THURSDAYS ARE GETTING UGLIER
Ethnic segregation may be over on CBS's "Survivor", but the battle for Thursday night - the most lucrative piece of TV advertising inventory - has just gotten uglier.
The news agencies are reporting today that the truly exceptional Salma Hayek-produced comedy "Ugly Betty" has now become the highest rated new show of the fall TV season (over 16 million viewers tuned in) and one that has achieved Nielsen success without a powerful lead-in (as did "Shark" following "CSI" and "Brothers and Sisters" following "Desperate Housewives").
Originally a telenovela, Ugly Betty is an adorable little show bursting with vibrant cartoonish colours that depict a world of bitch-slapping power-hungry fashionistas scheming and conniving at a New York City fashion magazine.
America Ferrera plays a cute and, as we are forced to believe, physically unattractive Queens latina whose dream to work in fashion comes true when a successful magazine publisher hires her in order to keep his son, editor-in-chief at the magazine in question, firmly focused on work and not on his curvilicious assistants.
The message that comes through at the end of the hour is, of course, that Betty is a beautiful girl on the inside, but that is never served to the audience with disdain for their intelligence, but in a rather charming and respectful manner.
Since there is nothing new worth mentioning on the sitcom front - why can't we have more shows like "Everybody Hates Chris" or "My Name Is Earl"? - at least not before Tina Fey's new show "30 Rock" premieres later this month on NBC, "Ugly Betty" gets my voice as the best new comedy of the fall season.
As for drama, make sure you check tomorrow's premiere of "Friday Night Lights" starring Kyle Chandler on NBC. Television rarely gets better than that.
The news agencies are reporting today that the truly exceptional Salma Hayek-produced comedy "Ugly Betty" has now become the highest rated new show of the fall TV season (over 16 million viewers tuned in) and one that has achieved Nielsen success without a powerful lead-in (as did "Shark" following "CSI" and "Brothers and Sisters" following "Desperate Housewives").
Originally a telenovela, Ugly Betty is an adorable little show bursting with vibrant cartoonish colours that depict a world of bitch-slapping power-hungry fashionistas scheming and conniving at a New York City fashion magazine.
America Ferrera plays a cute and, as we are forced to believe, physically unattractive Queens latina whose dream to work in fashion comes true when a successful magazine publisher hires her in order to keep his son, editor-in-chief at the magazine in question, firmly focused on work and not on his curvilicious assistants.
The message that comes through at the end of the hour is, of course, that Betty is a beautiful girl on the inside, but that is never served to the audience with disdain for their intelligence, but in a rather charming and respectful manner.
Since there is nothing new worth mentioning on the sitcom front - why can't we have more shows like "Everybody Hates Chris" or "My Name Is Earl"? - at least not before Tina Fey's new show "30 Rock" premieres later this month on NBC, "Ugly Betty" gets my voice as the best new comedy of the fall season.
As for drama, make sure you check tomorrow's premiere of "Friday Night Lights" starring Kyle Chandler on NBC. Television rarely gets better than that.
Labels: ABC, Ugly Betty
posted by Justin Van De Kamp at
1:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home