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Yo soy Betty, la fea

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Yo soy Betty, la fea
Title Card
Written byFernando Gaitán
Liliana Hernández
Directed byMario Ribero
Music byCésar Escola
Canaroy Pelay
Diego Fernando Páez
Country of originColombia Colombia
Original languageSpanish
Production
ProducerMaría Del Pilar
Original release
NetworkRCN TV
Release
Paulo Sanchez Neira
Release
Paulo Sanchez Neira
Release
Paulo Sanchez Neira
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Paulo Sanchez Neira
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Paulo Sanchez Neira
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Paulo Sanchez Neira
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Paulo Sanchez Neira
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Paulo Sanchez Neira

Yo soy Betty, la fea (I am Betty, the ugly one),[1] also known as simply "Betty la fea" (Ugly Betty), was a popular telenovela (soap opera) filmed in Colombia, written by Fernando Gaitán and produced between 1999 through 2001 by the Colombian network RCN. Over a dozen versions of this telenovela have been made in other countries. In the US, both the comedy-drama hit Ugly Betty and Televisa program La Fea Más Bella are based on the Colombian soap opera.

Synopsis

Beatriz Aurora Pinzón Solano (Betty), is an unattractive, but very intelligent woman working for the Eco Moda fashion design company. Betty constantly faces the scorn of her prettier workmates, but eventually is promoted to a senior job, becomes romantically involved with her boss, and receives a grooming makeover.

Although graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s degree in finance, and fluent in English and French, Betty has been unable to secure a job interview, because, she claims, her ugly photograph ruins her otherwise impressive résumé. Tired of unsuccessfully searching for a job matching her education and experience, she applies to be the secretary to the president of the fashion company Eco Moda, but sends her résumé without a photograph, in hopes of securing an interview; however, that job was given to an inexperienced, university drop-out, but very attractive Patricia Fernández, who happens to be best girlfriend of the president’s fiancée, Marcela Valencia.

Armando Mendoza, Eco Moda’s new president, is the smart, handsome, and well educated son of one of the company's two, owner-founders. He is engaged to Marcela Valencia, daughter of the other company founder, who also holds a high position in Eco Moda. Armando refuses Patricia as his secretary, assuming Marcela wants her to spy on him, given his womanizer's reputation, so, he urges the hiring of another candidate with the most desired requirements; he hires Betty and Patricia as his secretaries, after Marcela pressured him, arguing that the company president could not have an ugly secretary representing him.

Since there is no available office for Betty, she occupies a store room in back of Armando’s office, while Patricia receives the prime public spot; nevertheless, Betty is in charge of the most important task, proving to Armando how intelligent, versatile, and well educated she is, and daily gaining more responsibilities, becoming essential to Armando’s risky, new business plan for Eco Moda.

Spanish award

Yo soy Betty, la fea won the TP de Oro for its nominated category, Mejor Telenovela (Best Soap Opera) in 2002. [2]

Series evolution

Betty la fea aired on Telemundo in the United States. Its popularity led to the creation of several similar programs in other countries, as well as its rebroadcast in other languages around the world. The success of Yo soy Betty, la fea led to its first sequel in 2002 with Univision's release of Ecomoda.[3]

The show was popular as it was aired to a wide Latin American audience. Its success spawned a short and unsuccessful sequel called Eco moda, filmed in Colombia and produced by RCN and Univision. Some scenes from the first episode were filmed in Buenos Aires and some scenes for the opening sequence were filmed in Miami, Florida.[4]

Betty la Fea was also made popular in the Philippines by GMA network and now, redubbed and currently re-airing on Studio 23. The sequel, Ecomoda, was also aired in the Philippines (dubbed in Tagalog) on the ABS-CBN Network. During its airtime, the show was put in a timeslot against its own prequel, Betty La Fea, which was aired on the rival network GMA. In 2008, ABS-CBN has acquired the rights to remake the 'Betty La Fea'(with the same title) starring Bea Alonzo playing the title role.

Betty la fea has been so successful that it has been either adapted and/or shown in many different countries. The story seems to be attractive and original because it revolves around an unattractive person in contrast with most soap operas where the stars are always good looking.

Another released spinoff was an animated series called Betty Toons, which features Betty as a child, with her friends. In the U.S., Betty Toons can be seen Saturday mornings on most affiliates of the Telefutura network.

An article in Variety reported that the success of Yo soy Betty, la fea spin-offs has led to the search for other telenovelas being planned for the United States.[5] Other shows developed by Fernando Gaitán are in production for 2007. "While some characters remain and new ones have been added, I think that the U.S. version preserves the spirit of the original Betty la fea", Gaitán says.[6]

Eventually, a U.S. adaptation of Betty la Fea materialized. Entitled Ugly Betty, the hour-long program is developed by Silvio Horta and co-produced by Salma Hayek and Ben Silverman. America Ferrera plays the title role. The show has received a Golden Globe[7]- and Peabody Award[8].

