By now, you’ve probably read so much about Ugly Betty that if one more person mentions its freespirited charms or winning leading lady, you’ll be at risk of smothering them with a Guadalajara poncho. But please, I implore you, suppress the hype-fueled rage and quit tryin to resist Betty’s full-figured charms. For one thing, I’m writing the Ugly Betty TV Watch this season, and I get depressed when my mom is the only one to chime in on the message boards. (You’ll know her work because she tends to sign everything ”Polly Slezak.” Oh, Mom!)
Anyhow, in honor of tonight’s Ugly Betty premiere, let’s flash back on the musical highlights of its lovely and amazing cast member, Vanessa L. Williams (pictured, with costar Michael Urie), whose hellion character pulls off the impossible task of making a Botox injection look simultaneously glamorous and hilarious. ”The Comfort Zone” video clip — with its swimming pool/piano, electrified doors to nowhere, and jazz flute (!) — may cause dangerous early ’90s flashbacks, but if you minimize the screen and just listen, you may understand why the song remains a staple in the Slezak iPod. ”Running Back to You,” meanwhile, makes that old-school mistake of splattering random song lyrics on the screen, but how many one-time Miss Americas can break it on down like V-A-N-E-double S-A? As for the ridonk ”The Right Stuff” video, well, I’m gonna withhold comment. Miss Williams gave us A Diva’s Christmas Carol, after all. Let’s show some respect.
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not gonna lie, I own a Diva’s Christmas Carol on DVD and absolutely LOVE Vanessa Williams. I hope she brings it full force!
I happen to really like Vanessa and hope that this is a hit for her. She is proof that if you have genuine talent you can survive. She’s still gorgeous, and she manages to have beautiful pipes without screeching the bejesus out of every note. So, while some of her poppier tunes have aged like bad cheese, most of those over-Casioed numbers from the 80s&90s all have (paging Janet and Paula). And, Slezak, your positive buzzing about the show has been one of the primary reasons I will give it a try…I’ve got one hour to decide if I am taping it or Smallville.
Michael, I am big fan of V.L.W. as well. The three songs you mentioned are great ones, but how could you forget Save the Best For Last?? It’s my absolute favorite. The strings, the snow, the astrophysics…it’s also so good.
Either way, nice tribute to the divine Ms. V. I’m so glad she’s back on the screen!
Slezak, you know that normally I’d follow you to the very end of “Betty”’s credits if you so much as made a surreptitious glance at a Guadalajara poncho, but I’m afraid that I’ll be otherwise engaged. As have you, Jim and Pam have stolen my heart. (Of course, unlike you, they’re not married…but the whole lot of you tease me to no end, what with your endearing witticisms and longing glances at one another. Err–you know what I mean.)
And NO, I can’t just TiVa the one and watch the other, so don’t ask! TiVa and her mystical powers have emboldened me to feel humbly–yet righteously–superior to “regular” TV. So no “Betty” for this PopWatcher!
…But you do know I’ll read your TV Watch anyway, right, Mike? We wouldn’t want Mom to think her son is “Betty”-ing to a reader-less blog. I’m so there for ya…work it out.
My bad, Slezak–per your esteemed colleague, Mr. Susman, “You could also catch Ugly Betty tomorrow night on ABC Family”.
And so I shall. TV Watch away, Mike, TV Watch away.
I am thrilled to see Vanessa Williams appearing on Primetime Television via ABCTV. She is a classy young lady, and extremely beautiful too. I hope “Ugly Betty” does well. Unfortunately for me, it comes on the same time as “Smallville”. . .Which show shall I watch??? HELP!!!
Cool to see that I’m not alone in my admiration for Vanessa Williams. She’s a beautiful woman and a talented actress and she can chirp with the best of the bunch.
“Dreaming” is probably my all-time fav track of hers. How could you dis “Running Back To You”, though??!! That song reminds me of my jr high days when I didn’t know I (like all self-respecting gays) wanted to be a black diva.
Anyhoo… now I gotta go lip synch to “Betcha Never” while I apply my ProActiv. Toodles!
A Slezak TV Watch! It’s like Christmas!
I wasn’t planning to watch Ugly Betty, but if Slezak is doing a TV Watch, I’m totally going to be there till the end of time. (Or until cancellation, or whatever.)
Thank you ABC for streaming this show for me tomorrow. And thank you Gary PopWatch Traffic Jam advice for tonight.
