Ugly Betty’s Alan Dale Confirms He’s Leaving Show
It was the worst-kept secret in show business. And today, with an interview in the Toronto Sun, Ugly Betty’s Alan Dale, who plays patriarch Bradford Meade on the show, says he’s leaving:
Alan Dale’s run as Bradford Meade on Ugly Betty is coming to an end. But as the affable New Zealander put it, he has felt like a fish out of water anyway.
“Ugly Betty has changed, because originally it was to be a drama with humour, and in the end it has become an hour-long comedy,” said Dale, 60.
“So I won’t be with the show for very much longer, because my character doesn’t do comedy, really.”
Now, far be it from me to disagree with one of the founding cast members of a show, but I will anyway. Ugly Betty was always a farce with drama advancing the storylines. He was, indeed a “straight man” (in more ways than one) in a sea of crazy characters.
The article has much more on Dale himself, and his opinion of the show:
“They’re going to go a different way, so I’ll be moving on,” Dale said. “But it’s a fantastic show, breaking new ground, really. We’ll see what happens next pilot season, but I’m surprised there aren’t a lot more comedies just imitating it.”
About future prospects:
“I have a few jobs lined up,” Dale said. “But I’m fine, I’m an old guy, I’ve been around a while. And I’m a New Zealander, so I have a lot in common with you guys (Canadians).
“I spent a long time in Australia working there. So you know, this is my O.E., my overseas experience. I was in The O.C. before Ugly Betty, so I’m on a pretty good winning streak. I’ve been in North America only since 2000, so it’s really going great.”
About the show and America Ferrera: “You just had to know that the wedding (of Bradford and Wilhelmina) was not going to turn out like you’d expect,” Dale said. “But the success of the show starts with Betty. America (Ferrera) plays her beautifully. It’s about her and everyone else sort of zooms around that, I think.”
Now, the rest of the article is quite critical of the show this year; some of the criticisms I don’t disagree with: characters are jumping wildly in and out of their own personalities, for instance. However, the writer of the piece, Bill Harris, overstates the “ratings trouble” her perceives Betty to be having. The show is still a solid number 2 on Thursday nights, right behind Survivor. It’s been averaging 10-11 million households, and more importantly, winning the key demographics.
But, I’ll join Harris in hoping that the time off the writers are having will help them to get on more solid footing as to who the characters are, and why we love them. Forget realism - this is Ugly Betty!
Source: Toronto Sun
Tags: Alan Dale, spoilers, Ugly BettyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Alan Dale, Bradford Meade, Ugly Betty News, Ugly Betty Spoilers
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