Ugly Betty is an American dramedy Comedy-drama, also known as dramedy or seriocomedy, is a genre of television, theatre, and film in which there is an equal or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content television series created by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming on September 28, 2006 and ended on April 14, 2010.^[1] The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea, which was created by Fernando Gaitán. The series was produced by Silent H, Ventanarosa and Reveille Productions Reveille Productions is an independently-owned television and motion picture studio and production company based in Los Angeles. The studio was founded by Ben Silverman in March 2002 partnered with ABC Studios ABC Studios is the television production division of Disney-ABC Television Group. ABC Studios was established as Touchstone Television in 1985 and given its current name in May 2007, and was primarily filmed in Los Angeles, but together with the pilot episode and the third and fourth season, the series was filmed in New York City. The executive producers were Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez is a Mexican actress, director, and television and film producer. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants, Silvio Horta, Ben Silverman Raised in Manhattan, Silverman is a 1992 magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University, where he majored in history. His mother, Mary Silverman, was a programming executive whose career included stints at the Disney Channel, BBC, USA Network, Lifetime Television, and Court TV. His father Stanley Silverman is an award-winning music composer/arranger, Jose Tamez and Joel Fields.

During its first three seasons, it aired on Thursday nights, where it was mostly successful. However, viewership dropped significantly in the show's third season, particularly in the important 18-49 age group. In October 2009, the series was moved to Fridays, where it had trouble finding an audience. The backlash from its fans prompted ABC to move the show to Wednesdays at 10:00 pm Eastern/9:00 pm Central starting January 6, 2010, where it was thought that it would better complement its Wednesday hits Modern Family and Cougar Town Cougar Town is an American television sitcom which premiered on ABC on 23 September 2009. The series focuses on a recently divorced woman who reenters a dating scene filled with younger men while living with her 18 year old son and embarks on a journey to self-discovery while surrounded by fellow divorcees. The pilot episode of the show was,^[2][3] but on January 27, 2010, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming announced it was cancelling the series due to low ratings.^[4] With the end of the series, there is talk of a push by Ana Ortiz and America Ferrera for an Ugly Betty movie.^[5][6]

Plot

Betty Suarez is a courageous, good-hearted, and slightly naive girl from Queens Queens is the largest in area, the second largest in population, and the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States, New York who is sorely lacking in fashion sense. She is abruptly thrust into a different world when she lands a job at Mode, a trendy high fashion magazine based in Manhattan Manhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York. It consists of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, that is part of the publishing empire of the wealthy Bradford Meade. Bradford's son Daniel has just been installed as Editor-in-Chief of Mode following the death of Fey Sommers (Bradford's longtime mistress). Bradford hires the inexperienced Betty as his womanizing In human sexual behavior, promiscuity denotes sex with relatively many partners. In polygamy it is distinguished from promiscuity son's newest personal assistant For example, a businessman or businesswoman may have a personal assistant to help with time and diary management, scheduling of meetings, correspondence and note taking. The title of a business personal assistant is often shortened as "PA". There are also personal assistants who work specifically for disabled people, and whose salaries to curb Daniel's habit of sleeping with his assistants. As time goes by, Betty and Daniel become friends and help each other navigate their professional and personal lives.

Life at Mode is made difficult for both Betty and Daniel by their co-workers. Their most serious threat comes from Creative Director Wilhelmina Slater, a vindictive schemer who devises numerous plots to steal Daniel's job and seize control of his family's company. In addition, Wilhelmina's loyal assistant Marc St. James and Mode receptionist Amanda Sommers continually mock and humiliate Betty for her lackluster physical appearance, awkward nature, and initial lack of taste in fashion. However, not everyone at Mode is against Betty; she gains loyal friends in Scottish seamstress Christina McKinney and nerdy accountant Henry Grubstick. She also receives strong support from her father Ignacio, older sister Hilda, and nephew Justin.

Season 1

Season one premiered in the United States on September 28, 2006 and aired 23 episodes. Major plotlines during the first season include: Betty and Daniel settling into their respective roles as personal assistant and editor-in-chief at a fashion magazine; Betty's relationships with pre-Mode boyfriend Walter and new love interest Henry; Daniel's numerous sexual conquests and his relationship with fellow editor Sofia Reyes (Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez is a Mexican actress, director, and television and film producer. Hayek's charitable work includes increasing awareness on violence against women and discrimination against immigrants); Wilhelmina's plots with the "Mystery Lady" to undermine Bradford and Daniel's positions at Meade Publications; Christina's temporary switch to Wilhelmina's side in an attempt to boost her career; the truth behind the murder of Fey Sommers and the death of Daniel's older brother Alex; Ignacio's immigration status and health problems; and Hilda's struggle to find a new career and salvage her relationship with Justin's dad.

Season 2

The season's theme was "Brighter, Bolder, Bettyer" with a reworked version of Mika's "Hey Betty (You Are Beautiful)" being used as the featured song in its promos. Nine new recurring characters, played by Freddy Rodríguez, Illeana Douglas, Alec Mapa, David Blue, John Cho, Gabrielle Union, Gene Simmons Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American rock bassist, vocalist, actor, and businessman. He is well known as "The Demon", the blood-spitting, fire-breathing, and tongue-wagging bassist and co-frontman in the hard rock band Kiss, a group he co-founded in the early 1970s. Simmons was placed twenty-ninth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100, Eddie Cibrian were introduced. Lorraine Toussaint continued in her role as Claire's fellow prison escapee, Yoga, as a recurring character. Production was halted in November 2007 due to the Writers Guild of America strike; ultimately the season episode order was cut to 18 instead of a proposed 23. New episodes did not air on U.S. television until April 24, 2008, starting with "Twenty Four Candles", and ending on May 22, 2008, with "Jump". This was the last episode to be produced in Los Angeles.

