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Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is a television dramedy series starring America Ferrera and Eric Mabius. It premiered on September 28, 2006, on ABC in the United States and on Citytv in Canada and airs on Thursday nights at 8 PM ET/PT. The plot follows the work lives of Betty Suarez (Ferrera) and Daniel Meade (Mabius).
The series is based on the popular Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty La Fea (1999), from Fernando Gaitán (also author of Café con Aroma de Mujer), and is adapted into an American setting by producer Salma Hayek, whose production company, Ventarosa, partnered with Touchstone Television on the hour-long program. Hayek, who occasionally makes appearances as an actress on a fictional telenovela watched by the main character's family, also appears alongside the cast as well, playing Sofia Reyes in a series of storyline arcs.
Overview of series premise
Ugly Betty follows the daily life of Betty Suarez, a frumpy young woman from a struggling Latino family who works as an executive assistant at MODE fashion magazine. Most of her female co-workers are more attractive than she is; they often humiliate and insult her because of her appearance (her only friend is Christina). Suarez is not interested in fashion and is sometimes clueless about the company's motives and organizations. Her boss, the womanizing Daniel Meade (who initially turned her away because of her appearance), has a lack of fashion experience too, but both are intent on performing well at their jobs, even at the expense of those trying to stop them. The program includes a serialized plot involving Meade's predecessor Fey Sommers, who supposedly was killed in a fiery hit-and-run accident but actually is a hospital patient swathed in facial bandages that conceal her identity, as well as a storyline involving Betty's father, whose admission to coming to the United States as an illegal immigrant could put his family in a legal bind.
Although it is expected to remain true to the original Betty La Fea, this version is expected to include more dramatic elements because of the serious issues explored in the program. The show is filmed like a traditional network drama (with motion picture film), rather than the videotape production of the original telenovela.
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