Cast and crew

Main Cast

Others

Guests

Crew

  • Original Script by Fernando Gaitán
  • Script Writer - Liliana Hernández
  • Assistant to Script Writer - Elsa Cortés
  • General Producer - María Del Pilar
  • Production Management - Amparo Gutiérrez
  • Production Assistants - John Sierra and Guillermo Andrés Vega
  • Director - Mario Ribero
  • Director Second Unit - Mario A. Galindo
  • Cinematography - Alirio Farfán
  • Set Design - Liliana Cortés, Enrique Linero, Juan Fernando Peréz
  • Wardrobe Design - Rosita Cabal
  • Makeup Design - Rossio López
  • Makeup Artist - Clara Inés Cubillos
  • Music and Musicalization - César Escola, Canaroy Pelay and Diego Fernando Páez
  • Coordinator - Pablo Emilio Henríquez
  • Editing - María Vásquez
  • Singer of Main Theme: "Se dice de mí" - Yolanda Rayo

Trivia

  • The long title of the telenovela is brought in on the first episode, when Betty orders a cup of coffee from her new office. She calls the cafeteria extension and asks for coffee for a Beatriz Pinzón. As the newcomer, no one at Ecomoda knows who she is, so she is then forced to clarify: "I am Betty. .. the ugly one", so there was no confusion to whom the coffee was to be brought.
  • The character of Patricia Fernández was known for her catchphrase Yo estudié seis semestres de finanzas en la San Marino ("I did six semesters of Finance at San Marino University") For Colombians, this fictional university unmistakably makes reference to the San Martin University, a medium-high level university in Colombia. This strategy of referencing known education institutions with other names was also used in Pobre Pablo, another soap opera produced by RCN, where in order to convince another character about his own social/academic background, the main character was once advised to lie that he had studied at Los Alpes University, referencing top school Los Andes University.
  • Mario Duarte (Nicolás Mora) portrayed himself in an episode.
  • Ana María Orozco (Betty) and Julián Arango (Hugo Lombardi) were married and they went through a divorce during the run of the series. Perhaps some of their real-life animosity helped to make that of their characters seem more authentic.
  • The follow-up series, "EcoModa", was filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Original Colombian version in other countries

The original Colombian version of the show has been dubbed and broadcast in India, Lithuania, Indonesia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania,Malaysia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Japan – under the title Betty, Ai to uragiri no hishojitsu ("Betty, The Secretarial Office of Love and Betrayal ", ベティ愛と裏切りの秘書室)[9]–, Turkey, Italy,Philippines and China. The show was also broadcast in virtually all of Latin America plus Spain, achieving record ratings in every single country, including those where Colombian soaps do not usually achieve high ratings, such as Brazil and Mexico. The show was so popular that the cast went on tour to meet fans throughout the continent.

Other versions

Esti Ha'mechoeret אסתי המכוערת

The series was adapted by Israel's SET in 2003, and named אסתי המכוערת Esti Ha'mechoeret ("Ugly Esti"). The series starred Riki Blich as Esti Ben-David, a cop's daughter. The series lasted three seasons.

Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin

(There's No One Like Jassi) (2003, SET, India): Mona Singh as Jasmeet Walia. The popular Indian version is not so much about beauty and ugliness, as about a simple middle class girl with strong family values being catapulted into the amoral world of high fashion upper society, although Jassi was made to appear ugly by having on thick rimmed glasses, braces and an unsightly hairstyle. Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin concluded in 2006.

Sensiz Olmuyor

Turkey's "Sensiz Olmuyor" (Won't Work Without You) told the story of Gönül and Arda on two separate TV networks, with each channel showing thirteen episodes. When the weekly series debuted on Show TV in January 2005, Özlem Conker played Gönül (which means 'heart' in Turkish), the intelligent swan in ugly duckling clothing, and pop star Emre Altuğ appeared as her boss and love interest, Arda. The show did not go on hiatus when it was moved from Show TV to rival network Kanal D, but there was one big change: Yeliz Şar took over the role of Gönül, but the rest of the original cast remained intact.

Verliebt in Berlin

In February 2005, the German TV network, SAT 1, began airing a version called Verliebt in Berlin (The title is a word-play and can mean either In Love in Berlin or In Love with Berlin), starring local soap opera star Alexandra Neldel as Lisa Plenske and Swiss actor Mathis Künzler as David. Due to its immense popularity (5 million viewers daily), the show was extended beyond its initial 250 episode run in early 2006.

