Ouch! Is this show DOA?

It certainly sounds like it.

I surely hope this show does ok-I've been looking forward to the American version for quite a while now. Hopefully, it's just the reviewer didn't understand what it's supposed to be about.
I haven't seen Yo Soy Betty, Le Fea but I have seen a few episodes of the Mexican version, and most of the first year and the final year of the Hindi version Jaisi Jassi Koi Nahin and this can't be any worse than Joey for heavens sake!

Betty le Fea is my favorite novela of All Time, but I just can't imagine it working in American/Canadian TV.

Betty was angry, and very aware of who she was -- and it wasn't played for laughs. The cute boy didn't see the real Betty, her bosses didn't value her on her work, she was never transformed, none of the tropes you'd associate with a Lifetime movie or Very Special Episode of this sort.

I cannot conceive of a American drama that addresses an ugly woman with respect or dignity or any sort of depth. (You see glimpses of it on soaps, of course, because the medium is so elastic and temporal. Prime time is something else.) Even cops and CSIs look like cover girls on American TV.

But I welcome the effort and I hope I'm wrong.

Not to give away anything, but Betty was ultimately transformed indeed, and it was a huge deal. They may "soften" some aspects, but it's pretty much an ugly duckling story, and that's a proven formula.

Now the Hindi version went downhill fast after the transformation and got really stupid a few months later. Jassi (Betty) masqueraded as a widow, was thrown in jail for murder, married the boss, had to prove she wasn't married to someone else, had a miscarriage, and an illegitimate child that wasn't her husband's (but instead belonged to someone who pretended to be the boss to get the girl in bed) figured in to the looong drawn out ending) I don't think an American version can touch the down right silliness of the final months of Jaisi Jassi Koi Nahin. So as long as Ugly Betty doesn't devolve to this level, I'll keep watching as long as it's on.

There used to be a clip on YouTube showing what ABC presented in the upfronts for Betty. At the least, this one looks like a lot of fun for a few episodes (though, the premise is challenging, especially if there's no ending planned).

Ah, cool ABC has the clip on their website. It looks like the kind of show that could be a sleeper if marketed properly.

For some reason I want a tacky poncho with "Guadalahara" printed across the front now.

That would be so boss. Need it.

Interesting, according to this tv critics loved this show. I think they're wrong. Although moving this show after Desperate Housewives seems like a good idea. I'd rather watch this show than Brothers & Sisters incredibly enough. At least with this show it'd make for some decent snark.

No.

No.

Please tell me they're not doing this. Please. Oh my God. Why is every country latching on to this idea? What's so special about it? I know Colombians who are embarrassed by this show, and now everyone's doing it. And each version is worse than the one before. They even had a cartoon!

Just... die, Betty. Please.

I never watched the original version and the only remake I know is the German one. I usually don't like soap operas but this one I love. It just has its own charm.

The German Betty - Lisa - is a very funny and lovely character. And her love interest starts out as a big jerk but very soon turns out to be a total dork. If the US version is anything like that, I know I'll love it. I have to say, if it's continously anything like the trailer on the ABC website, I'll love it.

NBC Looks Best On Buzzmeter Web Study

Thefutoncritic and TvSquad hated it, other blogs like the Televisionary and Alan Sepinwal liked it so I think it is really going to be one that divides viewers.

I think it will actually do pretty well, however I have absolutely no intention of watching it unless something happens that changes my mind drastically.

Aw. America Ferrera is Betty? No wonder I thought she looked familiar in that clip that ABC has on its site. Just for that, I want this show to get spectacular ratings. Spectacular.

I'm currenty watching the Mexican "version" of this show (I surround version with quotes because it's more a story based on Betty La Fea but it's geared more as a comedy than anything else) and am lovin' it.

I too don't know if American audiences will latch on to this story but with America Ferrera in it? Man, I'm so in.

I had no idea this was a remake of a television show. I thought they'd somehow managed to squeeze a show out of The Devil Wears Prada!

It's moving to Thursdays at 8pm.

That sucks. I guess it means they feel it's good enough to stand the competition, but that puts it against two shows I already watch. I was looking forward to seeing this Friday 8 (or recording it), but now I don't think I'll see it at all unless they re-air it over the weekend or on ABC Family.

Why is this in Dramas? It's a comedy according to ABC.

I'll move it.

I'm really looking forward to this show. I think that the success of The Devil Wears Prada is probably adding to this show's buzz. I think that the Thursday move will be good for it, and shows a lot of confidence.

Of course, yeah. Bummer that Survivor is mandated viewing in my household. Looks like I'm going to have to record this on the upstairs TV, since there will be no tearing the male half of my household away from Survivor.

I'm guessing the move had to do with the lack of faith in Big Day and Notes from the Underbelly as much as confidence in Betty.

