Ally and I have a new tradition of spending the summer catching up on a full season (or two) of a series that we haven't watched throughout the year, but wanted to. Thanks to bitmetv, we've been able to do this for a number of TV series. Last year it was Corner Gas and Weeds during the summer, with Lost in the winter. This summer, we've spent time catching up on Ugly Betty.
In a City Slickers meets She's All That meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding kind of way, Ugly Betty is a clear fish-out-of-water story where we follow Betty (America Ferrera) as she navigates her way through the saucy New York fashion magazine scene. The premise of the show itself is kind of thin; Betty is hired as assistant to notorious playboy Daniel Meade by his father Bradford, so that Daniel isn't tempted to sleep with his new assistant at the chic and hip Mode magazine in New York. I can almost hear the sighs in the boardroom during the pitch right now!
The geek in Betty is probably how I relate best to the show, but maybe that's one of the things that this show does best - it is very easy to relate to. I mean, who hasn't ever felt out of place before? Ugly Betty tries to go after them all... fashion, body image, sexual orientation, cultural background, etc. The show probably isn't for everyone, though, as I suppose I've absorbed some culture references (through Ally) that help me understand some of the quips in the show. The dialogue can be fast and sharp (in a Sorkin-esque sort of way) but remains easy to follow at all times. "You can't just come back from the dead" someone says, to which Wilhelmina (played fantastically by Vanessa Williams) responds "sure you can, Donna Karan does it all the time". Ohhh, snap!
While the cast of the show itself is very strong and carries great chemistry, I think that the writers are going to have to work hard to keep the series fresh in the future as the whole fish-out-of-water/ugly-duckling formula can become a little tiresome after a while. The mid-season addition of Rebecca Romijn certainly didn't hurt the show (wink, wink), but there's only so many times you can play that card. One thing remains clear, though - amongst the sea of superficial beauties, Betty is able to turn ugly into the new beautiful.Rating: ***
3 comments:
On a semi-related note, Weeds is amazing.
that Weeds is.
I agree, Weeds is great! I may just have to post a review of the first four episodes of season three that were leaked online...
Post a Comment