Ugly Betty Series Is Fabulous

Posted on September 29, 2006

ABC has another winner on its hands with Salma Hayek's new show, Ugly Betty. The show is the English adaptation of a hit tv show from South America, which is puzzling, because it has a very similar plot to The Devil Wears Prada. In any event, we love it!

In the premiere, we meet the homely Betty Suarez, an intelligent young woman from Queens who takes care of her aging father and younger brother. She keeps up with art, music and literature, and tries to land a job at a major magazine publisher. She's not hired, of course, because of her looks. But when the owner of the publishing empire, Bradford Meade, overhears her talking with the rude assistant who blows her off, he hires her to be his son Daniel's assistant. The Miranda Priestly-ish editor of Mode magazine, Fay Sommers, has mysteriously died so Bradford passes over diva Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) and makes his son Daniel the editor in chief. Daniel is a womanizer and knows nothing about fashion. And his father would like him to stop having affairs with his assistants. Therefore, Betty is the perfect assistant.

The casting is brilliant: America Ferrera is perfect as Betty, the girl with a big heart and a dress size to match. Vanessa Williams looks fabulous as a scheming editor Wilhelmina who wants to take down Daniel and Betty, and take over the magazine herself. Salma Hayek appears in the background as an actress in the hilarious soap opera Passions which is always playing in the background at the Suarez household.

The writing is crisp and the dialogue is very funny. Fashion, wit and fun are the order of the day. But there is also a dark side: what really happened to Fay Somners, anyway? We'll keep tuning in to find out. If you missed the excellent premiere, you can watch it for free online at ABC.com.

Photo: ABC

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