So refreshing to watch “Ugly Betty”. Definitely the best pilot so far this season. If only the ridiculously overhyped “Studio 60″ had been as entertaining! Thanks for recognizing Vanessa-so great! She gets it, you know?
i LURV “ugly betty”. what a great show. of course vanessa is wonderful, but america farrera (sp?) is a glimmer of hope in this world, what a beautiful young lady. i related to her very much, and i’m a gay man so, anyway, may the show go on to multiple seasons and win multiple awards. let’s keep this one alive, america the beautiful!!
Long live Ugly Betty. I love the entire cast–what a great show!
I think it was too sappy…And I hope that Betty’s boss is not a potential love interest! Vanessa Williams was cool-I wonder if she really uses Botox or if the Proactiv Solution has an anti-aging formula…
Great Show and Cast. A must watch on regular weekly schedule based on tonights premiere. The lead actress is so good. A nice mix of comedy and drama. Highly recommended. My tivo is gonna be full with the fall tv line up this season!
Here’s how ancient my technology is and how lazy I am. I had set my bedroom TV’s VCR (that’s right, folks, VCR) to tape U.B. and was planning to watch Earl/Office live and then watch U.B. later. But on that TV I can’t tape something and watch something else at the same time. And I was too lazy to go watch Earl/Office downstairs. So I ended up watching U.B. and LOVED it. So, unexpectedy, that is where my alliegance will be. Nothing else like it on TV. It won’t happen right away, but I smell a trend back towards creative television and the downfall of reality TV. Anyway, I am accepting donations to upgrade my TV-watching system and would value your contribution.
Comfort Zone: smooth jazz, smooth video. I’m so happy for Vanessa Williams, she could have disappeared under a rock and become one of those “whatever happened to” but she kept pushing, kept going, determined…so glad she’s back to acting. Hope more movies come her way.
They’re going to show “Ugly Betty” on ABC Family? Are they going to do the reverse of “Kyle XY,” which was shown intact on ABC Family but slightly edited for ABC, and edit it for there since the oral sex joke alone made me wonder why the show was on at 8.
Anyway, love Vanessa. She’s one of those people I’ve always rooted for. Met her briefly at the stage door after “St Louis Woman” eight years ago and she was a little Wilhelmina-ish, but it was 11 pm and she admitted she was starving, so I’ll cut her some slack.
This is actually much better than the Devil Wears Prada. I got to hand it to ABC for getting a prize of a show. The poncho was SOOO hideous. lol! And Vanessa as a villian is not that bad. I can see her as a Cruella type character.
Venessa Williams is so hot that when she was married to Rick Fox, and he was thinking of playing for Canada’s national basketball team, the other players were more excited that they might meet Venessa Williams. True story.
V. Williams was awesome! I have always been a huge fan of hers for years. I hope this show is a hit for her and the whole cast.
BEST NEW SHOW ON TV! I LOOOOVVEEED IT, it made me feel exactly the same way I felt two years ago and I first saw Desperate Housewives, giddy and grinny… And the Hispanic Family ROCKS… thanks ABC… now here’s a racial experiment worth re-visiting every Thursday night.
GRRRRReeeat show. Loved it!!!
My respects to Ms. Williams … D.I.V.A … and I say it with admiration ;o)
Does anyone know what was the ratings for Betty?
Ok I found this .. can someone break it down to me .. Does it mean that Betty came out first??
Percent Change From the Comparable Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 9/29/05):
ABC: +112, UPN: + 6, Fox: -14, NBC: -18, CBS: -20
Fast National Ratings
-Total Viewers:
CBS: 18.27 million, ABC: 16.27, NBC: 10.51, Fox: 5.12, CW: 3.81
-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 6.2 rating/16 share, CBS: 6.0/16, NBC: 4.3/11, Fox: 1.9/ 5, CW: 1.6/ 4
-Yesterday’s Ratings Winners:
Ugly Betty (ABC), Survivor: Cook Islands (CBS), Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), CSI (CBS), ER (NBC)
-Yesterday’s Ratings Losers (excluding repeats):
‘Til Death (Fox), Celebrity Duets (Fox), Six Degrees (ABC)
-Ratings Breakdown:
In a major turn of events, regularly scheduled programming on ABC and CBS shared Thursday leadership, with ABC first in the overnights and adults 18-49, and CBS No. 1 in total viewers. NBC remained in the distant third-place spot, followed by a night of lackluster season-premieres on the CW and Fox’s dead-in-the-water ‘Til Death and Celebrity Duets.
