Lockdown, Lowdown… Ringside Report Looks Back at the TV Show Ugly Betty – Entertainment News

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Up until that point in my life I had never encountered a person named after a country. That it would be someone called America was never a surprise, but perhaps the surprise was that we got introduced to America Ferrara and her teeth. Adorning the publicity stills were the railroad tracks or braces across the smile she had as Ugly Betty was announced.

And we loved her.

A bright, intelligent and emotionally intelligent woman from an ethnically diverse background, in a home filled with issues and things that frequently did go wrong, Betty was PA to Daniel Meade. The Meade Organization was at the forefront of American and specifically New York fashion. They were a magazine for those and such as those and Betty did not fit their profile – any of their profiles – readership, influencers or staff. But she was the best one of the bunch of misfits.

Over 4 seasons and a huge 85 episodes this was without a doubt, one of the funniest televisual examinations of the fashion industry in the US. Not as camp and visceral as Zoolander but so funny.
An ABC production it has spawned an industry in itself of adaptations and spin offs but the original TV series, was divine. Running from 2006 until 2010, and yet its influence feels so much longer, it is based on the telenovela, Yo soy Betty, la fea by Fernando Gaitán. Stories are developed around Betty Suarez, played by Ferrara, who is employed at the fashion magazine, Mode. Along with the teeth, there is a lack of style from the chin down so the premise of someone so unfashionable working within the industry sets us up quite nicely.

The first series and the pilot were eagerly anticipated as the Hispanic community especially was needed to get on board. This was taking a much-loved character and fleshing them for the screen. With some work in the preview market on cable channels the show was greenlit and began with a decent return for the network on viewing figures. By season three and scheduling changes it was beginning to struggle for an audience, so nobody, apart from the supporters and fans of the show, were shocked when the fourth series was announced as the final one.

Perhaps the most admirable part of the show was not onscreen but when, in 2007, the entire cast joined the writer’s strike picket lines as well as recording a supportive video.

Though such solidarity was to be applauded there were some of the usual tensions behind the scenes and cast changes followed writers being let go. There was also the Ugly Betty Bill in California when the decision was taken to film series three back in New York City rather than Los Angeles where the second season had been shot. This was partly due to the tax breaks offered by the City of New York. Florida’s Governor of the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger got a bill passed to stop that happening again. Now, that is some kind of restrictive practice from a Republican Governor who believes in freedom…

As for the plotlines, Suarez was joined in her day job as PA by Daniel played by Eric Mabius, a rich playboy unable to settle at times and totally reliant on Suarez for almost everything. He is the son of the owners Bradford played by Australian Alan Dale, and Alexis played by Rebecca Romijn. At the beginning, Daniel is the editor in chief as his father’s mistress, and previous editor, Fey Sommers has died. Betty and Daniel form an unlikely friendship: Daniel would usually sleep with his assistants, the quirky Suarez was perhaps seen as too quirky even for him, as they navigate their treacherous fashionable world. That included having to deal with the vindictive Wilhelmina Slater played by Vanessa Williams, her faithful assistant Marc St James played by Michael Urie, and the receptionist Amanda Tanen played by Becki Newton. Both Marc and Amanda are constantly mocking Betty and this makes us sympathize all the more for Betty.

Betty has a support network at home in her father Ignacio, played by the brilliant Tony Plana, her hilarious sister, Hilda played by Ana Ortiz, and nephew Justin played by Mark Indelicato. At work however Scottish seamstress Christina McKinney played by Ashley Jensen is a massive Betty support. That was particularly sweet because it was a Scottish actress who actually played her, and Jensen comes from an island I could see from my bedroom window growing up!

By the end of the fourth season the power dynamic had moved with Betty becoming the editor of the magazine before moving to London and finding herself in need of a personal assistant. The final scene sees her with a familiar face in need of a job asking for that very post that at one point he gave her.

We never got to see how that would work out because by that time ratings had fallen way below where a fifth series would be considered. Nevertheless, since then it has attracted a massive fan base and cult following.

But the devil was not in Prada but the detail. Brilliant mini storylines helped the narrative arc with such considerations as finding out how Fey died? What happened to Daniel’s brother, Alex? Who ended up in prison and how did they escape? Who came out? Why did Betty have a choice between a deli and an accountant? Did Wilhelmina make it to the altar in time? Did Christina take the two timing, dying ex husband back? What did they do to Betty White? Was Lindsay Lohan really a series regular? Did Ignacio get deported? Did Hilda find love in a gym bag? Who did Molly’s death affect the most – wait – who was Molly? Did Amanda find daddy, or did she Kiss and make up?

It was these plot twists that kept you coming back and made it seem close to the original which worked round cliffhangers. The Colombians were not so sure and it did not go down well in home territory. The ending at least, at least close to the original. In the telenovela, Betty has unrequited love for her boss. In this televisual version we saw Daniel realize that he needed a Betty in his life, and what was better than keeping the original? It left us wondering if they would ever find each other and that was just right. It was not to be a love story but a friendship that managed to get beyond the fatality of any attraction to the series. It was a mutual stand against the world and here we had the best ending possible…

Mind you…

Maybe series five would be worthwhile after all…

British television is a curious affair. Begun through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) it is funded through the universal license fee. In essence, if you wanted to watch the television, you had to pay the license fee. The BBC got it all and is state run, albeit at arms-length. Then came along commercial television in the form of Independent Television (ITV) in 1955. Designed to bring a bit of competition to the BBC, it was paid for through advertising but still free to air… well they didn’t add another license fee to it. By the time that I was born, 1965, there was BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. And that was it. It was still years before Bruce Springsteen would moan that there were 55 channels and nothing on but here in the UK, we kept this going until, in 1982, we added a fourth channel and in 1997, a fifth. With sparkling imagination, they were called Channel Four and ehm Channel Five… In between came Sky and we understood what Springsteen meant. And so, my childhood and leading up to early adulthood we had three options… But the programs made were exceptionally good. And so, here is some critical nostalgia as the lockdown has brought a plethora of reruns, new formats and platforms and old classics trying to make their way back into our consciousness as broadcasters flood their schedules with classics… or are they classics at all? Let me take you through an armchair critics’ view of what we have to see, to find out… Welcome to the Lockdown Lowdown…

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