Friday, January 26, 2007

Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) Mas Bella Update XXIX

Not going to dwell on how "La Fea Mas Bella" in its neverending quest to drag out and pollute the story of "Betty La Fea" has completely ruined the return of the heroine and the reaction of her colleagues when they see her by only doing a part of her transformation. In the original, it was a complete recapitulation of her initial entrance to the firm, with people not recognizing her until she spoke. Now, they're just so happy, happy to see her, losing the cohesion. Fine, fine. Whatever. Ratings over narrative. We understand. Instead, thought I'd catch you up on a few items in the "Ugly Betty" world. For one thing, the show is now such an international hit that it is about to start in Asia Pacific and South Africa. For another, want more detail on the versions of "Betty La Fea" done in other nations? Well, try here and here. Finally, here's a recent and very good feature done on the show with a lot of interesting details and that gets the "class" element of the show very well. And it's got some nice quotes, including this concluding one from the star, America Ferrara: "Just last week, I got to read a letter from a young girl. She wrote into CosmoGirl. . . . She said, 'Thank you for putting America Ferrera on the cover.' She said, 'When I watched "Ugly Betty," it was the first time in my life that I felt beautiful.' . . . I knew then, if that was just one life, and I'm sure there were others that were affected by it, then ("Ugly Betty") definitely has done its job." God, I hope she doesn't go Britney or Lindsay.