Beginning with the show everyone was talking about, let’s just say the results for ABC’s Ugly Betty were anything but ugly. The critically acclaimed one-hour comedy roared out of the gate with a 12.2/19 in the overnights (#1), 16.09 million viewers (#2) and a 4.9/14 among adults 18-49 (#2) at 8 p.m. Comparatively, that was an improvement over the year-ago season-premiere of former occupant Alias (Overnights: 6.4/10; Viewers: 8.21 million; A18-49: 2.5/ 7 on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005) of a whopping 91 percent in the overnights, 7.88 million viewers and 96 percent among adults 18-49. Survivor: Cook Islands, meanwhile, was down but not out with a 9.6/15 in the overnights (#2), 16.60 million viewers (#1) and a 5.8/16 among adults 18-49 (#1).
As a reminder, total viewers and adults 18-49 from last night are based on the fast nationals. Any prior results are based on the final nationals.
The arrival of Ugly Betty also had a detrimental effect on NBC’s My Name Is Earl (Overnights: 5.6/ 9; Viewers: 8.25 million; A18-49: 3.4/10) and The Office (Overnights: 5.3/ 8; Viewers: 7.68 million; A18-49: 3.7/10), which fell into a deeper No. 3.
Also at 8 p.m. was the season-premiere of the CW’s Smallville (Overnights: #4, 3.8/ 6; Viewers: #5, 5.04 million; A18-49: #5, 2.2/ 6), followed by two episodes (original and repeat) of Fox sitcom ‘Til Death (8 p.m. – Overnights: #4, 3.7/ 6; Viewers: #4, 5.75 million; A18-49: #4, 2.4/ 7 // 8:30 p.m. – Overnights: #5, 3.4/ 5; Viewers: #4, 5.44 million; A18-49: #4t, 2.3/ 6). Like the CW’s 7th Heaven and Gilmore Girls, Smallville was down from its year-ago season-premiere on the WB (Overnights: 4.4/ 7; Viewers: 5.90 million; A18-49: 2.6/ 7 on Sept. 29, 2005).
At 9 p.m., the winning ratings ball was shared between ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and old CBS faithful CSI. Grey’s Anatomy scored a 16.1/24 in the overnights (#1), 23.31 million viewers (#2) and a 9.4/22 among adults 18-49 (#1). CSI averaged a 15.3/22 in the overnights (#2), 23.49 million viewers (#1) and a 7.9/19 among adults 18-49 (#2). Although the lead-in support from Survivor decreased last night, CSI is back in action.
In search of the leftovers on NBC was Deal or No Deal at a distant third-place 5.8/ 8 in the overnights, 9.31 million viewers and a 3.2/ 8 among adults 18-49. Although the second-season premiere of the CW’s Supernatural also came down quite a bit from one year earlier, retention out of lead-in Smallville of 79 percent in the overnights, 76 percent in total viewers and 73 percent among adults 18-49 was not too bad given that the competition was Grey’s Anatomy and CSI. Take a look:
Saw UB last night. Nice to see something different for a change. If you’ve ever seen a telenovela (my late grandmother watched them with a passion), UB was exactly what Univision and Telemundo shows, but in English.
Yesterday morning, I was on my way to work when I ran into two women dressed as Betty (ponchos and glasses with red frames) giving out a faux resume by Betty Suarez and a makeup mirror with a pink flip-up cover that says the following:
UGLY IS THE NEW BEAUTIFUL
UGLY BETTY
THURSDAYS 8/7C
ABC
I still have the mirror in my purse. Looking foward to seeing more of UB.
Am I the only one that noticed that Ugly Betty was the TV version of the Devil Wears Prada? Even down to the end music which was the song by KT Tunstall which is also used in the movie? While the show was good I just kept thinking of the movie all the time. Can’t they do anything original anymore – at least change the music so it is not the same as the film!!
Does anyone know the song played in the backround of the picture shoot with the crashed cars????
The Show Betty Ugly is the best and for those of you who don’t know Betty Ugly was a columbian telenovela that was a huge sucess about 5 years ago it was everywere in the latin american culture you could not escape it. So then other countries saw the sucess and made their onw version’s (German,Greece,Russian to name a few). The US five years later decides to make their own version. SO IT’S NOT BASED ON THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA.
i have and always will LOVE Vanessa. it is great and deserving that she is back in the spotlight that shines illuminating all of her breath-taking gorgeous-ness. this is where this icon belongs…back on top!
does ugly betty also come on ABC family this thursday on dish network ??? can anyone plz get back thanks.