DVDizzy Forum

After many years of pre-production ... and an almost deal with NBC to be on their (now sorta defunct LOL) Must-Seet TV Thursdays as a 1/2 hr sit-com ... UGLY BETTY ... Salma Hayek's spin on Colombia's #1 telenovela "Yo Soy Betty la Fea" ...debuted tonight on ABC's new Thursday night line-up.

UGLY follows the life of Betty Suarez ... a ... umm ... plain looking young woman who gets the job as assistant to the editor of the hottest fashion magazine MODE (think VOGUE) ...

It follows her family life ... work life ... and the lives of everyone conspiring against her ...

Toping the list in the later category is Wilhelmina ... played by a wonderfully b**chy Vanessa Williams ... the would-be editor of MODE ... but she was passed over for the owner's son ...

It seems that everyone had their fair share of secrets and lies ...

I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode ... I hope it did well in the ratings ... It has had pretty good press and buzz ...

I had no clue it was a Touchstone production ...

What did everyone think?

I thought the show was pretty good. It succeeded in getting all the laughs out of me. The drama aspect of the show is a little cheesy, but I can get over that.

All in all, the show wasn't my new favorite, but I'll definitely watch it if I get to my room early. It's a nice precursor to Grey's Anatomy.

And as I said in another thread, America Ferrara is absolutely adorable. If anything, I'll watch it because I admire this actress so much.

At last a really good show at 7 pm CDT to lead into my Thursday evening. I don't care for "Smallville" and have been bored lately with "Earl" so it is good that we have a well-written, quality show like "Ugly Betty", which by the way I didn't like the title at first, but now I think it fits. America is Betty, and she is beautiful in her very special way. Hope they are paying her big bucks to wear those ugly braces and glasses.

So now on Thursday I can watch "Ugly Betty", "CSI", and my new favorite show "Shark" with James Woods.

Those of you who missed "Betty" can still catch an almost commercial-free showing on ABC.com for free.

Let's hope that the ratings are good enough to keep "Betty" around for a while. It has a lot of potential.

Wow, didn't know much about this show, but now I want to watch it! I didn't realise that so many people were connected to it, America Ferrera, Salma Hayek, and Vanessa Williams, all great people! The premise sounds interesting, but kind of like The Devil Wears Prada, which coincidentallly has just opened here in Australia.
I hope that we get to see Ugly Betty soon, but programming here in Australia is pretty weird. We've got Jericho screening cocurrently with America, but we still haven't got Season Three of Nip/Tuck, Season Three of The L Word, and Season One of Weeds yet. We've only just gotten season Six of The Sopranos, and Rome has been cancelled after two episodes because of crap ratings.
-James

Oh, lord I hope this doesn't end up like "Commander in Chief".

I absolutely loved "Betty", and I cannot wait until next week. I've adored America Ferrera ever since Real Women Have Curves, and it's just so wonderful to see her more and more.

My only real gripe is the show's uncanny resemblence to The Devil Wears Prada. The overall theme, characters, even music ("Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall??) are incredibly alike-- but in the end, I'm not so much bothered as delighted (considering the fact that Prada is currently holding place as my #1 Film of 2006)

*tlm

Hah! Me and The Little Merman both posted at 9:22am and both mentioned the Devil Wears Prada! Sorry, jus thought that I should mention that, I love it when it happens.
-James

Well, Rawlf said that Ugly Betty had been in negotiations for a long time, so I'm thinking it's not a copy of The Deavil Wears Prada.

I just watched it on ABC.com. I loved it!! And this is from a guy. I thought it was really smart and I could identify with Betty alot.

I have to resort to streams to watch it or tape it because I can't miss 'Earl' and 'The Office'.

Harbinger wrote:And this is from a guy.

Lol, all the posters on this thread are guys, dude.

numba1lostboy wrote:

Harbinger wrote:And this is from a guy.

Lol, all the posters on this thread are guys, dude.

well yeah. It just seems it was a show promoted towards women more than men.

Although there may be similarities with "Devil Wears Prada" ... Betty was inspired by the telenovela "Yo Soy Betty la Fea" ...

In the novela ... Betty had graduated and studied to become an economist but she could only get the job as a secretary at the fashion house Ecomoda ... In the US version ... Betty gets the job as the assistant to the editor-in-chief at MODE ... a fashion magazine ...

In the novela ... Betty eventually gets promoted to a senior job and falls in love with her boss ... and gets a makeover ... The braces leave ... thick glasses turn into wire frames ... and the clothes/hairdo get restyled ...

The original telenovela aired in 1999 ... Shortly after it became the huge success in Latin America that it has become ... Salma Hayek purchased the rights to produce it in the US ... it was originally rumored to have Salma star as Betty ...

After pitiching it to many netowrks ... starting with NBC ... ABC picked it up ... and decided to air it in the Fall of 2006 ... It was originally titled "Betty the Ugly" ...

So far 13 episodes were ordered ... with the option of another 9 episodes to be produced ...

Last night the premiere brought in 16 million viewers ... So they said on Access Hollywood ...

I don't really know anything about ratings...is 16 million a good thing?

It's a good thing ... another Touchstone property ... "Six Degrees" scored that amount for its premiere last week ...

With those numbers ... I think Betty was either the #1 show in its hour ... or #2 ... depending on how well Survivor did ...

Well, Ugly Betty was number one in it's time slot so that's a good thing for ABC. I didn't watch it because I prefer Smallville but who knows maybe next week I'll just tape it. 16 million viewers is good Ugly Betty even got more viewers then Heroes and Studio 60 which was amazing.

I didn't get to watch but my sister said it was okay. I might check it out on ABC.com sometime.

Cheers,
JM

Rowlf_The_Dog wrote:Although there may be similarities with "Devil Wears Prada" ... Betty was inspired by the telenovela "Yo Soy Betty la Fea" ...

Well yeah. I think, or, hope everyone already knows that.

*tlm

I thought it was pretty good. America Ferrera is an excellent actress, and although some people keep drawing the "devil wears prada" connection, (honestly the only blatant one I saw was the last shot, it was a crowded street accompanied by KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I see" which is the same song used in the same type shot over the beginning and end of "prada")
you can really see that this has a unique, more kitschy appeal to it. I like the fact that they have a telenovella w/ salma hayek playing in the background as a nod to its origins. Also, I've heard the Vannessa Williams' character will take on a campy appeal as her villanous persona develops.

I really wanted to see this, but my cable box can only DVR two shows at once and Thursday for me belongs to "Smallville" and "The Office." I really wish ABC would put it on Monday or Tuesday night, since I don't watch any shows on those nights. Maybe it will do well enough for a DVD release and I can rent it then, so anyone with a Neilsen box, please watch! lol.

goofystitch, they have the premiere episode online to watch at http://www.abc.com

Tonight episode 02 aired ... "The Box and the Bunny" ... I must admit I enjoyed it!

I am absolutely loving Wilhelmina ... She is so deliciously bad ...

And it seems that the old editor-in-chief of MODE is still alive ... recovering from plastic surgery possibly? and plotting a takeover with Wilhelmina.

And Daniel's father seems to have plenty of secrets to cover up ... was he a part of the accident that "killed" the former editor?

I loved that the book was stolen by the neighbor ... then purchased by Wilhelmina's "flying monkey" (reference to the Wicked Witch from <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>) ...

Next week looks real good too ... with the glam version of Betty heading to work LOL ("Who me?") LOL