I'll give the producers credit for casting a not conventionally pretty girl like America Ferrera as Betty as opposed to a generic hot girl just dressed up as ugly like some movies do. Of course in my case this works against the show.

I think it is an interesting concept. I'll give it a few episodes to see how it plays out.

They would have to ugly up AF since in no way is she ugly.

I was looking forward to this, but they are putting it against The Office! Nothing beats The Office for me, unfortunately.

I'll watch it. I've stopped watching Smallville, I don't like My Name is Earl or The Office, I dislike Survivor and the FOX sitcoms look horrible.

I'm glad this thread was moved to the comedy section. Thanks Glark!

Ditto. I think ABC shot itself in the foot with this move. They may have confidence in the show but you have Survivor on CBS and then My Name is Earl and The Office on NBC, which are leading into Studio 60. Sorry, but that's not going to work. Plus, it does have a Devil Wears Prada thing but you can only carry that for so long before it gets tired.

Studio 60 got moved to Monday nights.

I'm kind of on the fence. If done well, this show could have an audience, but there are so many ways this could go bad. I like America Ferrara so I hope to see this succeed for her sake. To me, the previews reminded me of that show with Sara Rue, the name which escapes me at the moment.

I'm confused! I thought this show was just a half-hour sitcom?! But it's listed on the ABC website as an hour-long drama.

It's a comedy in the way that Ally McBeal or Desperate Housewives are comedies -- which is to say, not at all a comedy in the way we've thought of comedies for almost all of television history. But the preview clip did look pretty funny, so I'm hoping this falls closer on the comedy side of the dramedy spectrum.

(And this discussion makes me feel like a theater critic in 17th century France. "He calls that a tragedy? Nobody died at the end!" I guess dramedy is no uglier a word than tragicomedy.)

(And I have to say, the preview looks promising to me. This is definitely going on my DVR list (which is easy for me, since I abandoned Survivor a long time ago)).

Can anyone confirm if this is titled "Betty the Ugly" or "Ugly Betty?" I've seen it listed both ways, even on ABC's own website.

As for the scheduling issue, I think moving it to Thursday was a bad idea. I would have at least tried it on Fridays (because I have no life). But there is absolutely no way I would give up The Office or My Name Is Earl to watch this.

In the commercials on ABC they call it "Ugly Betty".

I am looking forward to this just because of America Fererra. I loved her so much in Real Women have Curves, haven't caught that Traveling Pants movie yet. I'm hoping it's successful just for her sake :).

I believe that it was originally titled Betty the Ugly and a couple of weeks ago ABC decided to rename it Ugly Betty. So, as of now, it's official title is Ugly Betty.

I get the feeling this show is going to have a lot of "Someone does something mean to Betty, Betty gets her feelings hurt, audiences feels bad for Betty" stuff.

That could get old fast. It's kinda like Urkel.

That was on for like 10 years.

That is pretty much the premise of the show.

I, like a lot of folks, am looking forward to it because of America. She was geat in "Real Women have Curves", I am glad ABC took a chance on the show and her. I hope it does well. I work Thursday nights, but I hope they put it on iTunes or I will record it.

Yes, and it got old on that show too.

Aw, I would have thought that this thread would end up in "Dramas".

Anyway, Marc is up for "Redemptive Character in a Sucky Show" in the Tubeys--even though I don't think UB is a sucky show, go vote!

I didn't watch season three, so can someone tell me if they ended up uniting Henry/Betty and/or revealed that Charlie used soap opera trickery to trick Henry into thinking he was her child's father?

Actually, those questions were answered in Season 2. Betty and Henry tried to make it work as a couple, even though they found out for sure that it was Henry's baby, and he was planning to move back to Arizona to help raise the child. They broke up after Charlie had the baby in NY, and then Betty started seeing Gio. In the S2 finale, Henry comes back and proposes to Betty; but Gio asked her to go to Europe with him. We didn't know who she picked until the Season 3 premiere--she rejected both offers.

So no trickery from Charlie, and Betty and Henry didn't stay together.

Betty started dating a guy named Matt in the latest season. She saw Henry again and they agreed that they would always be a little bit in love with each other, but they both needed to move on. Unfortunately, Matt didn't like the sound (or look) of that and dumped her.

They have a very friendly vibe as of now, but I really hope they get back on track for a Daniel-Betty pairing. I shipped them pretty hard back in the day.

Spoiler: Silvio apparently stated he has no plans to do a Betty/Daniel romantic pairing. Which has a few of us pissed.