A few weeks later it was announced that the show would be renewed for a second season, but without Neldel and Künzler. The focus will shift onto a male lead character named Bruno Plenske (Lisa's half-brother, played by Tim Sander). Verliebt in Berlin has also been broadcast in dubbed versions in Hungary (as Lisa csak egy van) and France (as Le destin de Lisa). Although Verliebt in Berlin continued with new featured characters and original storylines, it is still credited as "based on Yo Soy Betty La Fea".

Ne Rodis' Krasivoy (Не родись красивой)

(Be Not Born Beautiful, from the Russian phrase, "be not born beautiful, but be born happy")

STS broadcasting in Russia created a hugely popular version of the show called, Ne Rodis' Krasivoy, starring Nelly Uvarova in the title role of Katya. This version is also broadcast throughout the former Soviet Union. This particular adaptation has gone through heavy rewrites in order to tone down its many sister series' campy humour and feminst & gay subtext in order to make the show better suited for the extremely conservative Russian audience.

La Fea Más Bella

(The most beautiful ugly girl) (2006-2007, Televisa, Mexico): Angélica Vale as Leticia Padilla Solis.

The Mexican Televisa television network, produced its version La Fea Más Bella ("The Prettiest Ugly Girl"), its début was 23 January 2006, its finale 25 February 2007. Univision, in the United States and ABC 5 network broadcasted it in the Philippines, where its début was 24 April 2006, and its finale 25 June 2007. In this version, the protagonist is named "Lety".

Lotte

Main article: Lotte (TV series)

(2006, Talpa, Netherlands): Nyncke Beekhuyzen as Lotte Pronk. In 2006, the Dutch TV network Talpa began airing Lotte, starring Nyncke Beekhuyzen as the main character and Lars Oostveen as Vico Maesland.

Yo Soy Bea

Despite the original Colombian production already being in Spanish, Telecinco launched an adaptation in Spain called Yo soy Bea in July, 2006. The Spanish version title (which translates to "I am Bea") is a pun, with "Bea" sounding like bella, meaning pretty and like fea, meaning ugly. Ruth Núñez played Beatriz Pérez Pinzón and Alejandro Tous was Álvaro Aguilar, the company boss.

The Spanish adaptation screens weekdays at 5:30 pm and pulls in an average of over four million viewers (over +35% share of the audience). The series' record is a 40,7 % of share. It has become Spain's top-rated daytime programme. Ruth Núñez, known to Spanish viewers for her portrayal of a Yugoslav student in teen soap, Compañeros, plays the heroine.

In this version, Beatriz Pérez Pinzón (Núñez) is an unattractive 26-year-old economist whose looks aren't important to her. She's intelligent and kind, and one day, after having cared for her widower father for two years, she decides to look for a job. Although she's very well educated, she gets only a secretary job at the magazine "Bulevar 21". She becomes the secretary of Álvaro Aguilar (Alejandro Tous), the company boss. In the company, Bea will be against Cayetana (Mónica Estarreado), Álvaro's fiancée, and her friend Bárbara (Norma Ruiz), who is also Álvaro's secretary. The Spanish Version won a TP de Oro to "La mejor telenovela" this year (2007)

Ugly Betty

Main article: Ugly Betty

The American production is broadcast on ABC in the United States. This production is also broadcast on Citytv in Canada, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom; 2007, RTÉ Two in Ireland, TV2 in New Zealand, Seven Network in Australia, TVB Pearl in Hong Kong and Nova Television in Bulgaria.

In 2004, actress Salma Hayek's production company, Ventanarosa, in a joint venture with Reveille Productions and ABC Television Studio bought the rights to Betty la fea, converting it to a English seriocomedy series. ABC bought it titled, Ugly Betty, initially slated for broadcasting in summer of 2006 as a daily series, but its success led to ABC slating it weekly. [10] The hour-long airs Thursdays at 8:00 pm (Eastern time); the first episode was broadcast 28 September 2006. Actress America Ferrera is Ugly Betty — an unattractive, but efficient editorial assistant at a fashion magazine.[11]

Maria, i Asximi

Mega Channel in Greece is airing its own version titled Maria, i Asximi (Μαρία, Η Άσχημη - Maria, The Ugly One). Maria exudes intelligence, humor, and kindness, but what she is missing is conventional beauty. She considers her appearance to be an obstacle in her search for employment, despite her collection of degrees, which are displayed proudly by her parents, Kaiti and Irakles. Having no luck in her job search, Maria decides to try for a job for which she is overqualified, secretary to Alexis Mantas, the director of a noted fashion house called Ecomoda. Alexis is the most coveted bachelor in Athens, but he has recently gotten engaged to Markella, who tries to get him to choose her best friend, Lilian, to be his secretary and to keep an eye on him. Lilian doesn't have Maria's natural intelligence or fine education, but she has a beautiful appearance, which makes her a better superficial fit at the fashion house.

