New show: Ugly Betty
Posted by Maggie
September 29th, 2006 at 01:06pm
In Uncategorized
I don't know if it's the marginally familiar world of magazine publishing, the refreshing focus on a minority family, the acknowledgment of actual class differences, the truly funny scenes, the still-too-fresh experience of a first job and a bad boss, the memory of bawling my eyes out during America Ferrera's scenes in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, or a combination of all of the above, but something about Ugly Betty really hit me the right way.
This is Betty. She lives in Queens, or a set that actually looks very much like Queens. She wants to work in magazine publishing.
She gets hired at Mode (like Vogue) so that the editor-in-chief won't sleep with her, as he does all the rest of his helpers. The scene where Betty learns this was very touching, and may be the greatest single reason I liked this show. That scene made Betty into a real person, relatable, not just a caricature with huge braces.
The editor-in-chief, too, really came off well. He's a pretty boy, entitled, womanizing jerk, some of the time — but at other times he seems human. And he's clearly in way over his head.
I'll be rooting for this one.
I think I would’ve liked the pilot more if the recognizing-Betty-is-awesome sequence hadn’t lifted its entire storyline from the end of 13 Going on 30.
I smell a point-counterpoint coming between you & I, magpie! I was hugely disappointed. Let’s set up a timed panel discussion. On the internet, of course.
I don’t mind recycled plots, as long as they’re fun and/or believable. But this may be beacuse I haven’t seen 13 Going on 30. Not because I’m too good for it — heavens, no — it just hasn’t happened for me, yet.
And C, let’s give it a week or two before squaring off. I might end up hating it in a week, and you could have a change of heart. In which case, I guess we could still have the point-counterpoint. Fun!