Big Doings At Paley Center Ugly Betty Screening
May 1, 2009 by Tom
This past Wednesday night, there was a special “Ugly Betty Is Back” event with many of the cast and crew of Ugly Betty. There was an early screening of episode 3.20, Rabbit Test, and a Q &A session afterward. Some folks you probably know – members of “The Getty Girls”, who post at Mode Girl, Sandwich Guy (a Gio/Betty “ship” and general Freddy Rodriguez fan site) – several of whom comment here, were in the audience.
Pictured are Miss_T, the fabulous Becki Newton, and Meg. Strike a pose, ladies!
Anyway, a LOT was revealed during the Q&A. It’s all recapped nicely at the Futon Critic, but they requested that other sites link only (no quotes), and I always honor that type of request. So I’ll only summarize what was discussed:
- Vanessa Williams will be singing “The Man that Got Away” with Christine Baranski in an upcoming episode. Woot.
- The musical episode (according to Silvio Horta) will happen next season.
- The mode set was inspired by the iPod.
- We’ll discuss these in depth soon, but upcoming guest stars will be Rachel Dratch (as twins), Tommy Hilfiger , Billie Jean King, Rachel Maddow, Adele, and Antonio Sabato Jr.
- The wedding (which we now know will be Daniel’s) was filmed at The Planetarium.
- Tony Plana would like to release a cookbook entitled, “Ugly Recipes for Beautiful Food”.
- There will be a “new boss” at Mode, and it will be someone who has already appeared on screen. I say it’s Betty.
- The braces will come off next year.
- Pat Field finds many of Betty’s clothes at consignment stores and Century 21.
There was, of course, much more. I am told that the Getty Girls in attendance REPRESENTED, and that Silvio Horta knew of their existence. How could he not? The GG’s are nothing if not persistent. 
What an awesome night, and we’ll be discussing some of these things for months to come!
Yay! Getty Girls representing!
They look gorgeous. And Miss T is also wearing a Team Getty tshirt!!! Those girls are awesome!!
Yeah, we are persistent. No wonder we are so attracted to this character Gio who is so determined in following his dreams and pursuing the girl he loves. Oh, it just reminds me: I want Gio back! *winks*
Really, thanks Tom for posting this. I wonder if more posters attended the place and maybe can say more things that haven’t been written yet.
And regarding the event. Now that I am gathering all those spoilery pieces. I am starting to think that the new boss is going to be Matt. Those three careers must have been mentioned for something. Unlike Henry he doesn’t “show” his character more like people “tell” what he is. So probably if they mentioned he has studied that much… must be because he’s going to be taking over the company with his parents. After all, we will be punished with more Matt and Betty for next season it seems… as Horta declared recently.
Sure Matt’s bland, but honestly there is just something about him that I like more than any of Betty’s past boyfriends, more than Henry. Which it should be very interesting seeing both of Betty’s “lovers” clash! =D
Great pics Getty girls! Thanks for representing!! That is so cool that you met Amanda and Papi and I’m happy to know that they are both really nice.
LOL B, oh that Horta does love to punish us doesn’t he? I guess that means I’ll have to mentally prepare myself for the Batty onslaught that’s coming up. :/
WHOO! go ms.t and meg!! you guys are soo awesome! getty girls always representing!!
thanks for this Tom!
You go girls! You certainly hold your own with Becki and Tony P. looks really nice. Hope you had fun. GGs are fearless.
Nice pictures of the Getty Girls.. As more of the spoilers come out, I think the new boss will be Matt. At first, I was thinking it was going to be Matt’s father, but there was something mentioned that he is NOT the new boss & I also read that Betty is well connected to the new boss.. I’m guessing that IF he is the new boss, he may need Betty’s help in navigating Mode as he may not know much about the fashion world. It will also affect their relationship on a personal level as well…maybe that’s why Horta mentioned that their relationship will changing & growing & they will have obstacles along the way..It will be kind of interesting to see how this will all play out. (if this is the case)
I don’t get it… I just think Matt is SO blah, it’s like I forget he’s there. It’s like they’re they= writers) just using him for his parents and his moolah…
GO GETTY!
and thanks for the article Tom
The braces are actually coming off!?
Am I the only one that thinks Silvio might’ve stepped in poo by outright squashing a Detty endgame? I used to be a rabid Detty shipper and I could be again, if they would stop writing Betty’s character like a cartoonish twelve year old. Anyway, I don’t think such a declaration was the smartest move Silvio could’ve made, seeing as he just alienated a sizeable chunk of his audience in one fell swoop–and right now, the show needs all the viewers it can get
If he doesn’t want Detty to ultimately happen, fine, but what would’ve been the harm in leaving us to our delusions? And even more of a head-scratcher is this: why the parallels between Daniel dating Molly, who is an unglamorous gal like Betty, and Betty dating Matt, who is a rich former sex addict like Daniel, if Detty isn’t the endgame?
Quite – I have been hoping and longing for Ugly Betty to fall into line with the original Yo Soy Betty La Fea, and have been endlessly frustrated by Silvio’s dogged belief that he knows better than the tens of millions of viewers the world over who say that YSBLF in all its incarnations, is a story that can’t be bettered. But no – he has to tinker, dilute and ultimately contaminate a great story line, with his endless parade of lame suitors, weak characterisations and a Betty who is just plain ordinary.