Major plotlines this season include the following: the love triangle between Betty, Henry, and a deli shop worker named Giovanni "Gio" Rossi; Claire's escape from prison, recapture, and trial for the murder of Fey Sommers; the aborted wedding of Wilhelmina Slater and Bradford Meade; Daniel and Alexis's power struggle after their father's death; Amanda's search for her biological father; Marc's relationship with fashion photographer Cliff St. Paul; Hilda's attempt to start her new beautician career and a relationship with Justin's gym teacher; Christina's reunion with her ailing husband; and Wilhelmina's scheme to conceive an heir to the Meade fortune using Bradford's sperm.

Season 3

ABC renewed the series for a third season on February 11, 2008. In addition, production was moved to New York City from Los Angeles to make the series more realistic and to take advantage of increased tax incentives in New York. The third season premiered on September 25, 2008. This season added ten new recurring regulars, played by Grant Bowler, Mark Consuelos, Heather Tom, Val Emmich, Ralph Macchio, Sarah Lafleur, Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from New York City. Over the course of a career that has already spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having, Lauren Velez and Daniel Eric Gold. Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Denise Lohan is an American actress, model and pop singer-songwriter. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11, Julian De La Celle, Derek Riddell and Eddie Cibrian returned from the second season for more appearances. "The Show" by Australian singer Lenka is used as the promo theme for the season. This season dealt with Betty and Marc getting into the YETI Program. She also meets Matt Hartley and they become a couple. Meanwhile, Daniel falls in love with Connor's girlfriend, despite knowing that she has cancer and might not make it... which eventually she doesn't. Connor swindles the company and escapes the country, leaving Wilhelmina in the lurch. By the season finale, Betty gets promoted to Features Editor (at Marc's cost).

Season 4

The fourth season premiere in the United States aired in October 2009 on a new night and time. After three seasons on Thursday nights, the show was moved to the Friday night death slot The Friday night death slot is a notable graveyard slot in American television, the term referring to the concept that a television program in the United States being scheduled on Friday evenings are destined for imminent cancellation amid protests from its fans. Beginning on January 6, 2010, the show aired Wednesdays at 10:00 pm Eastern/9:00 pm Central time. Season four shows Betty adapting to her new position as an associate features editor at Mode. Adam Rodriguez plays Bobby Talercio, Hilda Suarez's boyfriend (later fiancée, then husband) who ironically was just dating Coach Tony Diaz, played by Rodriguez' Season 8 replacement on CSI: Miami CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Eddie Cibrian. Several promos featured the M People M People are a British house music act from Manchester formed in 1990 which achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is from the initials of Mike Pickering, who formed the group song "Moving on Up".

On January 27, 2010, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming confirmed that the series would end in April, at the same time as reducing the season length from 22 to 20 episodes.^[7] The last episode aired on April 14, 2010.

Cast

Cancellation

On January 27, 2010, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming announced that Ugly Betty would cease production after the fourth season finale, which aired in April 2010.^[8] "We've mutually come to the difficult decision to make this Ugly Betty's final season," executive producer Silvio Horta and ABC president Steve McPherson said in a joint statement. The show has struggled recently, with ratings in the US falling from an average 8.1m to 5.3m viewers between the third and fourth seasons.^[9]

Future

On April 16, 2010, it was reported that an Ugly Betty movie could be in the works. In a interview, series star Ana Ortiz stated:

There may be a movie. It’s something that we’ve been talking about and it’s something that [Ugly Betty star] America Ferrera would really love to do. That woman has so much determination that I can’t imagine anything she puts her mind to not getting done.^[10]

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 Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American television production/distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony^[11] but it never made past the planning stages (It took three writers to come up with a concept based around the character)^[12] until ABC and Hayek's company came on board in 2004 and retooled it as an hour-long comedy-drama Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy. A tragedy typically ended with the death or destruction of a fictional or historical hero, whereas a comedy focused on the lives of middle to lower class characters and ended with their success. The term "drama" was used to describe all.^[13] 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 13 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,^[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 The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming 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 Notes from the Underbelly is an American sitcom that debuted on ABC as a midseason replacement. The series is based upon the novel of the same name by Risa Green, and is produced by Eric and Kim Tannenbaum for Warner Bros. Television. The title is a parody of Dostoevsky's novel Notes from Underground and Big Day as a lead-in to top-rated program Grey's Anatomy Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series. It follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The pilot episode, "A Hard Day's Night" premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC. Since then, five seasons have aired, and the sixth season began, due to the growing interest in the show.

The program's pilot A television pilot or pilot episode is the first episode of a television series. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the 'testing ground' to see if a series will be possible and successful and therefore a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like 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 The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming would maintain the integrity of the original. ABC 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 iTunes is a proprietary digital media player application, used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The application is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple's popular iPod and other digital media players such as the iPhone and iPad. Additionally, iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store via the Internet to purchase after their initial airings on January 5, 2007. The encore episodes also have run on ABC Family ABC Family is an American cable television network currently owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a division of The Walt Disney Company. ABC Family offers contemporary and inclusive programming, including off-network syndicated reruns and original series, feature films and made-for-cable original movies, and some religious programming and SOAPnet SOAPnet is an American cable television channel that has been broadcasting current and past soap operas and dramas since January 20, 2000. SOAPnet and ESPN Classic are the only two Disney-owned networks not yet available in high definition.[citation needed], both of which have aired marathons of the show.

