'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; the revelation that it was in fact Claire who murdered Fey; Claire's battle with her problems with alcoholism; and Alexis' attempts to repair her relationship with Daniel at the expense of Bradford. Several storylines revolved around Wilhelmina, including her scheming plans to force Daniel out of his job with the help of Alexis (who was known early on as 'the mystery woman', until she revealed to the world that she had not died in a skiing accident and was now a woman), her plot to marry Bradford so she could take over the company, and dealing with her rebellious daughter Nico while winning acceptance from her father. Also covered were 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 helped 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 (pending resolution of the 2007 WGA strike). The season's theme is "Brighter, Bolder, Bettyer," with a reworked version of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" being used as the featured song in its promos. This season will introduce viewers to six new recurring characters, who will be played by Freddy Rodríguez, Illeana Douglas, Alec Mapa, David Blue, John Cho and Juliette Goglia, 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 security chief L'Amanda.

In the second season Betty has to decide if she still wants to be with Henry, after he got Charlie pregnant, and despite the fact that he is going to leave for Tucson, AZ, in a few months (so he can be at Charlie's side and help raise the baby). In between these events, a deli shop owner named Giovanni "Gio" Rossi starts building a platonic relationship with Betty, which has Hilda and Henry suspecting that Gio might be trying to become the new guy in Betty's life. Daniel recovers from a car accident but Alexis forgets the last few years of her life, including the fact that she was changed into a woman and that her father mistreated her. Bradford decides to use this to his advantage, and doesn't remind Alexis of how he mistreated her; instead, he claims that he was always supportive of her. Wilhelmina's scheme to marry Bradford unravels when (1) Betty learns of the affair she's having with her bodyguard (they were even together the night before the wedding), and (2) Bradford has a heart attack at the altar and later dies from it. Wilhelmina would later be fired from the company by the Meade Family. Amanda tries desperately to find out more about her family, and with Wilhelmina's help she gets a list of people that could be her dad, leading her to Rock legend Gene Simmons. Marc finds a partner in Cliff St. Paul, a photographer who is not as handsome, but Marc accepts him as a mate anyway. Claire Meade escapes from jail with her "friend" Yoga, and they hide away in the Hamptons, but Claire is later recaptured and thanks to a clever (and ironic) scheme by the late Fey Sommers, Claire is acquitted of her murder (Fey had poisoned Claire's perfume in an attempt to kill her, but instead it made Claire become crazy and violent, and eventually she cut Fey's brakes and killed her). Hilda tries to get over Santos and start her new career as a beautician, while Justin, who became a intern at MODE, tries to be more like his dad and goes into a "bad boy" phase, until Hilda intervenes, prompting the the two to restore their mother/son relationship. Christina is surprised to see her ex show up, but when she learns that he is sick and in need of money for an operation, she's determined to help. When Wilhelmina offers to pay Christina if she becomes her surrogate (by being impregnated with Bradford's sperm, which Wilhelmina went to great lengths to remove from his body so she can get control of the Meade empire), Christina agrees to carry the baby, not knowing that this latest plan has more expectant twist and turns when Wilhelmina's troubled sister Renee shows up and starts dating Daniel, resulting in Wilhelmina taking great lengths to conceal her scheme.

So far only 13 episodes have aired but production was halted in November 2007 due to the Writers' Strike. New episodes did not air on US television until April 24, 2008.

Season 3

Main Article: Ugly Betty (season 3)

The show has been officially picked up for a new season by American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

Cast

Core regulars

Character	Actor/Actress
Betty Suarez	America Ferrera
Daniel Meade	Eric Mabius
Amanda Sommers	Becki Newton
Claire Meade	Judith Light
Wilhelmina Slater	Vanessa L. Williams
Alexis Meade	Rebecca Romijn
Marc St. James	Michael Urie
Henry Grubstick	Christopher Gorham
Christina McKinney	Ashley Jensen
Hilda Suarez	Ana Ortiz
Ignacio Suarez	Tony Plana
Justin Suarez	Mark Indelicato

Recurring

Character	Actor/Actress
Gina Gambarro 2	Ava Gaudet
Fabia 2	Gina Gershon
Beckett 'Becks' Scott 2	Bailey Chase
Nick Pepper 2	Max Greenfield
Sheila 7	Illeana Douglas
Giovanni "Gio" Rossi 7	Freddy Rodriguez
Cliff St. Paul 7	David Blue
Kenny 7	John Cho
Charlie	Jayma Mays

