Ugly Betty

Ugly Betty is one of my all-time favorite shows, the first season is still one of my favorite seasons, and in my opinion one of the best seasons of television ever produced. The way it blended telenovela sensibilities with the American sitcom was genius. I think the show is extremely underrated, by audiences and critics alike. The user score here is a testament to that, and while Ugly Betty might not be everyone's cup of tea it accomplished most of what it set out to do, and it did it well.

Although I think the first season and a half are excellent, near perfect television, the show floundered a bit in its third season, where a new locale and crew changed the tone and a post-writers strike group of writers took the series into new, and sometimes bizarre territory. I must say that Patricia Field taking over costumes from Eduardo Castro was extremely noticeable, and the quality was still high, but the show never matched its soap opera antics of its first season, instead it become a lighter family comedy with some dramatic elements thrown in, and it still worked.

The thing that amazes me every time I rewatch the show is how timeless it feels, how groundbreaking it was, and how it paved the way for so many shows, and originated so many trends. I don't think Ugly Betty truly gets enough credit for what it did, blending comedy, drama, heartfelt storylines with grittier elements, transgender storylines and gay youth representation, in a show centered on a Mexican-American family no less.

Today there are shows like Pose, where the cast is made up of mainly transwomen, shows like Jane the Virgin that feature telenovela storytelling mixed with comedy, and a noticeable trend in sitcoms to feature more long arc story structure and greater continuity, all while including some more dramatic elements. At the time of its release, Ugly Betty was a contemporary to The Office, 30 Rock, Glee and other mainstream sitcoms that kept the tone light and the stakes lower. Meanwhile, Ugly Betty wasn't afraid to feature surreal moments and serious stories about coming out, murder and alcoholism.

Ugly Betty will forever be one of my favorite shows. And although it's never gotten the credit it deserves, its influence lives on in the risks taken by the shows that came after it, and the people who were touched by it.

Okay, yes, the theme is kinda like Bridget Jones's Diary. I got that from the title and ads. I'm sure you did too, so don't go wailing that you're SO disappointed, or that it's a ripoff. Does having one plot point in common (overweight girl) make a show a ripoff? A majority of Americans are now overweight. Is breaking the taboo against depicting someone overweight so out of the ordinary that it's derivative? But I digress...

Salma Hayek is behind this, and she clearly wants us to like this Latina girl and the show. So I'm sure she'll hire dialog coaches for those who have poorly feigned foreign accents. But other things that would otherwise have taken me out of the pilot didn't happen. Surely you thought they were going to do something trite and cliché with her idea, didn't you? But they didn't. People behaved like real people. What a concept.

The menace and intrigue they allude to in the future is kinda one dimensional, but I'm going to give this show a chance.

Oh, words cannot express how much one actually loves this series! Like I was a teenager when this came out and since now I'm in my early 30's and have just finished watching it for the millionth time and revel in how iconic it is..... anyways...

Vanessa Williams - my god what an unbelievably talented, amazing, sensational actress she is. I mean her performance is utterly sensational. Credit to the rest of the cast they did a great job too.

I cannot fault anything with this series, the only negative thought about the show is that it ended so prematurely, after only 4 seasons.

So yes this show is legendary!

Okay, so "wonderful" and "heartwarming" are typical clichés. I did not want to get addicted to another show because it always seems the shows I enjoy end up getting canceled (anyone remember that little gem "Arrested Development?").

Ugly Betty is a great show. I figured when I saw the teasers for it that all the funny scenes were in the commercial and there would be nothing left in the show, but I gave it a chance. I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Salma Hayeck was hilarious in her cameo. Vanessa Williams is E-V-I-L! She seemed to relish in her role! America is amazing as Betty. She plays the part with sensitivity and does not make Betty seem cartoonish, which would have been very easy given the "ugly girl" costume she's wearing.

I will definitely continue to watch Ugly Betty. I am looking forward to seeing what kinds of situations Betty gets into in the future!

After watching the first episode, I knew it wasn't going to be good show.I like the choice of America Ferrera as Betty, she wasn't well known back then and so we all see her as Betty. She played this outsider to the fashion world, she was hired as an assistant to the Editor in chief of a fashion magazine called MODE. Her boss is a play boy and his father owns the magazine, so her Creative director Wilhelmina played by the beautiful Vanessa Williams wants to take him down by siding with Daniel's brother/sister Alexa. The whole show is funny, creative and very fashionable. I love Wilhemina's outfits, i love the chemistry between Marc and Amanda, also friendship of Betty and Christina. It combines fashion with family, fun with funk. It was a shame the show was ended too early, I think it has the potential of getting better and even become of the iconic shows like Sex and the City.