On October 13, 2006, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming ordered a full season pick-up for the series, beyond the original 13 ordered at the May Upfronts^[15] due to its premiere ratings. ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming originally announced 22 episodes for the season 1, but increased the number of episodes by one to 23 . The season finale is the episode called "East Side Story." On March 21, 2007, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming renewed the series for a second season.^[16]

Although he joined NBC as their new entertainment head, Ben Silverman remained co-executive producer on the show, but in a limited role.^[17]

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."^[18] 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.^[19]

On February 11, 2008, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming picked up Ugly Betty for the 2008–09 television season, along with nine other shows.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22] 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.^[23]

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,^[24] 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 Lindsay Denise Lohan is an American actress, model and pop singer-songwriter. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11 onboard for a possible storyline until the third season.^[25] Four days later on February 16, 2008, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming picked up Ugly Betty for the 2008–09 television season.^[26]

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.^[27]

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.^[28]

On May 6, 2008, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming announced that starting with the third season, Ugly Betty will return to New York City and start production there. The move was done to bring the authenticity of the series' setting into the show and to take advantage of a tax credit Within the Australian, Canadian, United Kingdom, and United States tax systems, a tax credit is a recognition of partial payment already made towards taxes due. A similar concept exists in the French tax system, for example in the Credit Impot Recherche. This situation arises, for example, when standard rate tax has been deducted at source (" offered by the State of New York New York (pronounced /njuː ˈjɔrk/; locally [nɪu ˈjoək] or [nuː ˈjɔrk]) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime's Governors Office of Motion Picture and Television Development.^[29] The production is returning to Silvercup Studios in Queens, where the original pilot was produced.^[30] The move resulted in several crewmembers in Los Angeles being let go.^[31] These events would lead California Assemblyman Paul Krekorian to introduce bill AB X315, the "Ugly Betty Bill", which would keep television and film production from leaving the state by using tax incentives. The bill was passed by the assembly and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California signed it into law on February 19, 2009.^[32][33]

In January 2009, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming announced that it was putting Ugly Betty on hold to make room for a new comedy In the Motherhood and Samantha Who? in the Thursday night time slot. The series' last original episode aired on March 19, 2009 and the current season would have finished up sometime in June 2009.^[34][35] It was then announced on Sunday, March 15, 2009, that Ugly Betty will return for its final five episodes of the season on Thursday, April 30, 2009 from a five-week break. Technically it was supposed to be back on May 7, but due to low ratings for Motherhood, ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming moved it up a week. ABC has since pulled Motherhood from the schedule after their April 16, 2009 airing. The two-episode season finale aired on Thursday, May 21 from 8–10 pm.^[36]

The move by ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming and the show's declining ratings, led viewers to believe that ABC would cancel the show. But on February 17, 2009, Becki Newton stated that the show has been picked up for a fourth season.^[37] That statement would later be confirmed on March 5, 2009, when Stephen Mcpherson, president of ABC Entertainment Group, announced that ABC plans to renew Ugly Betty.^[38] On April 23, 2009, ABC gave an early fourth season renewal to Betty.^[39]

Ugly Betty was renewed by ABC for a fourth season^[40] and began airing on Friday nights starting October 16, 2009, at 9:00 pm Eastern/8:00 pm Central, although it was scheduled to start a week earlier on October 9. This caused fans and critics to worry that ABC wishes to end the show, since that time slot is perceived as the Friday night death slot The Friday night death slot is a notable graveyard slot in American television, the term referring to the concept that a television program in the United States being scheduled on Friday evenings are destined for imminent cancellation.^{[41][42][43][44]} On July 24, 2009, TV Guide Network announced that it has acquired the exclusive cable rights to the show and will air the fourth season episodes 14 days after its ABC run with an option to strip the show daily, with plans to air it weekly starting in the fall of 2010.^[45]

With Eastwick recently canceled, ABC began considering moving Ugly Betty to the Wednesday night 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central timeslot,^[46][47] although there was talk of moving Lost Lost is an American live-action television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles crashes somewhere in the South Pacific. Each episode typically features a primary storyline on the island as well as a secondary storyline from to that same timeslot. On December 1, 2009, ABC, sensing a backlash from viewers over its decision to move it to Fridays, its sliding ratings and praises from critics over the improved storylines, made the move to Wednesday official by announcing that it would start airing new episodes on its new night starting January 6, 2010.^[48][49]

Vanessa Williams has hinted there might be a musical episode of Ugly Betty in the future. The actress and singer, who plays catty Wilhelmina Slater, said the cast would love to sing and dance their way through an installment of the hit TV show. When asked if there would be a musical episode coming up, she said: "Who knows, perhaps there could be a musical at the end of the whole run? That would be fun." Vanessa, 46, went on: "The great thing is, we all sing, dance and act – and we would all love to do it. We are all ready and eager – and now we're in New York, it will be a lot easier to get composers and choreographers from Broadway. I think it certainly could be a possibility in the future, but it's not going to happen any time soon."

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.^[50]

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.^[51]

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 anticipated to make a cameo in the 22nd episode, playing Betty's "counterpart" from the series, Leticia 'Lety' Padilla Solís^[52]; Vale instead 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 was Ne daj se, Nina ("Don't give up, Nina"). After a long audition, newcomer Lana Gojak, who resembles America Ferrera, was cast in the role of Nina (Betty). Other cast members were established actors such as Robert Kurbaša, Edvin Livarić, Bojana Ordinačev, Petar Ćiritović, Andrija Milošević, Kristina Krepela and Sloboda Mićalović. The first, and only, season consisted of just over 50 episodes. Although the storyline basically followed that of Yo soy Betty, la fea, Lana Gojak's appearance as Nina seemed to be based more on the heroine of Ugly Betty than on that of Yo soy Betty, la fea. The series had a number of other elements that were directly borrowed from Ugly Betty, rather than from Yo soy Betty, la fea. The series did pretty well in the ratings, but was too expensive to produce, so a second season was never ordered.

In 2007 there had been talk of an Arabic version of Ugly Betty, which would have been produced and shot in Dubai.^[53] This would have been the first Betty, la Fea-inspired series to be directly adapted from the American version, but the project never came to fruition.