So fine – he doesn’t want Detty – then I won’t watch. He hasn’t come up with anything better than YSBLF – and he’s a fool for thinking he could. He took a winning formula and made it into a lame duck. Sometimes, things don’t get made better in America – they just get pasteurised and sanitised and homogenised until they all look and feel the same – bland, bland, bland.
Speaking of Toni Plana and Freddy Rodriguez (Gio). They are going to be (as will Lauren Velez and a whole bunch of other hispanic celebrities) on may 17 at the Conga Room in L.A. to watch the comedy: “To be or not to be… Carlos Menica”
Details here:
http://latinola.com/event.php?event=14197
There’s also a silent auction to win the chance to be in the set of Ugly Betty.
“…… Silvio’s dogged belief that he knows better than the tens of millions of viewers the world over who say that YSBLF in all its incarnations, is a story that can’t be bettered.”
I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that. I thin that when silvio chooses to not have a Detty endgame, then that’s because the chemistry between Betty and Daniel in the American version has always been platonic, even brother/sister-ish.
I truely think any choice for Betty would be better than Daniel, not because he’s a bad person. It simply wouldn’t work out between those two.
As much as I hate Horta at the moment for ruining what was my favourtie show, I still think he made a wise choice on this one. Still, he didn’t have to say it out loud.
Just offering props to Meg and Miss_T. They’re so pretty and charismatic, they always represent well for the Getties.
As for UB next year, if they’re planning on mucho Matt, I fear the show is headed for a downward spiral. Matt/Betty haven’t inspired much of any new fan fiction on the internet or much in the way of fan videos either, nor do you find much of any thrilled and enthusiastic fan postings about them on the various boards (even ABC’s UB board is pretty muted on the couple). Yet you see all these things for Gio, who hasn’t even been on for a year except for a single episode months ago. Matt’s eclipsing of Gio has pretty much left a black hole in the viewership where excitement used to be.
Can’t agree with you more, Livia. I think there’s pretty much zero excitement about Betty and Matt as a couple. I am starting to think we are putting too much credit on Horta and his writers. I am not sure they really know where to go. It is until recently that Horta said he had a clear view of what he wanted for the end of the series. I am afraid they pretty much go to whatever idea comes to their mind in a certain period of time or according to circumstances. But whatever I don’t think they really tackle their public but on some menial occasions. It’s really a shame.
As far as Betty and Daniel being “brother and sister” – that just reinforces the point I’m making that Silvio decided at the outset that he could “do” the YSBLF story better than the original. Daniel and Betty didn’t set out to be like “brother and sister” – they were scripted and directed that way.
If you look back at the original Columbian TV series, you see a story about an intelligent, capable but emotionally naieve young woman who falls in love with her handsome boss and loves him unconditionally. She doesn’t love him more because he finally changes into a better person – she loves him for all that he is – faults, warts and all.
Now look at Betty. She was scripted not to fall unconditionally in love with Daniel at the outset. And now that Horta has moved so far from the original storyline, it is now impossible for it to recover the lost ground of the original. Because for Betty to fall in love with Daniel now would mean that she loves him BECAUSE he has changed, and that is a complete anathema to the original premise. What sort of character does that make Betty?
As far as I can tell, Horta’s on going love affair with Christopher Gorham has been the major reason why this series has gone so seriously off track. What we’re left with now is a rather saccharine mess of half-baked ideas and unfulfilled potentials. And whatever happened to “no more romantic diversions – we’re concentrating on Betty’s career”. What a load of tosh. We’re back in the same dreary mess of series two. And what’s more – we’re getting a Groundhog Day series finale. Oh whoopee bleedin’ doo….
A Groundhog Day series finale? How so? And how did I miss that revelation?
The Daniel/Betty issue confuses me somewhat. In this interview, Silvio talks like he put the kibosh on a Detty coupling only after seeing that they had no romantic chemistry onscreen. (I beg to differ, at least throughout Season 1, but anyway). But what wouldn’t he have seen that during screen tests and whatnot, long before the pilot ever aired? Which makes me think that, like Schmeagola says, they were scripted as brother/sister from the outset…and, might I add, rather proud of themselves for that fact. Silvio probably fancied he was being groundbreaking by, and I paraphrase the quote, “not having Betty fall for JFK Jr.”
So, yeah, I don’t really buy Silvio’s whole “I watched them and they had no chemistry” schtick. I think the “sibling” dynamic was planned long before the pilot.
Schmeagola, that’s a very interesting point you make. An equivalent to that would be the question, “What kind of character would Daniel be if he fell for Betty only after she got a makeover?” However, I always saw it that Daniel and Betty both accepted each other for who they were, “warts and all,” by the end of the pilot episode even. So even if they weren’t swooning over each other, there was and is love and mutual respect, even though they saw the worst of each other pretty much right off the bat.
Ugly Betty has been different from the original series from the very start. I mean, it’s a comedy drama with stand alone episodes, while the original one is a soap opera.
Actually, if you look at the story lines this season compared to the previous two seasons, you’ll find that the stand alone character is fading and the writting is much more serialized (but with less overall coherence). In that way, it’s becoming more like a soap opera and I think that’s one of the reasons this season wasn’t that good
i think the Detty is indeed gonna happen… if you look closely at later episodes… betty and daniel always has a alone moments… like in the Rabbit Test…. Its sure gonna happen…. Daniel is beginning to see that Betty is indeed what makes him do unbelievable things…. I’m gonna take my word for it… Watch closely people