They should have done that sooner, if they had no plans on ever pulling the trigger on Henry/Betty (since season two had, with it's various Betty/Henry scenes, the looming sense that they only brought Henry back because of fan response and didn't want the character around, hence them introducing and shoving Gio down fans throats in season two as a replacement for Henry). As it stands, it could still be done (so long as the attraction begins on Daniel's end as far as him falling for Betty) but at this point, it would require a lot of work to make it happen and come off as being the natural extension of their friendship.

I wouldn't care for a Daniel/Betty pairing at all. It would just be so trite and cliched if they got together. That's one thing I've always appreciated about Ugly Betty - rather than create a predictable romantic relationship, unrequited or otherwise, between Betty and Daniel, the show effectively made Betty Daniel's best friend instead. That dynamic is infinitely more interesting, especially since most people don't seem to believe that opposite sex platonic relationships are viable in the long term.

I see Daniel and Betty as a brother/sister thing (sometimes mother/son from the way she coddles him). But, I just don't see a romantic thing ever. I think in some of the telenovela versions, they ended up together, but I think this version has gone in a way that would make it odd.

Oh, I saw Mark Indelicato (Justin) on an episode of the Suite Life on Disney and he gayed it up about 10 times more than on this show, if that is possible. Still cute and funny though. I hope Justin gets a story this year. Anything to get away from what I fear will be an awful story with Hilda and the mob.

A pairing of Betty/Daniel would work if only because they've made a big point about creating a realistic human connection between the two, as opposed to the original telenovela "ugly girl falls for handsome guy" situation where the entire relationship was based upon telenovela Betty's dream of snaring her prince charming.

Granted, you'd also need Daniel to make the first move, since as xander874 stated, Betty sees Daniel more of a platonic "brother" while Daniel, who's gone through a slew of failed relationships, could conceivably start to see Betty as his soulmate since she sees him as a human being who can do good and doesn't care about his wealth or power, as opposed to how other women in his life see him as just another rich kid who could (in theory) further their careers and who don't give a fuck about Daniel's emotional problems of being treated as the unfavorite by his family all of his life, and how that affected him to become the giant slacker he was before he met Betty.

ITA with you Rollins316. I watched the original telenovela, the Brazilian, Mexican and some other versions before and with the American version, I've been happy to see that Betty and Daniel's relationship is completely on a different level from past versions. They have already developed a pretty strong bond and I, personally, have been waiting to see them together. I really do want them to end together.

I'm not really sure if Betty sees Daniel like 'a brother' . I don't think either of them has been able to define their relationship yet. However, I agree that it all should start with Daniel's initiative and he should be the first one to realize Betty is 'the one'. I know it may sound cheesy to some but, for me, the whole point of Ugly Betty has always been a potential Daniel&Betty relationship. The prospect of it makes me excited, so the prospect of a different direction other than a Daniel/Betty pairing leaves me cold.

I think if the writers can pull this off in the smoothest way possible, this pairing will be exciting and not cliche at all. On the contrary, it would stand upon solid ground, i.e. Daniel's appreciation of Betty and her somewhat unconditional love for him. I don't mean in the romantic sense but she is absolutely possesive and protective of him. So, yes Daniel has changed positively thanks to Betty and there's a big chance that it finally strucks him that he can't do without her.

I just don't want this show to end and if it ends without a Daniel/Betty 'hook up' it'll certainly be disappointing for me. It is a great bonus if the love of your life is also your best friend first and foremost, so I think these two will have started on the right track if they ever become a pair.

I've just realised how dead this show has become...

No one actually posts anything, even in this thread, which I believe reflects how tired people have become with show...

Or am I wrong?

I'm not tired of the show. But I did get tired of being the only one* to post UB news items; so I stopped.

*Might be an exaggeration.

Trini Girl, you're probably right ;-)

Which sucks...

Anyway, who is looking forward to Betty's new look? For those who don't know, betty is gettin' an upgrade this year. Those of us on the panel have seen a preview of it and I for one think it looks good. So it feels great...we're on thr right path =)

I heard something about that; they're changing her wig and glasses, right? Personally, I'm not too concerned about Betty's look. (It's only in this past season with Pat Fields hideous costume designing that got me riled up.) Some people have complained that Betty hasn't gotten better looking after 3 years at Mode, but I accept that Betty's fashion cluelessness is part of her character; and the dorky hair, glasses, and clothes, are part of the visual representation of that.

And that comes from it's roots from the original telenovella, right? She's supposed to be "ugly" (or in this version, a big ol' fashion "don't"). So I don't mind.

And on the Daniel/Betty 'ship: Haven't the TPTB said from the beginning that pairing up Betty and Daniel was NOT part of their "endgame"? That's how it's been done in the other telenovellas, but seeing as how this is a primetime soap, I suppose things would have to be slightly different, especially since the writers don't know for sure when the show will end. And anyway I like the boss/assistant/platonic friends relationship Betty and Daniel have now.