That color brings out your ... glasses.
SHOW: Ugly Betty
NOW SHOWING: Season 4 premieres Friday, October 16 at 9 p.m.
AIRS: Fridays at 9 p.m., ABC
WHY YOU MIGHT LOVE IT: Who wouldn't love to watch a brace-faced, four-eyed, mismatched nice girl work her way up the ladder at a fashion magazine? Betty is the best kind of underdog.
WHY YOU MIGHT HATE IT: Most of the clothes are campy, most of the acting is overdone, and most of the premise is superficial. It's kind of like "The Devil Wears Prada" -- in technicolor.
THE PREMISE: Our heroine, Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), sports glasses, braces, multi-patterned clothing, a big smile, a kind heart, and an honest work ethic. In Season 1, she nabbed an assistant spot at MODE, a prestigious NYC fashion magazine, because of her less-than-runway-ready looks. She's been working there ever since -- much to the chagrin of her bitchy co-workers. Meanies include MODE Creative Director Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams), her assistant Marc St. James (Michael Urie), receptionist Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton), and almost everyone else she meets on the job. She does, however, have loyal friends in Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius), heir apparent to the MODE throne, and Henry Grubstick (Christopher Gorham), an accountant she has a crush on. Betty also has a tight family, including father Ignacio (Tony Plana), sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz), and nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: In Season 1, Betty was hired as Editor-in-Chief Daniel's assistant -- he was a notorious womanizer who needed an unattractive assistant to stay focused. She dealt with her new life at MODE and began to date Henry while Daniel hooked up with various women and Creative Director Wilhelmina plotted to overthrow him. But in Season 2, Henry moved to Tucson to help his ex-girlfriend raise her baby, so Betty dated Gio (Freddy Rodriguez), a deli worker. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina decided to steal Daniel's late father Bradford's (Alan Dale) sperm and combine them with her eggs in a surrogate to form a Meade-blooded child -- and thus gain control of the Meade magazine empire. The Meade family fired Wilhelmina for, well, being wack, and Daniel was demoted to Editor-in-Chief of a smaller publication. On to Season 3! Alexis (Rebecca Romijn), MODE's new Editor-in-Chief and Daniel's evil brother-turned-sister (hello, sex change operation!) re-hired Wilhelmina in as Creative Director, and Daniel returned triumphant as Editor-in-Chief when Alexis went to jail. Another love interest for Betty -- Matt -- entered the picture, and the couple considered moving in together. The company took an economic turn for the worse when the CFO, Connor (Grant Bowler) ran off with all of MODE's money, so Matt's father agreed to fund the magazine, eventually appointing Claire (Judith Light), Daniel's mother, as Creative Director. Wilhelmina became Claire's subordinate. When we last saw the UB crew, Matt had broken things off with Betty after Henry had returned and kissed her, Wilhelmina had a surprise visitor, and every other character had his or her own set of thoroughly-tangled problems.
As the title implies, Betty is the focal point of the show, and her love life is the focal point for fans. Metaphorically speaking, Henry is Betty's Mr. Big and Matt is her Aidan (Matt is a really nice guy, but Henry is her true love). Fans are also loyal to the story of Betty and Daniel's friendship, which has grown deeply as the show has progressed. Despite their differing backgrounds and personalities, they've developed a trust that has outlasted the tenuous connections and faux-friendships whirling around the MODE office.
Ugly Betty's over-the-top, drama-heavy plots can be attributed to its past: The show is based on Betty la fea, a Colombian telenovela. Salma Hayek is one of the producers of the American version of the show.
Comments (10)
I don't mind if Betty's clothes are campy. It's much better than clownish. They went overboard last season with some of her outfits. "Devil Wears Prada in Technicolor." LOL.Matt =Aiden? Interesting...but I can't say I see the comparison there. This show just seems so different now. I miss Alexis! I miss Gio ( I just want to see Freddy Rodriguez)! But I'm glad Betty seems to be a little more polished. I think it's nice that she can look together but still wear odd clashing ensembles. It shows she's growing, but staying true to herself.
