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Ugly Betty

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Ugly Betty
File:AmericaFerrera UglyBetty.jpg
Betty Suarez (aka "Ugly Betty"), portrayed by America Ferrera
Developed bySilvio Horta
StarringAmerica Ferrera
Eric Mabius
Alan Dale
Tony Plana
Ana Ortiz
Ashley Jensen
Becki Newton
Mark Indelicato
Vanessa L. Williams
Michael Urie
Country of originUnited States United States
No. of episodes11 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time42 min. approx.
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 28 2006 –
present

Ugly Betty is a television comedy drama series starring America Ferrera and Eric Mabius. It premiered on September 28 2006, on ABC in the United States and on Citytv in Canada and airs on Thursday nights at 8 PM ET/PT. The plot follows the work lives of Betty Suarez (Ferrera) and Daniel Meade (Mabius).

The series is based on the popular Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea (literally, I am Betty, the ugly), from Fernando Gaitán (also author of Café, con aroma de mujer), and is adapted into an American setting by producer Salma Hayek, whose production company, Ventanarosa, partnered with Touchstone Television on the hour-long program. Hayek, who appeared in the pilot as an actress on a fictional telenovela watched by the main character's family, also appears alongside the cast in later episodes as well, playing Sofia Reyes in a continuing storyline arc.[1]

Overview of series premise

Template:Spoiler Ugly Betty follows the daily life of Betty Suarez, a young woman from a struggling Latino family who works as an editorial assistant at MODE fashion magazine. The name MODE comes from the original series, Yo soy Betty, la fea, where the company is named Ecomoda. Most of her female co-workers are more attractive than she is; they often humiliate and insult her because of her appearance (her only friend is Christina). Suarez is not very interested in fashion and is sometimes clueless about the company's motives and organizations. Her boss, the womanizing Daniel Meade (who initially turned her away because of her appearance), has a lack of fashion experience too, but both are intent on performing well at their jobs, even at the expense of those trying to stop them. The program includes a serialized plot involving Meade's predecessor Fey Sommers, who supposedly was killed in a fiery hit-and-run accident but actually is a hospital patient swathed in facial bandages that concealed her identity, as well as a storyline involving Betty's father, Ignacio Suarez, whose admission to coming to the United States as an illegal immigrant could put his family in a legal bind.

Although it is expected to remain true to the original Betty La Fea, this version is expected to include more dramatic elements because of the serious issues explored in the program. And like another ABC dramedy series, Desperate Housewives, this one also uses the same tone and style, combining elements of drama, comedy, mystery, farce, camp, soap opera and satire, but done in a lighter element. The show is filmed like a traditional network drama (with motion picture film), rather than the videotape production of the original telenovela.

Template:Endspoiler

File:Uglyb.jpg
The cast of Ugly Betty in an ABC publicity photo.

Cast

Core regulars

Recurring

Other/minor roles

Guest stars

Notes

  • ¹-Listed as "Guest Starring" in opening credits, but is considered a full time regular.
  • ²-Became recurring regulars after their second appearance.
  • ³-It was announced on December 6, 2006 that Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, "Pepper Dennis") has joined the cast as a series regular. She is set to play The "Mystery Woman" who has plotted to take over MODE Magazine. Her first episode will air in January.

Production timeline

  • On May 16, 2006, ABC announced that Ugly Betty will 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 2006, according to The Futon Critic,[2] although the Ugly Betty title was already being used in promotions prior to this date on Citytv.
  • For a time, 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 in a last minute schedule change to move "Ugly Betty" from its previously announced Friday 8 p.m. (ET) time period to Thursday at 8 p.m. replacing the originally announce sitcoms Notes From the Underbelly and Big Day as a lead-in to top-rated program "Grey's Anatomy", in part 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 and who hope 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[3] due to its high premiere ratings. Its premiere episode was seen by about 16.3 million viewers.

International Broadcasts

Country TV Network(s) Series Premiere Weekly Schedule
United States United States ABC September 28 2006 Thursdays 8:00pm ET
Canada Canada Citytv September 28 2006 Thursdays 8:00pm ET
Sweden Sweden Kanal 5 7 November, 2006 Tuesdays 8:00pm CET
Fiji Fiji Fiji One 9 November, 2006 Thursdays 9:05pm
Republic of Ireland Ireland RTÉ Two 1 January, 2007 Mondays 7:00pm GMT
Norway Norway TVNorge 3 January, 2007 Wednesdays 8:45pm
United Kingdom United Kingdom Channel 4 (First Run) (S4C in Wales) and E4 (Repeats) 5 January 2007 [1] Fridays 9:30pm and Sundays at 8pm (Repeats)[2] GMT
New Zealand New Zealand TV2 January 16, 2007 Tuesday 7:30pm GMT
Australia Australia Channel Seven[3] January 29, 2007
Singapore Singapore Channel 5 February 5, 2007 Mondays 10:00pm
Finland Finland Nelonen April 2007
France France TF1 Spring 2007
Greece Greece Mega Channel 2007
Hong Kong Hong Kong TVB Pearl 2007
Malaysia Malaysia 8TV 2007
Spain Spain Cuatro TV 2007

Competition with the other "Betty"s

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.[4]

Ugly Betty has an Indian connection as well as the original telenovela was adapted into Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin ("No one Like Jassi") which was a major hit on Indian prime-time television.[5]

Ironically in the U.S., Univision currently airs the Mexican counterpart La fea más bella, which airs weeknights at 8PM (E/P), including Thursdays during the same time Ugly Betty airs.