Former cast/recurring members

Character	Actor/Actress	Last Appearance
Bradford Meade	Alan Dale	Giving Up The Ghost
Walter 6	Kevin Sussman	Brothers
Sofia Reyes 8	Salma Hayek	Sofia's Choice
Constance Grady 8	Octavia Spencer	Punch Out
Santos 8	Kevin Alejandro	How Betty Got Her Grieve Back
Amelia "Yoga" Bluman 8	Lorraine Toussaint	I See Me, I.C.U.

Notes

• Template:Fnb - Listed as "Guest Starring" in opening credits, but became a full time regular after episode "Sofia's Choice"
• Template:Fnb - Became recurring after their second appearance.
• Template:Fnb - Gorham and Light became recurring in the first season; They became fulltime regulars in the second season.
• Template:Fnb - 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" and shall continue until the end of Season 2.
• Template:Fnb - Newton also plays another character, Ruthie.
• Template:Fnb - 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.
• Template:Fnb - Added to cast in second season.
• Template:Fnb - 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 but it never made past the planning stages (It took three writers to come up with a concept based around the character until ABC and Hayek's company came on board in 2004 and retooled it as an hour-long comedy-drama. 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, 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 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.

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.

In November 2007 the cast of the series made headlines when they threw their support behind the 2007 Writers' Strike by joining them on the picket line in solidarity. Ferrera commented on the reason why they did this: "The issues coming up with the actors’ contracts are very similar to what the writers are dealing with right now, and we have to stay united and stand strong within the creative community for what we believe is fair." On November 25, the cast appeared in a 38-second video for "Speechless Hollywood" in which a black & white camera pulled away from a close up of Ferrera to showing her co-stars sitting next to her as they look directly at the camera without speaking.

On February 11, 2008, ABC picked up Ugly Betty for the 2008-09 television season, along with nine other shows. Unfortunately on the day the renewal was announced, two of the show's executive producers, Marco Pennette and James Hayman, were let go. The departures of Pennette and Hayman adds to the constant turnovers on the series off-camera, which has so far seen five writers having exited or fired. In a Q&A from TV Guide, Michael Ausiello criticized the decision, saying "that someone saw fit to fix what wasn't broken" and praised the two men for writing several of the show's best episodes. These turn of events may have also contributed to Rebecca Romijn's decision to no longer be a full time regular on the series in the third season, citing the move by new writers to make changes in the direction of several characters, especially Romijn's role as Alexis.

With the strike now over as of February 12, there is now the possibility that they could have seven new episodes completed by April, bringing the number of second season episodes produced to 20, but so far it has been adjusted to 18. As a result of the strike, creator Silvio Horta has delayed plans for a musical episode and having Lindsay Lohan onboard for a possible storyline until the third season. On March 12, 2008, Horta inked a two-year, seven-figure deal with ABC Studios, which guarantees the show's future and gives Horta a chance to produce other projects aside from "Betty".

On April 17, 2008, the show's podcast, which is usually presented in audio and hosted by stars Urie and Newton, became available on video for the first time.

Competition with other "Betty" offshoots

Although Disney-ABC Domestic Television (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.

As noted by the international broadcast posted below, 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.

In the U.S., Univision aired the Mexican counterpart La fea más bella, which ran weeknights at 8 p.m. (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, 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).

Inspired versions

While the original Betty la Fea has spawned serialized versions globally, it appears that the weekly American version has also begun to pique interest as well.

A version of Yo soy Betty, la fea made by Bosnian Federalna Televizija (FTV), Croatian RTL Televizija and Serbian Fox Televizija began airing in October 2007. The title of the show is Ne daj se, Nina ("Don't give up, Nina"). After a long audition, newcomer Lana Gojak, who resembles America Ferrera, has been cast in the role of Nina (Betty). Other reported cast members include established actors such as Robert Kurbaša, Edvin Livarić, Bojana Ordinačev, Petar Ćiritović, Andrija Milošević, Kristina Krepela and Sloboda Mićalović. The first season will include 52 episodes and will air once a week. Although the storyline follows that of Yo soy Betty, la fea, Lana Gojak's appearance as Nina seems to be based more on the heroine of Ugly Betty than on that of Yo soy Betty, la fea.

