It looks like Ignacio somehow makes it back, and Amanda has lost all that excess weight.  Is Henry proposing?  I guess we’ll have to wait. 

Source: SpoilerTV

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• When Bradford postpones the wedding, Wilhemina keeps her cool.  He asks her if she’s sure she’s all right.  Wlhelmina says everything’s fine, but as she does so the flames in the fireplace rise.  She then proceeds to bash the mannequins on the roof with a baseball bat!
• Justin telling his mother about the Mode Cafeteria, and their famous “Naomi Campbell Tuna Meltdown”.
• Alexis, suffering from amnesia, but now aware that she had gone through a sex change, squeezing her own boobs and giving Daniel/Betty an approving thumbs up.
• “I can’t believe we’re in Lucifer’s chamber…Beelzebub’s lair…the devil’s rumpus room…Oh, look!  A picture of Wilhelmina with Dick Cheney!”  (Cut to a photo of just that).
• My absolute favorite was the sublime moment when Wilhemina is confronting Betty on the roof, she says, “I think you forgot something!”, and we hear thunder.  Betty looks to the perfectly blue sky in puzzlement, then turns to see Marc wiggling a piece of sheet metal to make a thunder sound.  It was so silly and out of place, it was perfect for this show.  I’m still laughing about it a day later!

There were a few more honorable mentions: Betty telling Henry, “We were young and innocent then. Ah, youth!” .  Betty sarcastically saying “Down with babies!”, and a mother looking aghast at her.  Christina: “Ten bucks says there’s a coat in there made of dalmatian puppies”.  Betty and Christina hiding under the bed while Wilhelmina and Dwayne have an “Afternoon Delight”.  Betty texting (somebody) saying”I have to pee”.

Every single scene with Halston, the ugly dog.

There were touching moments as well: Justin at the convenience store where his father was killed, Ignacio helping Hilda to let go of Santos’ stuff, Bradford reconnecting with Alexis.

But, we’ll stick with the comedy.  What, to you, was the best (funniest) moment in the episode?

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I told you she’d get so big Disney would have to make her into a princess!

The accolades keep coming for America Ferrera. The Emmy-winning star of “Ugly Betty” is now the Hispanic Woman of the Year, the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard announced Thursday.

The publications will honor Ferrera and the 25 most powerful Hispanic women in film, television and music at their inaugural Hispanic Women in Entertainment breakfast at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday.

Wow!  America is hot, hot hot right now!  And why not? She’s smart, and talented, and (so far) a VERY good young role model.  Shoot, the only negative ting I can even think to mention is that she’s a workaholic, and in the US, isn’t that a good thing?

Ferrera “is a leader for all women, but especially those in the Hispanic community,” publisher John Kilcullen said in a statement.

He said the 23-year-old actress is “dedicated to advancing the position of Hispanics in television and film.”

“It’s an honor to be in such esteemed company,” Ferrera said in a statement. “And it’s a thrill to see talented women recognized for their work behind the camera.”

You go, America!

Source: AP, via Yahoo News

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Cherie in Colorado: Henry’s back on Ugly Betty this week. Tell me he ditched the annoying chick!

Her answer:

Unfortunately, no. They’re still very much a couple. He came back to Mode because he needs to be gainfully employed, given his impending fatherhood…

You know, I suspected this (why else would he just suddenly appear?), and it’s very smart plot-wise (in this type of show it’s best to drag out the romantic tension as long as possible), but, man, Charlie is annoying!  If they could come up with a plot-line where she runs off with Walter, all would be well.

It would appear Betty is going to have to continue to fight for Henry…but will she want to?  Especially with Gio entering the picture.  Should be interesting.

Source: EOnline

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Even before America Ferrera arrived at the Washington Convention Center on Tuesday, she was all over the place. Fans of her hit show, “Ugly Betty,” had donned masks of the nerdy character to await her appearance.

(As an aside, I would have sworn Disney would go out of their way this year to make Ugly Betty Halloween costumes…) 

Ferrera took a few hours away from taping the show’s next season to receive a Latina Leaders Award from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

The diminutive actress, clad in a gray suit and heels, promised to continue to use her fame for the betterment of the “wider community,” emphasizing that she doesn’t take her success for granted.

