Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) Mas Bella Update XXV

No, no, no, and no. This "nueva etapa" on "La Fea Mas Bella" is nueva crapa. The joke about telenovelas is that the synposis of 99 out of 100 of them starts "Two [brothers, friends, rivals, cousins] fall in love with the same young woman." One of the saving graces of the original "Betty La Fea" was that it resisted the tired old formulas of telenovelas, including that hoary one. But now, on "La Fea" we're getting full-on, frontal cliche, Lety now pictured literally between Fernando and a new but long-time telenovela fave with a distractingly white overbite. Yes, "Betty" found a young man when she fled after the debacle at her company, but not one that anyone seriously believed she would fall for, and certainly not one with the emotional "turmoil" this one is apparently going to be carrying. This is just crap. People who didn't see the classic may find it okay, but it's not. It's just one more case of taking something that was intelligent and challenging and turning it into something dumbed down and safe. The actors may still be good, but this will just confirm that this show is a pale reflection of what it could have been, what its predecessor was. Too bad, but no, no, no, and no.

As for the other remake of the classic "Betty" on right now, ABC's "Ugly Betty," they're doing good things away from the camera, as this USA Today article shows. The character is being lauded for her presentation of real beauty and not the superficial ParisBritLindsay, "Girls Gone 'rexic" kind that too many dingdong females (and males unfortunately) buy into. Of course, the star, America Ferrera is helping to take the lead. It's good to see the show have the impact the original did in Colombia. Too bad the Mexican one had to become just another soap.