There is even talk of an 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.

Criticism from Colombia

In November 2007, Sony Entertainment Television began airing Ugly Betty in South America, under the Spanish title "Betty, la Fea", with Spanish subtitles. However in Colombia there were criticisms over the American version, calling it a pale imitation and counterfeit copy of their original version.

DVD releases

DVD Name	Region 1	Region 2 (UK and Ireland release)	Region 4	Region 5	No of discs	No of episodes
The Complete First Season - The Bettyfied Edition	August 21 2007	September 24 2007	October 31 2007	October 31 2007	6	23
The Complete Second Season - Brighter, Bolder, Bettyier	September 9 2008				5	18

International broadcasts

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.

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.

After holding off on the 2nd season, it was announced in April 2008 that Seven would begin Ugly Betty's second season in a new 7.30 Wednesday timeslot, beginning on the 7th of May.

Belgium

VIJFtv begins airing the show on March 13, 2008. Its rival Sara, the Flemish adaption of Yo Soy Betty, la fea, airing on VTM has an weekly audience between 650,000 and 750,000. The ratings for Ugly Betty's first 2 episodes were 165,000. Sara is a daily show that airs every weekday at 6:25 pm, while Ugly Betty is a weekly show that airs every Thursday at 9pm. The women's channel VIJFtv began airing Ugly Betty almost 5 months after Sara premiered 25 September 2007 at VTM, which might be a disadvantage for Ugly Betty.

Bulgaria

Nova Television aired Season 1 in October and November 2007.

Canada

As noted above, Citytv owns the english-language rights to the series, which airs in the same timeslot as the American broadcast, while Radio-Canada, the French language TV arm of the CBC, owns the francophone rights. The TV series debuted in the province of Quebec and the rest of french-speaking Canada on April 7, 2008 at 8pm, in French. Even if the other francophone territories use the original title, Radio-Canada translated the title as Chère Betty ("Dear Betty"), because it would have displeased the Québécois to see an English title for a TV series.

Czech Republic

Prima begins airing the show on March 5, 2008.

Ecuador

Season One started in October 31st, 2007 in Sony Entertaiment Television after the reality show America's Next Top Model.

France

The first two episodes aired on TF1 on January 7, 2008 at late-night time, averaging about 3.8 million viewers (28.4% share) and 3.3 millions viewers (39.4% share). Ugly Betty did really well on key demos 15-24 (First episode: 46.8%, second episode: 56.7%) and 18-49 (First episode: 39.7%, second episode: 56.6%). But week after week the show has lost more than 1 million viewers, in part due to the late night schedule. In an effort to attract more viewers, two weekly TV magazines, Arthelius and Series TV Magazine, placed a cover of Ugly Betty on their February 12, 2008 issues.

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 Betty la Fea, Verliebt in Berlin, which also aired on Sat1 and was more popular with viewers than "Betty."

Hungary

Season one premiered in March 2007 on RTL Klub at 19.00 Sunday. After the first couple of episode the show was removed to a less viewed time slot, 17.30. The first season was a huge failure so the airing of the 2nd season on RTL Klub is uncertain.

India

Season One premiered in July 2007, on Star World at 9:00 p.m. every Wednesday evening. India had aired Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, which was a Hindi adaptation of Yo soy Betty, la fea. Although it premiered much later than the Colombian original, "Jassi" has been mistaken as the inspiration for the American adaptation.

Ireland

The European premiere took place on RTÉ Two on 1 January, 2007. Season Two again premiered on RTÉ Two on October 4, 2007. Ugly Betty airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on RTÉ TWO and has proved to be successful among viewers.

Italy

The season premiere aired on italia 1 in May averaging about 3.5 million viewers making it one of the most watched program 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 especially well in the 18-49 years old target with an average share of 13%.

Japan

Season One started in October 1st, 2007 and has been aired on NHK BS2 at 11:00 p.m. every Monday evening. The Japanese title is as same as the original Ugly Betty though it is written in Japanese Katakana. Satellite and cable channel Super Drama TV have also picked up the show, advertising Season One as "coming soon."

Latvia

TV3 began showing season one on March 5, 2008.

