Beautiful Girl, Stay with me. Review on Ugly Betty

Star World relays UGLY BETTYevery Wednesday night at 9 PM. It is produced by Salma Hayek and Ben Silverman.

We have seen the indian adaptation  of the Columbian teleseries Betty La Fea as Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi.  It had its dorky charm in the early episodes, of the ungainly Jassi coming toppers in sticky situation thanks to her sincerity and good heart.  The serial was a big hit with even Saif making an appearence on it as a guest prior to the release of his movie, Hum Tum.

The American adaptation of the same teleserial Ugly Betty is rivetting.  Betty Suarez has thick glasses, bad bangs and dentures to boot.  Her clothes are downmarket and unflattering.  She is short and stubby. Betty belongs to Queens, a downmarket suburb of New York.  In short, a total misfit in the airbrushed, beautiful world of Mode, the hottest fashion magazine to come out from upmarket New York.

How Betty deals with being ugly in a beautiful world, office politics, problems at home forms the backbone of the story. As one can imagine, she comes out trumps in almost all the situations she finds herself in.

What I like about this TV serial:

America Ferrera plays Betty Suarez with an intelligent charm.  She is definately the driving force of the series.  She flashes her blue braces with nonchalance.  The same insouciance shows in her choice of wardrobe, especially her favorite quilted blue coat, and a patchwork bag.

Wilhelmina Slater who is constantly scheming to take over the magazine from Daniel Meade, is played with great elan by Vanessa Williams.  She is a typical socialite-professional who tries to look younger and thinner than other women and tries to leave no stone unturned in trying to have her way.  She has a soft centre which tempers her usually ruthless ways at time.  She is a delight to watch.

Betty's rivals in the office, Wilhelmina's secretary, Marc St James(Micheal Urie ) and the receptionist , Amanda Tannen (Becki Newton) are the resident comic characters.  Marc is gay and Amanda has an eating disorder   They are best friends and are trying to get ahead in the cutthroat world of fashion industry by hook or by crook.

Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) is the younger son of Bradford Meade, the owner of the magazine.  He has to mend his wild ways and prove to his father that he is worthy to run the magazine as an Editor in chief.  He has to live up to the reputation of his older brother Alex Meade who excelled at his job. He connects with his assistant Betty a lot, and finds her a dependable ally.

Ugly Betty tries to show that beauty is indeed skin deep and the good qualities of a person really matter. All the beautiful people on the show have deep seated insecurities and (most times) a mean streak.  It is Betty, with her denture disarming smile and no-nonsense forthright ways who makes one realize that beauty is what is inside of a person.

However,  dont be misled into thinking the serial pontificates.  It doesnt.  It is very funny and rivetting.  There are some really good performances here,  America Ferrera, Vanessa Williams and Micheal Urie are my favorites.  I love their attitude and way they deliver their lines. It is still the first season so the story is taut and crisp.

The title of this review was taken from the popular INXS number.  I like the video of this song which is a kind of a protest against the usual yardsticks of beauty, thinness, smooth skin, high heels etc.