On May 24, 2010, the first (and so far only) direct adaptation of Ugly Betty, Georgia's გოგონა გარეუბნიდან (Gogona Gareubnidan, which means "suburban girl") premiered, a mere month and a half after Ugly Betty aired its series finale. The first season would consist of 10 episodes and would conclude in August 2010.

Criticism from Colombia

In November 2007, Sony Entertainment Television began airing Ugly Betty in South America 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.^[54] Both series differ greatly, the Colombian version aired as a soap opera with daily cliffhangers, while Ugly Betty airs as a weekly comedy, only sometimes ending with cliffhangers.^[55] The American version also has a different main plot and explores different themes. While the American version has more than half a dozen core characters, the Colombian version revolves only around Betty and her boss's life with its main plot being Betty's unrequited love for her handsome and promiscuous boss, whom she marries on the series' last episode. When it comes to the series' themes, Silvio Horta says that the American version explores economic disparity and race issues while the Colombian version was specifically about appearance.^[56]

Syndication

The TV Guide Network has purchased the rights to air reruns of Ugly Betty on cable television.^[57]

DVD releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons of Ugly Betty on DVD in Region 1 & 2. Seasons 1 and 2 have also been released in Region 4.

International broadcasts

Arab World

Orbit Showtime aired Ugly Betty seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4 on ShowSeries. Orbit Showtime has coverage over: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and other nearby countries. Fox Series also airs Ugly Betty.

South America

Sony Entertainment Television, which airs on cable and satellite, has the Latin American rights and began airing the series in those territories in November 2007.

Southeast Asia

The show currently airs on STAR World on Wednesday and Saturdays, especially in countries that also owns the broadcast rights to the show.

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 five in the Australian TV ratings.^[65] 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 time-slot as the season premiere of rival program Australian Idol.^[66] 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 pm Wednesday timeslot, beginning on the 7th of May. The show has lost its large following, only drawing around 900,000 viewers despite strong advertising attempts by Channel Seven. The show was "shelved" after the ninth episode was shown on July 2, and will resume airing the remaining episodes until after the Olympics. It was replaced by "RSPCA Animal Rescue".^[67] Ugly Betty returned to Seven on August 28, 2008, at a new and later timeslot of 9:30 pm Thursdays. The episode aired, "Bananas For Betty" was viewed by only 597,000 viewers and was removed. Seven later announced that Ugly Betty will return twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm, starting when Summer begins. It was then moved to only once a week at Thursday 7:30 pm. Soon after, the show was pulled from screening (after finishing the second season) due to moderately low ratings. It was later confirmed on October 23, 2009, that Ugly Betty would return to Australian screens on Seven's new secondary digital channel 7Two. It will resume with the premiere of Season 3, The Manhattan Project, starting Tuesday, November 3, 7:30 pm.^[68] It will air right through summer, with Season 3 to then finish in April/May 2010. In digital channel terms, Ugly Betty has been a success, coming first (out of all digital-only channels) in its timeslot, though is averaging 130,000 viewers, well down from its 800,000 and 1.3 million viewers average in seasons two and one respectively. Season 3 has finished airing and the Seven Network are continuing on with Season 4 straight after, starting April 13, 2010, in the same timeslot on 7TWO. Ugly Betty season 1 is also currently airing on Arena TV, an Australian pay TV channel.

Belgium

VIJFtv began airing the show on March 13, 2008. The ratings for the first two episodes were 165,000.^{[citation needed]} Its rival, Sara (the Flemish adaptation of Betty, la fea which aired on VTM), had a weekly audience between 650,000 and 750,000. It aired weekdays at 6:25 pm, while Ugly Betty is a weekly show that aired every Thursday at 9:00 pm. The show started almost five months after Sara premiered on VTM, which was a disadvantage for Ugly Betty. Betty failed to draw in more viewers because of the extremely successful Sara. VIJFtv decided to put a hold on the last six episodes of the first season of Betty. The possibility of VIJFtv continuing with Ugly Betty in September is still an option. Sara ended in June.

Brazil

Sony Entertainment Television on Wednesdays at 9 pm and later on Thursdays at 8 pm and SBT on Wednesdays at 10 pm. Brazilians first saw Yo Soy Betty La Fea on RedeTV! in 2001 and its Mexican counterpart La Fea más Bella on SBT in 2006. in 2009, Bela, a Feia, the Brazilian version, on Rede Record.

Bulgaria

Nova Television aired Season 1 from October 19 to November 20, 2007. Season 2 was aired from November 11 to December 5, 2008. Season 3 was aired from December 1, 2009 to January 7, 2010. Repetitions of Season 1 and 2 are aired on Fox Life.

Canada

Citytv owns the English-language rights to the series, which aired in the same timeslot as the American broadcast till December 2009, when only the stations in Manitoba and British Columbia started airing it Wednesdays at 7 pm (same time as Eastern ABC where it would be 10 pm, aired earlier than US air in Manitoba), for Ontario and Alberta, OMNI simulcasts Betty Wednesdays at 10PM. HOWEVER, come March 2010, Citytv will be airing Ugly Betty across Canada due to the cancellation of The Jay Leno Show. Ugly Betty will air Wednesdays at 10 pm on Citytv just like how it is on ABC.^[69]Radio-Canada, the French language television arm of the CBC, owns the francophone rights. The French version, known as Chère Betty ("Dear Betty"), debuted in Quebec and in the rest of French-speaking Canada on April 7, 2008 at 8:00 pm local time, 9:00 pm AT.

Chile

The show premiered on Canal 13 (Chile) on July 4, 2008, at 11:30 pm (GMT −04)

Croatia

Season one started in October 31, 2007 on HRT, seson two are starting March 26, 2010. Croatian version was aired on RTL named Ne daj se, Ninabut it was cancelled due to low ratings.

Czech Republic

TV Prima began airing the show's first season on March 5, 2008.

