Wednesday 24 April 2013

A-Z Challenge: U: Ugly Betty


What I Learned About Writing from Watching TV aka Justifying my TV Habit.

U. Starting to get hard now isn't it?

U is a tricky one. Ugly Betty is my natural choice here. It ticks a lot of the boxes I have already covered. It has a great ensemble cast. It has heart. We care about the main character. We know her aim is to be a journalist from the off. It has a good set of villains.

The villains are what I’ll focus on here. The bad guy is ostensibly Wilhelmina throughout. We get to know her, see what drives her. She’s a great foil for the ‘good guys’.

She’s not the only thing standing in Betty’s way, but she is there throughout with her schemes and machinations.

A good villain is important.

Quote: “What’s the matter? People still view me as a drop dead gorgeous fashion Nazi.”

8 comments:

  1. Ugly Betty had a lot of heart but also bad scheduling, they moved this show all over the place.

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  2. I agree with Sheena-kay--Ugly Betty had real scheduling issues. I was a big enough fan to follow it everywhere it went, but I can see how that would lose some people. I think what made Wilhelmina a good villain was the moments of normal-lady-with-problems they slipped into all of her over the top bad gal moments. It was definitely a fun, quirky show. We need more like that. :)

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  3. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm a Netflix user, so I just wait until the series are available and see them later. Ugly Betty's on my list.

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  4. loved ugly betty. so strange that it started as a spanish tele novella.

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  5. Sheena - ah interesting, we had it on the one channel here I think and I don't remember lots of movement of it. That does NOT help a show.

    Jaime - yes they did put normal bits in, you are right that helped counteract the over the top bad bits!

    C Lee - ah netflix! I must look into that!

    Valerie - gosh YES I forget that! So strange!

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  6. I loved Ugly Betty and wish it had lasted a couple seasons longer. I think one of the things that made Wilhelmina a good villain is that there are glimpses of her humble beginnings in the fashion industry and so the audience can understand how hard she's had to fight to get where she is.

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  7. I heard the telenovela Ugly Betty is based on is very different (in tone, how ugly Betty really is, etc.) but, I haven't seen it so don't know for sure. That might be an interesting comparison to see which of the elements you love so much in Ugly Betty were part of the original incarnation.

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  8. Erin - yes that's true, we see sort of why she might have become like she is!

    Connie - yes would be interesting to see how much they kept and what was new!

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Please comment, I'd love to know what you think! :)