Lithuania

LNK begins airing the show on January 7, 2008.

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 began airing 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 Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives as TV2's highest-rated overseas shows. It went on a two month hiatus after airing the episode "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.

Poland

The first season of Ugly Betty premiered in Poland on May 14, 2007 on Fox Life, and on September 3, 2007 on TVP2. Season 2 premiered on FoxLife on March 23, 2008.

Portugal

It is airing both on national TV (SIC) and on cable (FOX Life). First season premiered on April 7, 2007 while the second aired for the first time on October 21 of the same year. Both seasons were premiered on SIC.

Romania

The show is broadcast by Acasă TV, the same channel that aired Yo Soy Betty, la fea.

Slovakia

Markíza begins airing the show on January 12, 2008.

Spain

Cuatro TV is still waiting to broadcast the serial, due to a rival network airing another Betty version, Yo Soy Bea.

Sweden

The show is aired at Kanal 5 on tuesdays at 8 p.m.

Turkey

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

United Kingdom

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

The figures and shares were very much similar each week, flirting around 2-3 million viewers with 10-15% share. However, the finale rated less than the premiere episode, attracting 3.1 million viewers with 15% share. This could have been due to Channel 4 moving the show half an hour later that evening to accommodate an extended edition of Big Brother.

Due to the show's success and the fanbase it has achieved in the UK, Channel 4 decided to move up the second season premiere to Friday, October 5 2007, thus allowing viewers to watch episodes one week after their US airing.

All but 3 of the season 2 episodes have been aired on Channel 4. The show has been on hiatus since Friday December 12 due to the WGA strike. The series wil be returning May 30 2008 in the 9 p.m. slot on Channel 4, which is currently occupied by Dirty Sexy Money.

United States (Insular Territories and Overseas Military locations)

In Guam ABC affiliate KTGM airs the series twice a week, with the current original being shown on Fridays at 7PM followed by repeats on weekends. They are the only ABC affiliate in the United States to air the series to air it twice.

In Puerto Rico, WAPA-TV airs "Betty, Mi Fea Bellas" (the local title for "Ugly Betty") with spanish voice actors providing the dubbing over the show's cast.

The Armed Forces Network's AFN-Spectrum channel airs the series on Wednesdays. The network will usually start airing the latest episodes a couple of months after the US broadcasts, as opposed to waiting a year after its stateside airing.

Merchandising

On April 15, 2008 Hyperion Books, a Disney owned publisher, released a companion book to the series, aptly titled "Ugly Betty: The Book", a 175-page softcover about the show in general, which covers the first season and portions of the second, complete with interviews from the cast and crew, tips and quotes from the characters, and mock ads for Fabia Cosmetics and Atlantic Attire. 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.

In addition, a 2008 calendar for "Ugly Betty" was released using stills from the first season, while a series of greeting cards was issued in January 2008.

Even the main character has been immortalized into a doll, as Angelic Dreamz, Inc's Madame Alexander collection introduced two different versions of Betty Suarez that were featured on their website in February 2008

Reception

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. 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. Crista later reprised her Betty role in the poorly reviewed parody film Meet The Spartans.

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. Thanks to her performance in that parody, the producers cast White in a guest role in 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.

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.

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 Johannesburg to hype up its campaign for the show, which included a picture of Betty on the mock cover of ELLE magazine

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 States 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.

In addition to that recognition, on May 8 2007, star America Ferrera was honored by Time on the magazine's 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.

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 fatsuit to see if women were discriminated on the basis of how they look.

Awards

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.

Ugly Betty won the Outstanding Comedy Series award by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in April 2007. [2]

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), 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).

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

External links

• Bettysuarez.com Betty's "personal site"
• Ugly Betty at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• The Ugly Betty Spot Ugly Betty on Fanpop
• Bettyalamode.com Ugly Betty Fansite
• Courrier International's Ugly Betty Fan column in French
• Ugly Betty in French Ugly Betty Fansite in French
• [3] Blog on Facial Discrimination [mentioning Ugly Betty]
• MNbetty Ugly Betty Resource site
• Ugly Betty Store Official Ugly Betty Store from ABC
• Ugly Betty Italia The first Italian site about "Ugly Betty"
• Totally Ugly Betty an Ugly Betty fansite
• The Betty Quiz Test your knowledge of Betty