Ecuador

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

Estonia

Kanal 2 has showed two seasons of Ugly Betty as Inetu Betty. season 3–4 on Foxlife

Finland

The show's third season runs on Nelonen Mondays at 8 pm as Ruma Betty, which literally means "Ugly Betty" in Finnish.

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.^[70][71]

Germany

This was the only country where Ugly Betty failed to connect with audiences. Sat.1 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 Sat.1 and was more popular with viewers than Betty. Since May 2010, sixx, a digital cable network for women owned by ProSiebenSat.1 is airing Ugly Betty under its original title. Sat.1 is giving Ugly Betty another chance as well with airing the show on Sunday afternoons starting August 8, 2010. In contrast to its premiere title which was Alles Betty (Everything Betty), the series will now be called Betty - Allein unter Models (Betty - Alone among models) when it airs on Sat.1.

Greece

ANT1 waited for the Greek version of "Betty la fea", Maria, i Aschimi, shown on the rival network Mega Channel to end on June 2008, and it started broadcasting the series a week after, on July 1, 2008 at 9.00 pm. The first episode got a 13.1% share. On July 8, 2009 at 7.00 pm, ANT1 will show season 3 of the series.

Hong Kong

Season one premiered on March 17, 2007 on TVB Pearl while the second season aired one year later, starting on April 14, 2008, on Monday nights at 10:35 pm, and ended on August 4, 2008. Season 3 will be premiering on April 20, on Monday nights at 9:35 pm. Season one is also available as a video on demand program on now TV.

Hungary

Season one premiered in March 2007 on RTL Klub at 7:00 pm Sunday, the show was titeled "Címlapstory" in English "Cover sstory" referring to the show often dealing with newspaper publishing. After the first couple of episodes, the show was removed to a time slot with fewer viewers at 5:30 pm. The first season was a huge failure, so the airing of the second season on RTL Klub is uncertain. Cabel Channel Sorozat+ (owned by the same company as RTL Klub) aired reruns of the 1st season in late 2009, then in spring 2010 another larger channel: Viasat3 aired new episodes (season 2 & 3) of the series. They also changed the title of the show from "Címlapsztori" to "Ki ez a lány?" in English "Who is this girl?".

India

Season One premiered in July 2007, on Star World at 9:00 pm every Wednesday evening. India had aired Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin. Indian fans believed that Jassi was the inspiration for the American adaptation of Betty, although Gaitan notes in interviews that the American version was inspired by the Colombian version.^[72] However, Jassi, despite being a success, did not last as long as Betty did.^[73]

Ireland

The European premiere took place on RTÉ Two on January 1, 2007. Season two again premiered on RTÉ Two on October 4, 2007. The second season returned after a break on March 24, 2008 at 8:05 pm. Season Three premiered on November 6, 2008, at 8:40 pm on RTÉ Two and finished on June 4, 2009. Season Four premiered on January 5, 2010 at 8:05 pm on RTE Two. Ugly Betty airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm on RTÉ Two

Israel

Season premiere aired in Israel in March 2, 2007 on Channel Israel 10. The rights were bought by the Israeli Cable Company Hot Telecom and has started during April 2008 the re-runs of season 1 which will be followed by season 2, broadcasting on Channel 3. The second season is broadcast these days parallelly on the Israeli Satellite television provider yes, channel yes Stars 2, on Wednesdays, 9:15 pm. The name of the series in Israel is only "Betty" (בטי).

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 one (episodes 1–14) aired from May until 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%. Second season started airing on July 2, 2008.

Japan

Season one started in October 1, 2007 and has been aired on NHK BS2 at 11:00 pm every Monday evening. Also re-run started in October 19, 2008 and has been aired on NHK Sohgoh at 1:20–2:05 am every Saturday midnight (actually Sunday).^[74] The Japanese title is as same as the original Ugly Betty though it is written in Japanese Katakana ("アグリー・ベティー"). Satellite and cable channel Super Drama TV have also picked up the show as Season One began airing in April 2008. Season two started in September 30, 2008 and has been aired on NHK BS2 at 11:00–11:45 pm every Tuesday evening.^[75]

Kuwait

ShowSeries airs Ugly Betty every Monday, and Fox Series will start showing the season starting August 2009.

Lebanon

ShowSeries airs Ugly Betty every Monday.

Latvia

TV3 began showing season one on March 5, 2008.

Lithuania

LNK, the same channel that aired Yo Soy Betty, la fea began airing the show on January 7, 2008.

Malaysia

8TV (Malaysia) began airing the show in 2007, and finished airing the second season on June 3, 2008. The third season has recently concluded on the July 21, 2009

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. Sony Entertainment Television started airing Ugly Betty in Mexico in May 2008.

Morocco

The show is currently being aired on 2M.

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. Lotte gained an audience of between 250,000 and 300,000 viewers, while Ugly Betty did better with a weekly audience of between 400,000 and 600,000 viewers. Since the third season began in the Netherlands the ratings started to decline, even with Desperate Housewives as lead-in. It now has an audience of between 250,000 and 350,000.

New Zealand

Season 3 aired at 5:30 on Sunday night on TV2 finishing on August 2, 2009. The show used to air at 7:30 on Sunday nights (Season 1–2) but TVNZ moved it. Season 4 is airing at 5.30 pm on Sundays, completing its run on June 27, 2010.

North Korea

The show is aired at private weekly meetings hosted by Kim Jong-Il's third son, Kim Jong-un.

Norway

The shows first three seasons aired on TV Norge, Wednesdays at 08:45 pm. It premiered in January 2008 and had 365,000 viewers. Season 4 was aired on FEM, Tuesdays at 8:00 pm.

Philippines

It is currently being shown on Studio 23 (which also aired Betty La Fea) and Star World. The Philippine version of Ugly Betty debuted on Studio 23's mother network ABS-CBN in September 2008, entitled I ♥ Betty La Fea. It features Bea Alonzo in the titular role as Betty and uses some of the elements from Ugly Betty in this adaptation.

