Ugly Betty: The Complete First Season
(The Bettyfied Edition)

Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

While the TV novella has been a staple of Latino television for decades and beloved by many Spanish-speaking women, only recently has it been assessed of any commercial potential for American TV. The fledgling MyNetworkTV attempted last year in its inaugural season to make Americanized versions of telenovelas like Mesa Para Tres (Desire), Salir De Noche (Fashion House), and La Calle De Las Novias (Saints And Sinners) that aired daily like their Latino counterparts and failed.

At the same time, ABC came across a Colombian telenovela known as Yo Soy Betty, La Fea. Becoming one of the most unexpected new hit TV series of the past season, Ugly Betty: The Complete First Season is now available on DVD in what is known as “The Bettyfied Edition”.

Betty Suarez (America Ferrara) is a young Latino woman from Queens, NY, who is trying to make it in the world of the fashion magazine business. Unfortunately, she despite her kind-hearted nature and daring, working against her is her social awkwardness, her chubby frame, her geeky clothes, her thick-glasses, and most obviously, her braces.

She works a high-pressure job as an assistant to the womanizing Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius), the new editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Mode, a position she succeeded after her predecessor died in a mysterious car accident. After being previously rejected for a job at the Mode’s parent company Meade Publications due to her supposed ugliness, its CEO Bradford (Alan Dale), who is Daniel’s father, personally hires Betty as a means of keeping his son, who is troubled by his sexual compulsions, in line.

Upon arrival, Betty is treated rather maliciously by her co-workers, who nickname her “Ugly Betty”. Her and Daniel’s many antagonists at Mode include corporate ladder climbers like the ruthless Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa L. Williams), who is jealous of Betty getting the position instead of her, her gay assistant Marcus St. James (Michael Urie), receptionist Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton), and Daniel’s transsexual brother Alexis Meade (Rebecca Romijin). However, she does manage to find a friend in seamstress Christina McKinney (Ashley Jensen).

At home, Betty lives with her loving, but worried father Ignacio (Tony Plana) and older sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz) and her more supportive nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato). She also contends with an ex-boyfriend Walter (Kevin Sussman), who dumped her for the pretty and conniving Ava Gaudet (Gina Gambarro), but pushes to get back together with Betty.

Betty slowly wins over Daniel as the two become more of a success in the fashion world, to the ire of her co-workers. However, troubling Daniel are continuous affairs with co-workers, particularly with up-and-coming rival magazine mogul Sofia Reyes (executive producer and guest star