‘Ugly Betty’ Coming To UK
I reported a while back about Channel 4 losing the rights to ‘Lost’ to Sky and replacing it with ‘Ugly Betty’. Well those rumours are now confirmed with sneak peeks and previews of the show being aired in Channel 4 ad breaks over the last few days. From what I’ve seen it looks quite good, although it’s hardly a fit replacement for ‘Lost’ in my eyes. I don’t even think the viewers will necessarily the same, this attracting a more ‘Friends’ crowd.
So for the uninitiated, what’s ‘Ugly Betty‘ all about? It’s billed as a dramedy (can you see what they did there?) and is based on a Columbian comedy show, but adapted into an American setting by producer Salma Hayek. It’s an hour-long show and to date has only seen 11 episodes aired in the US. It stars America Ferrara as Betty Suarez (pictured above), the Ugly of the title, who works at a fashion magazine. The premise is that she is less attractive than most of her co-workers and also knows nothing or very little about fashion. There’s also the running storyline of the Suarez’ family, including her father Ignacio (played by Tony Plana) who originally came to the US as an illegal immigrant.
So will this do well in the UK? We are suckers for a good, well written comedy drama and this looks like being exactly that. None of the actors are big star names although that didn’t do other similar shows harm in the long run. I think it will get good ratings and be picked up by fans of this type of American import, whether it will ever replace ‘Lost’ and capture people’s imaginations as much as that show has though is highly doubtful. Have you seen the show? Is it any good? Any thoughts and comments much appreciated.
Ugly Betty, Lost, Channel 4, Salma Hayek, America Ferrara
October 19th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
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