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 two premiered on FoxLife on March 23, 2008 and currently airs on TVP2. The Polish version of Yo soy Betty, la fea premiered in October 2008 on TVN (Poland). The title of the show is BrzydUla (which translates into "Ugly Ula"; it is a portmanteau of the word "Brzydula" which is a polish word meaning an Ugly Woman and the name Ula, a popular polish nickname for the name "Urszula").

Portugal

It is airing both on national television (SIC) and on cable (Fox Life). The 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.

Puerto Rico

Season one was aired this year 2008 on WAPA-TV at 9:00 pm every Thursday evening, with repetitions on Sunday evenings at 10:00 pm. It is shown under the Spanish title "Betty, Mi Fea Bella" with Spanish voice actors providing the dubbing over the show's cast.

Romania

The show is broadcast by Acasă TV, the same channel that aired Yo Soy Betty, la fea. The show airs under thr e title Betty cea Urâtă din New York (Ugly Betty of New York).

Russia

The show airs on Channel One Russia and MTV Russia as "Дурнушка" (Durnushka) or "Plain Girl".

Singapore

MediaCorp's Channel 5 airs the series' second season on Thursday Nights at 10PM. The first season aired on Sunday nights in 2007.

Slovakia

Markíza began airing the show on January 12, 2008.

Slovenia

POP TV began airing the first season in September 2007. On September 8, 2008, the second season premiered. The third season was to premiere in September 2009, but did not. It is now rumored that it will premiere in January 2010.

South Africa

Ugly Betty premiered in South Africa on Pay Channel, M-Net on Tuesday July 17, 2007. It later was re-broadcast on sister channels, GO and M-Net Holiday. The first season fared well with audience's and was a hit for the channel with a strong buzz around the show. Due to heavy promotions for the show across all media spectrums by M-Net, the premiere episode of Ugly Betty attracted 80% more viewers than Smallville which previously occupied its time slot. M-Net marketing General Manager, Koo Govender, says the first episode was watched by about 432,000 viewers.^[76] Generally for its first season, Ugly Betty often generated 350 000 viewers with each airing, bringing in good ratings for the channel. Seasons 2 and 3 aired in the same timeslot as its premiere season; Tuesday evenings at 7:30 pm CAT, with Season 2 premiering on March 25, 2008. The channel recently premiered Season 3 on Tuesday January 13. In its third season the show still pulls in strong ratings similar to its premiere season keeping a consistent fan base. M-Net repeats the show on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm CAT.

Spain

Cuatro began airing the show on June 10, 2008. The premiere was delayed several months as competing channel Telecinco was airing the Spanish version of Betty, Yo Soy Bea.^[77] In addition to its run on Cuarto, the show also airs Cosmpolitan Television Espana.

Sweden

The show began airing November 7, 2006, on Kanal 5. The show always airs on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm. Season 2 aired the fall of 2007 and after half the season, on January 29, 2008, the first season of Gossip Girl aired. The rest of season 2 and season 3 aired in the spring of 2008 and the rest of season 3 is going to air in the fall of 2008.

Taiwan

Season One premiered February 6, 2009, on PTS 公共電視 channel at 11:00 pm from Monday to Friday.

Turkey

In Turkey Ugly Betty is broadcast on TNT every Saturday at 8:00 pm, as well as on ComedyMax

Ukraine

On Channel 1+1 at 4:00 pm every Sunday evening. In Ukraine Ugly Betty is named "American not beauty" (Ukrainian "Не краса по-американськи" [ne krasa po-amerykansky]).

United Kingdom

The premiere on Channel 4 on January 5, 2007 attracted 4.5 million viewers.^[78] Two weeks later, Ugly Betty hit a new high, with 5.5 million viewers watching the third episode.^[79]

The figures and shares were similar each week, 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.^[80] 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 U.S. airing.

The show went on hiatus from Friday December 12 due to the WGA strike, the last shown episode was Bananas for Betty. Season 2 resumed on September 5, 2008 at 9 pm with the episode "Zero Worship". Season 2 finished on Channel 4, the last episode being shown on Friday, October 17, 2008.

Season 3 started on Wednesday 24th June 2009 with "The Manhattan Project". The show aired on Wednesday nights up until Wednesday, September 30, 2009, and it has now been replaced by True Blood which now shows in its timeslot. Ugly Betty is now broadcasting on E4 on Tuesday nights at 9 pm, and on Channel 4 (standard and HD); on Monday nights at 10. Season 3's last episode The Fall Issue" was shown on Monday, December 7, 2009.

United States (Insular Territories and Overseas Military location)

In Guam, ABC affiliate KTGM airs the series twice a week, with the current original being shown on Thursdays at 9:00 pm (actually a same-day Wednesday night airing due to Guam being a day ahead of the United States) followed by a repeat during the week when a timeslot is available. They are the only ABC affiliate in the United States to air it twice.

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.

Venezuela

The show premiered on Sony Entertainment Television and now airs on Venevision on Sundays at 11:00 pm.

Vietnam

The show aired on VTV3 but cancelled after three-four episodes, later aired on VTV9; and on HTV2.

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.^[81]

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. These photos were edited to enhance her facial features. A 2009 calendar is scheduled to be issued in August 2008.^[82]

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.^[83]

In July 2009, Coca-Cola UK unveiled a special limited edition Diet Coke bottle created by Patricia Field called "The Betty" for sale in the United Kingdom as a exclusive for customers at Selfridges.^[84]

Reception

American ratings

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 makeup and costume but is ignored. Crista later reprised her Betty role in the poorly reviewed parody film Meet The Spartans.^[90]

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.^[91] Thanks to her performance in that parody, the producers cast White as a guest star in the second season.^[92]

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.^[93]

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.^[94] Hayek will also make a recurring appearance on 30 Rock in the third season.^[95]

In an episode of the TV sitcom Scrubs, Christopher Turk has a picture taken of "Ugly Betty" with his daughter, only for it to be torn up by best friend and main character John Dorian.