A little picture-comparison between the shows:http://nena84.livejournal.com/14759.html
I agree with you guys about Gio and Aidan being the same! I noticed this back in Season 2. Gio being the guy who was so right for her, so sure of who he was and always there for her, and she took him for granted. Then it was so romantic when he said, I don't want to be the rebound guy. I want to be the guy. Everything about their relationship reminded me of Aidan and Carrie. Of course, Carrie broke my heart when she rejected Aidan and I was so hopeful that this time everything would work out for Betty and Gio. After all, she was so excited when he asked her to go to Rome. (And she was at least considering sleeping with him there, as evidenced by what she said to her father on the subject, so don't tell me those were just platonic feelings she was responding to). Then after showing that she was developing a romantic interest in him at the end of Season 2, they took it all back in Season 3. They even had the big You broke my heart scene between Gio and Betty, same as Aiden and Carrie had eventually had. Gio was caring, charming, kicked Betty's butt when she needed to step outside her box, but always encouraged her and went out of the way to be there for her, same as Aiden. Matt is insecure, spoiled (how many careers has he had and then just dropped when he got bored with them?), unpleasant (show me an instant on the most recent episode when he wasn't mean and self-absorbed, putting his own selfishness and petulance above his responsibility to the magazine) and whiny. If this was supposed to be "cute" they missed the mark by a long shot. In the first season, I really identified with Betty, her aspirations and her attraction to Henry. In the second season, when Gio pushed her out of her comfort zone I identified with her even more and wanted Gio for her so badly. When she just blithely forgot she'd ever been attracted to him and (puke) actually got romantic feelings for Matt, she totally lost me. She turned into somebody I couldn't relate to and wouldn't want to. I've pretty much given up on hoping Gio would show up again, thought that's what I'd really want to see, but at least please don't let her wind up with that loser Matt. By the way, to this day, there are still a number of fan fiction stories and fan videos being posted online about Gio and Betty fairly constantly by a wide variety of people, whereas there are hardly any about Matt and Betty, despite the fact that Matt's around all the time and Gio's been gone for a year. So don't tell me Matt and Betty are anyone's idea of a popular love pairing. He is her least appealing match-up to date, even worse than Walter.moreless
I agree with Beatrice, there is no way that Matt compares to Aidan. I also see Gio being like Aidan. In my opinion, Gio/Aidan were "the guys", the ones that Betty/Carrie should have ended up with. However, both were taken advantage of because Betty/Carrie are spoiled idiots who don't care if they go around crushing the hearts of good men. Matt seems like someone similar to Daniel that they made up so they can eventually make Daniel and Betty get together (ewwww). But whatever, this show can do what they want, I can't watch anymore because when I do I end up angry and want to reach through the screen and slap Betty in her stupid, ugly face.
I can't believe you dared to write that Matt Hartley is anywhere near compared to Aidan. Did you actually saw the episodes of "Sex and The City" and "Ugly Betty"? Giovanni Rossi was obviously created to look like Aidan. I mean 100%. He had a great following and we even discussed about the similarities between Ugly Betty and SATC. While Henry was meant to be a cross-star lover, Gio Rossi was the guy that made Betty's life easier and who challenged her. Who worked in a blue-collar field, who had dreams and enjoyed life as much as he was devoted to her. He was the character that wanted to be The Guy and be someone else that Betty wasn't ready for and ended up breaking her heart (just like Carrie did to Aiden -even the same scenes). Matt Hartley (if anything) resembles to Alexander just because he's rich and dates many women (remember The Sex Issue?). The character is so bland, insecure and unappealing to the audiences that I still don't know what Horta and the writers tried to bring when they created him. He's nothing compared to Gio AND Henry who are the popular characters that fans are still rooting for and had AMAZING following. Specially Gio who made people show season 2 all over the world and had people waiting for season 3 until they aired that awful premiere making fans abandon the show when they came with those crazy new-ideas. They want ratings up? Bring Gio back!moreless
Surprised it has lasted this long.
good
Finally UB is back I was afraid ABC forgot about it. I sure am looking forward to the new season.
Never saw it...
XO XO
:):):):)
God, i love this show! And i'm so torn between Henry and Matt. Though i think if Henry's not gonna be around, then Betty should definitely move on and get serious with Matt, assuming he eventually takes her back.