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ABC's 'Betty' telenovela parodies get Ugly

Nov 28, 2006, 04:47 PM | by Helin Jung

Categories: Television, Web/Tech

154116__telenovela_l ¡Ay, Dios mio! I was so excited, and now I'm so sad. You know those hilarious clips of the fake telenovela that the Suarez family watches on Ugly Betty? Well, ABC decided to expand those popular few seconds of Vidas de Fuego (pictured) and turn them into 2-4 minute telenovelitas, which are available at ABC.com and soon will be ready to download onto Verizon VCAST phones.

In what should have been a genius move, ABC decided to go lame. The first mini-episode is dubbed in English, and it sucks. The voiceovers...how do I say this? They sound a little like chipmunks. Passionless chipmunks. It isn't funny like that! Actually, it's a little alarming. It should've been so right, but man, it's just so wrong.

Ep Sato Wed, Nov 29, 2006 at 09:44 AM EST

This reminds me of something a friend of mine once joked about. The SAP button on the remote control allows viewers to watch shows in languages other than English. Wouldn't it be cool to hit the SAP button while watching Telemundo and Univision to get the programming poorly dubbed into English? Though I speak Spanish, my azz would watch a lot more Univision and Telemundo if it could be dubbed into bad English. Sigh. Someday

Mario Wed, Nov 29, 2006 at 09:38 AM EST

ABC screwed up another perfectly good opportunity. They should have left the mini novelas in spanish with either subtitles or nothing else. It takes away from the whole "Ugly Betty" atmosphere.

Ep Sato Tue, Nov 28, 2006 at 10:11 PM EST

IMHO, ABC should broadcast them in Spanish with no subtitles, as they appear on the show. Back when "Dos Mujeres, Un Camino" was on, I lived in Rockford IL, and a bunch of my buddies would tell me their non-Spanish speaking moms would watch it anyway. A good telenovela is mad scandalous and is entertaining even if you can't understand the language.

For real, does it take much translating to know the woman faked her pregnancy or that the preacher was having an affair? The goodies are to shown, not told...

V.M.L. Tue, Nov 28, 2006 at 06:14 PM EST

Its probably because Americans are too lazy to read!

t3hdow Tue, Nov 28, 2006 at 05:45 PM EST

If ABC isn't going to do a half-decent dub, then keep the original voices and place subtitles on them. I never support dubbing over movies anyway, because it looks way too silly.

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