In March 2009, a spoof of Ugly Betty, called Ugly Yeti was made by Take180.^[96] Take180, like ABC, is a Disney company and the parody was featured on ABC's website.

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 program were included in the trailers. In mid-January, 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. 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 week leading up to the Sunday premiere of Ugly Betty, February 12 to 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.^[97]

New Zealand TV2 also hyped-up Ugly Betty by promoting Tuesday nights as "True Beauty Tuesday", and when the show moved to Sunday nights, it promoted them as "Beautiful Sunday". TV2 also launched competitions for a replica of Betty's poncho.

Cultural impact

Ever since the show's debut, the main characters, especially the title character, have quickly become the latest fixtures in the lexicon of pop media culture, and already they found their way onto parodies, news media stories and art-imitating-life situations. 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.^[98] 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.^[99] 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. Gay awareness groups like GLAAD have also noted the positive impact the show has had regarding Betty's teenaged nephew Justin, who realizes that he is gay.

Awards and nominations

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.^[100]

Ugly Betty won the Outstanding Comedy Series award by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in April 2007.^[101] Judith Light also won a Prism Award for her portrayal as Claire Meade.

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),^[102] 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).^[103] For its second season, it received six other Primetime Emmy Award nominations, going home empty handed. Overall, Ugly Betty has been nominated for eighteen Emmy Awards.

Although The NAACP Image Awards honors African Americans in the entertainment industry, the series has won five of the Image Awards' eight major TV categories, a rarity among television series with a multicultural cast. In addition to winning an Image award for the TV series in 2007 and Ferrera for best actress in 2008, Vanessa Williams has won back to back honors (in 2007 and 2008) in the Supporting Actress category for her portrayal of Wilhelmina Slater.

The ALMA Awards honors the Hispanic entertainment community. During its first season, Ugly Betty won four of its first seven nominations and in the second season took home three more, along with a Chevrolet Entertainer of the Year Award for Ferrera for her work on the show. Overall the series has received 162 nominations.