This adaptation was originally supposed to start airing on November 1, 2006, but within two weeks of that date the show was removed from Mega Channel's schedule. Finally, it began on January 1, 2007 at 21:00 and although it was scheduled to move at 18:15 two weeks later, due to its high ratings (± 45% according to Agb Hellas and more than 2 million viewers) finally remained in the prime-time slot of the channel.

Sara

Main article: Sara (TV Series)

The Flemish adaptation is called Sara starring Veerle Baetens as Sara De Roose. The show was first broadcast on September 25th 2007 by VTM, a Flemish commercial TV-station. Sara is a daily show, not airing in the weekends, that airs at 6:25 pm. Every Sunday VTM airs 'the week of Sara' at 9:25 pm where they cross all the episodes of that week. Sara has a weekly audience between 650,000 and 750,000 viewers. In total 200 episodes will be broadcast.

The company where Sara falls in love with her boss Simon Van Wyck (Gert Winckelmans) is called Presence, a big vogue company in Antwerp. In the series plays a lot of big flemish actors and actresses; Veerle Baetens, Sandrine André, Kürt Rogiers, Gert Winckelmans, Karin Tanghe,...

February 13, 2008, the nominees of the Flemish tv-stars where announced. 'Sara' is nominated for 3 awards. Veerle Baetens, who plays Sara, and Sandrine Andre, who plays Britt, are bold nominated for Best Actor or Actress. The serie herself is nominated for Best Fiction programme. The winners will be announced March 30, 2008.[12]

Ne daj se, Nina

A version of Betty la Fea made by Croatian RTL Televizija, Serbian Fox Televizija and Bosnian Federalna Televizija (FTV) begins production in October 2007. The working title of the show is "Ne daj se, Nina" ( "Don't give up, Nina"). After a long audition, newcomer Lana Gojak 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.

Ošklivka Katka

(Ugly Kate) (2008, TV Prima, Czech republic): Kateřina Janečková as Kateřina Bertoldová. The series debuted on March 3, 2008 and it airs Mondays and Wednesdays at prime time.

Tudo Por Amor

Tudo Por Amor (Everything For Love) was a soap opera shown on TVI in Portugal. It did not have a large audience, even though it had some of the biggest stars of Portuguese television. Sofia Duarte Silva starred as the protagonist, Alice. The story, which was actually a remake of Mexico's El Amor no es como lo pintan (not Colombia's Yo soy Betty, la fea), centered on an ugly young woman who ended up finding her love online, but she lacked the courage to meet him in person, because of her appearance. Later, she discovered the existence of her twin sister, Daisy—a sensual and sexy girl, full of "girl power", determination, and rebellion—who turns her life upside down.

Chou Nu Wu Di (The Ugly Without Rival)

This soap opera is a co-production of Televisa México, Hunan Satellite TV station of China, the independent producer Nesound, and the Colombian network RCN Television. The program will begin broadcasting in September 2008 and is divided into five seasons of 80 half-hour chapters.

Cô Gái Xấu Xí'

The Vietnamese version of Ugly Betty is called Cô Gái Xấu Xí'.

' Yo soy Betty La Fea (Philippine Version)

Bea Alonzo (A Filipina actress) was unanimously chosen to play the title role of Betty, in the Philippine adaptation of the famous Colombian televenovela. It will be produced by ABS-CBN. Ruffa Gutierrez, a former beauty queen, plays the role of Daniella (Marcela in the original version).

See also

Sources

References

  1. ^ "Yo soy Betty, la fea" (1999)
  2. ^ TP de Oro, Spain
  3. ^ Eco moda
  4. ^ Eco Moda, La Segunda Parte de Bettt la Fea, Comenzara a Filmarse en Buenos Aires.
  5. ^ Beating the telenovela bushes for another 'Betty'.
  6. ^ [1] Ibid.
  7. ^ From IMDB
  8. ^ From Peabody Awards (June 4, 2007)
  9. ^ Microsite at Super!dramaTV (in Japanese)
  10. ^ "ABC Rethinks Ugly Betty" from "Broadcasting & Cable" (April 23, 2006)
  11. ^ From "Variety" (October 9, 2006)
  12. ^ TV-Visie - Vlaamse Televisiesterren: ALLE nominaties (foto's)
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