Honors

Year Result Award Category Recipient
2006 Winner Family Television Awards Best New Series
2007 Nominated Golden Globe Awards Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical America Ferrera
2007 Nominated Golden Globe Awards Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical
2007 Nominated People's Choice Awards Favorite New TV Drama
2007 Nominated Writers Guild Awards New Comedy TV series
2007 Winner Satellite Awards Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical
2007 Winner Satellite Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture made for Television Tony Plana
2007 Nominated Satellite Awards Best Actress in a Series - Comedy or Musical America Ferrera
2007 Nominated Satellite Awards Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture made for Television Vanessa Williams
2007 Nominated Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Comedy Series America Ferrera
2007 Nominated Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Television Comedy Series
2007 Nominated Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Ratings

The episodes ratings for Ugly Betty's season one so far (in millions of viewers):

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.

Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating and share information comes from Zap2It.[6] The following week, the numbers are updated with the final Nielsen numbers from TVWeek.com.[7] Additional ratings information, including the 18-49 rating, comes from BroadcastingCable.[8]Viewer numbers and rank numbers come from Google groups.[9]

Episode # Title Air Date Rating Share 18-49 Viewers Rank
1 "Pilot (aka I Am Not Going To Sell Herbalux)" September 28, 2006 10.7 17 6.5 16.09 #9
2 "The Box And The Bunny" October 5, 2006 9.5 15 4.9 14.20 #18
3 "Queens For A Day" October 12, 2006 9.3 15 4.4 13.80 #21
4 "Fey's Sleigh Ride" October 19, 2006 8.9 14 4.3 13.07 #21
5 "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe" October 26, 2006 8.9 14 4.3 13.15 #21
6 "Trust, Lust, and Must" November 2, 2006 9.3 14 4.4 13.72 #22
7 "After Hours" November 9, 2006 8.6 13 4.1 12.87 #27
8 "Four Thanksgivings and a Funeral" November 16, 2006 8.9 14 3.9 12.96 #23
9 "Lose the Boss" November 23, 2006 5.3 11 2.9 8.73 #48
10 "Fake Plastic Snow (aka Five Platinum Rings)" November 30, 2006 9.0 14 4.3 13.33 #21
11 "Swag" January 4, 2007 7.8 12 3.9 11.61 n/a
12 "Sofia's Choice" January 11, 2007 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
13 "In or Out (aka I'm Coming Out)" January 18, 2007 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
14 "Brothers and Friends" February 1, 2007 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Trivia

  • The scenes from Betty's favorite telenovela featured in the episodes are performed by real-life telenovela stars, including Hayek, who was a veteran of the genre prior to becoming a successful film star and producer. These clips were filmed in one day at the Televisa estudios in Mexico. Actors include Marlene Favela, Sebastian Rulli, Ninel Conde, Helena Rojo, and Eduardo Rodriguez.
  • There was an actual fashion publication titled MODE; geared toward plus-size women, it ceased publication in 2001.
  • Hilda's employer, Herbalux, shares the name of a real company based in Poland that specializes in alternative medicine. However, as used in the series, Herbalux is a fictional reference to Herbalife, a weight-loss supplement/multi-level marketing company based in the United States.
  • The Slaters' first names are based on real names from the world of modeling: The Wilhelmina character is named after the legendary supermodel and modeling agency of the same name, while the Nico character is named for the famous Warhol superstar icon.
  • Although Fashion TV is mentioned in the series, it is no way connected to the real-life TV series or the French channel of the same name.
  • 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.
  • Interestingly, NBC was planning to adapt Betty in 2001 as a half-hour comedy,[10] but never made it past the planning stages until ABC and Hayek's company came on board in 2004 and retooled it as an hour-long dramedy.[11]
  • 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.[12]
  • On December 6, 2006, the United Kingdom's 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.
  • Despite being set in New York, the show is filmed entirely in Los Angeles. Much like other television programs, stock footage is used to establish that the show is set in New York.
  • On December 20, 2006, ABC announced a new public service campaign built around the show, called Be Ugly '07. The campaign is meant to encourage women to be themselves and not what they see in the media. The set up is much like Dove soap's Campaign for Real Beauty series.
  • The name of the mysterious former Editor-in-Chief of Mode, Fey Sommers, seems to be a pun on Vogue's current Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.

See also

Related articles

Main article: List of Ugly Betty episodes
Main article: List of characters in Ugly Betty
Main article: List of minor characters on Ugly Betty
Main article: Betty Suarez
Main article: Vidas de Fuego
Main article: Be Ugly
Main article: Muchas Muchachas

Other related materials

  • Betty la fea, The original telenovela and its international spinoffs.

Reviews

References

  1. ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20061016abc01
  2. ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/newswire.aspx?id=7185
  3. ^ http://abcmedianet.com/pressrel/dispDNR.html?id=101306_06
  4. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951583.html?categoryid=19&cs=1
  5. ^ http://bollyspace.blogspot.com/2006/08/ugly-betty-betty-la-fea-jassi.html Details can be found here.
  6. ^ "TV Ratings ... on Zap2it".
  7. ^ "TVWeek.com".
  8. ^ "TV Ratings ... on BroadcastingCable".
  9. ^ "Week of December 11th-17th/2006 complete ratings".
  10. ^ The Futon Critic
  11. ^ The Futon Critic
  12. ^ The Futon Critic, October 27, 2006
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Official sites

Fan sites


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