See also

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

References

1. ^ "Ugly Betty" Finale Set for April , Zap2It.com, February 4, 2010
2. ^ "Ugly Betty" Gets a Prettier Time Slot, Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2009
3. ^ "Ugly Betty" Moving to Wednesday, Variety.com, December 1, 2009
4. ^ "Ugly Betty" Canceled By ABC, USA Today, January 27, 2010
5. ^ Snead, Elizabeth (2010-03-21). "America Ferrera on "Ugly Betty: The Movie"?!!". zap2it. http://blog.zap2it.com/thedishrag/2010/03/america-ferrera-on-ugly-betty-the-movie.html. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
6. ^ Hernandez, Lee (2010-04-14). "Ana Ortiz on the End of "Ugly Betty": There May Be a Movie!". Latina.com. http://www.latina.com/blogs/vivo-por-tivo/ana-ortiz-end-ugly-betty-there-may-be-movie. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
7. ^ Exclusive: "Ugly Betty" Set to End Its ABC Run This Spring, Variety, January 27, 2010
8. ^ "Ugly Betty Canceled by ABC". UsMagazine.com. http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic/news/abc-cancels-ugly-betty-2010271.
9. ^ "Ugly Betty" Cancelled in the U.S., BBC News, January 28, 2010
10. ^ "Ugly Betty Show Ends, Is A Movie Next?". RTT News. April 16, 2010. http://www.rttnews.com/Content/EntertainmentNews.aspx?Section=2&Id=1271950&SM=1. Retrieved April 16, 2010.
11. ^ The Futon Critic
12. ^ From Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (April 21, 2008)
13. ^ The Futon Critic
14. ^ The Futon Critic, July 14, 2006
15. ^ From ABC medianet, October 13, 2006
16. ^ From The Futon Critic (2007-03-21)
17. ^ From AHN (June 5, 2007)
18. ^ From E!Online
19. ^ From YouTube (Posted November 25, 2007)
20. ^ From TV Guide (February 11, 2008)
21. ^ From Reuters.com (February 12, 2008)
22. ^ From TV Guide (February 13, 2008)
23. ^ From Contact music (April 24, 2008)
24. ^ From TV Guide (February 11, 2008)
25. ^ From ew.com (February 20, 2008)
26. ^ ABC Announces Scripted Show Renewals
27. ^ From The Futon Critic (March 12, 2008)
28. ^ From The Futon Critic (April 18, 2008)
29. ^ From TV Guide (May 6, 2008)
30. ^ http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2008/05/22/news/top_stories/news12.txt
31. ^ From TV Guide (May 8, 2008)
32. ^ From Ugly Betty News (March 2, 2009)
33. ^ "Calif. OKs $500M Tax Credit for Hollywood" from The Wrap (February 19, 2009)
34. ^ ABC Puts "Ugly Betty" On Hold, E! Online, January 26, 2009
35. ^ "Betty" Bopped, The TV Zone, January 27, 2009
36. ^ [1]
37. ^ Cancellation? Becki Newton Says It's Just An "Ugly Betty" Rumor, New York Daily News, February 17, 2009
38. ^ [2]
39. ^ "ABC hands out early pickups; 'Ugly Betty,' 'Grey's,' 'Lost' make the cut" From Variety (April 23, 2009)
40. ^ ABC Announces Early Pick-Ups for Next Season, The Futon Critic, April 23, 2009
41. ^ ABC Defends Moving "Ugly Betty" to Friday, Entertainment Weekly, May 19, 2009
42. ^ ABC's Official Sked Welcomes "V", Moves "Betty", Says Adieu to "Who?", TV Guide, May 19, 2009
43. ^ Why ABC's "Ugly Betty" Move Makes Sense, Zap2It.com, May 19, 2009
44. ^ ABC Puts "Ugly Betty" In An Ugly Timeslot, Business Insider, May 19, 2009
45. ^ TV Guide Network Acquires "Ugly Betty", Broadcasting & Cable, July 24, 2009
46. ^ "Ugly Betty" May Steal "Eastwick" Time Slot from "Lost", E! Online, November 10, 2009
47. ^ AfterElton Reports That "Ugly Betty"'s Move to Wednesdays is Confirmed, TV By the Numbers, November 10, 2009
48. ^ "See ya: 'Ugly Betty' moving to Wednesdays" from EW.com (December 1, 2009)
49. ^ "Ugly Betty Moving To Wednesday, 10pm" from TV By The Numbers (December 1, 2009)
50. ^ Variety, October 9, 2006
51. ^ From World Screen.com (2007-05-21)
52. ^ From "People en Espanol" (April 17, 2007)
53. ^ From Brand Republic (September 11, 2007)
54. ^ Garcia, Maria Antonia (January 24, 2007). "'Ugly Betty's' TV Triumph is Colombia's Shame", El Tiempo. Retrieved on April 27, 2008.
55. ^ Claustro, Lisa (December 6, 2007). "'Ugly Betty' Not Welcome in Colombia?", BuddyTV. Retrieved on April 27, 2008.
56. ^ "MeeVee Interviews Ugly Betty Creator Silvio Horta". Retrieved on April 27, 2008.
57. ^ "Ugly Betty" Heads to TV Guide Network, Hollywood Reporter, July 23, 2009
58. ^ From tvshowsondvd.com
59. ^ From tvshowsondvd.com
60. ^ From Amazon.co.uk
61. ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/804115 UB S2 R4 DVD Release
62. ^ from tvshowsondvd.com (March 13, 2009)
63. ^ http://www.sanity.com.au/products/2152432/Ugly_Betty_S3 UBS03 DVD R4
64. ^ Ugly Betty - Get Ugly on DVD One Last Time with The Complete 4th and Final Season, TVShowsonDVD.com, April 2, 2010
65. ^ From ebroadcast.com (2007-02-19)
66. ^ From ebroadcast.com.au (July 3, 2007)
67. ^ From Tv Tonight (April 23, 2008)
68. ^ From the Seven Network Australia (October 23, 2009)
69. ^ http://www.channelcanada.com/Article3971.html
70. ^ From Community.livejournal.com/uglybetty (February 7, 2008)
71. ^ MySpace.com – SériesTV Magazine – 80 – Garçon – Paris, FR – www.myspace.com/seriestvmagazine
72. ^ From Variety.com
73. ^ From ibnlive.com (August 4, 2006)
74. ^ http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kaigai/uglybetty/
75. ^ http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kaigai/uglybetty2/index.html
76. ^ From Questioning The Concept of Beauty (August 17, 2007)
77. ^ From World Screen (January 17, 2007)
78. ^ The Guardian, January 8, 2007
79. ^ The Guardian, January 22, 2007
80. ^ The Guardian, June 11, 2007
81. ^ From Write Away (September 14, 2007)
82. ^ From community.livejournal.com/uglybetty (June 21, 2008)
83. ^ From Community.livejournal.com/uglybetty (February 7, 2008)
84. ^ From Whats On TV (July 9, 2009)
85. ^ http://www.606studios.com/bendisboard/showthread.php?t=114628
86. ^ http://televisionista.blogspot.com/2008/06/tv-ratings-2007-2008-season-top-200.html
87. ^ ^{a b c} http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=051909_05
88. ^ http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/10/ugly-betty-season-premiere-makeover-postponed-a-week.html UBS04Post
89. ^ http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/full-series-rankings-for-the-2009-10-broadcast-season/
90. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (2007-04-29). "How YouTube Helped LisaNova Start Her Career". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/arts/television/29wall.html?ex=1183953600&en=96039ab2953175b5&ei=5070. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
91. ^ From www.towerload.com April 2007
92. ^ Breaking News – Betty White to Guest Star on ABC's "Ugly Betty" TheFutonCritic.com
93. ^ The Futon Critic, October 27, 2006
94. ^ From imdb.com (30 Rock)
95. ^ "Hayek Delighted With 30 Rock Role" From imdb.com (October 11, 2008)
96. ^ Ugly Yeti on YouTube
97. ^ From Bizcommunity.com (August 18, 2007)
98. ^ http://solis.house.gov (2007-01-17)
99. ^ "The Time 100". Time. May 3, 2007. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1595332_1616652,00.html. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
100. ^ From The Futon Critic (2007-04-04)
101. ^ GLAAD press release
102. ^ From www.emmys.com
103. ^ From EMMY.org (September 9, 2007)

External links

• Ugly Betty at the Internet Movie Database
• Ugly Betty at TV.com
• Ugly Betty at TV Guide
• MODE Magazine online Official spinoff website for the show
• Betty Suarez's blog, "Be Inspired", as written by the series' writers
• Ugly Betty Wiki

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 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 27, 2006)
• from Seattle Post-Intelligencer (September 28, 2006)
• "Ugly, The American" from Time (November 27, 2006)
• "Be Ugly '07" campaign announced in USA Today (December 20, 2006)
• Articles from TV Addict

Categories: Ugly Betty | 2006 American television series debuts | 2010 American television series endings | 2000s American comedy television series | 2010s American comedy television series | American Broadcasting Company network shows | American comedy-drama television series | American television series based on telenovelas | Television series by Buena Vista Television | Fashion-themed television series | Journalism-themed television series | Television shows set in New York City | Television series by Reveille Productions | Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe winners | Peabody Award winners | American LGBT-related television programs

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