Of course, she was speaking before members of the US Congress, so you knew there were some that didn’t have a clue:

Missing the point a bit was Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., chairman of the caucus, who said: “She’s beautiful. Who says she’s ugly? They should have named it ‘Beautiful Latina.’ ”

Oh well.

In the same vein, did you know that Ferrera was listed in the Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics? 

Actress America Ferrera, the star of the hit television show ‘Ugly Betty’ is on Hispanic Business Magazine’s 2007 list of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics.

Ferrera, 23, was recognised this year with an Emmy and a Golden Globe award for best actress in a comedy for her role in ABC’s English-language version of Colombian soap opera ‘Betty la fea.’

If her meteoric rise continues, Disney is going to have to make her (or at least Betty) one of their marketing-cash-cow princesses.  Seriously, wouldn’t it be cool to meet Betty at Disney World?

Sources: Examiner.com, Malaysia Sun

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My advice to anyone who gets into too much trouble is, ‘Get a job!’
 
I can’t get into trouble because I’m working all the time…I’m too busy working and focusing on what I’m doing to be out partying.

I love it!  Fererra has said in the past that she works 13 hour days; she takes her role as Betty very, very seriously.  I would also say that her advice is sound, but I really don’t hold any hope that it would be followed.

Speaking of America on TRL, here are some screen cap pics of the appearance.    She is a beautiful, confident woman:

Source: Entertainment Wise, Evil Beet

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If we are able to get video of the interview, we will post it here.  If so, I can’t wait to see it!

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A soapy, feelgood comedy, [America] Ferrera concedes, is not going to change the world. But with viewers in more than 130 countries, including Pakistan and Zimbabwe, Ugly Betty certainly seems to be uniting it.

[...and...]

The UK transmission of the second series, which begins on Channel 4 this week, has been brought forward in response to exceptional viewer demand.

The wide appeal of the show has always been a pleasant mystery to me, but the Telegraph’s Benji Wilson explains it succinctly:

So what’s the appeal? In part, it is the old-fashioned charm of its ugly duckling set-up, taken wholesale from the wildly popular Colombian telenovela (a sort of extended soap opera) on which the show is based.

…

Yet for those viewers instinctively put off by such an apparently saccharine plot, Ugly Betty also delivers a rather delicious line in nastiness. Betty’s colleagues at Mode are a catty bunch – beautiful, boo-hiss villains we love to hate and whose acerbic put-downs are among the wittiest lines in the show. Their presence on screen enables us to sympathise with Betty while still vicariously enjoying the superficial, bitchy world of high fashion.

Bingo!

Then, Wilson gets to the heart of things:

In Silvio Horta, they found a screenwriter who was able to preserve the soapy heart of the telenovela and also lace it with the kind of cutting comedy familiar from Desperate Housewives.

And, here’s a take I had never thought of before:

Notably, Channel 4’s marketing campaign now gives Betty equal billing with gay assistant Marc (Michael Urie) and the magazine’s receptionist Amanda (Becki Newton), who provide a chorus-like commentary on the action, frequently popping out to the dressing cupboard to exchange one-liners, their repartee not too far away from some of the best of Absolutely Fabulous. In these two underlings, who sit about in a backroom all day pouring scorn on those around them, we seem to have found two peculiarly British heroes.

Y’know, I’d never considered the Absolutely Fabulous angle, but it’s true: at starting with the last few episodes last season, and continuing into this season, Marc and Amanda provide the narrative for the show, while at the same delivering the best one-liners on television.  I’ll leave it to my UK friends to decide if these characters are, in fact, “British-like”.  Something tells me they are.

Wilson sums it up with a beautiful statement about Ugly Betty’s appeal:

At a time when American drama seems to be straying towards ever more complex high-concept dramas such the baffling Lost, the unwieldy 24, or quasi-Shakespearean epics such as The Sopranos or The Wire, Ugly Betty is comfort food – a simple story blessed with a script that has crackled from the start.

Source: Telegraph

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Boston Herald: Ferrera’s gift is the charming way she continues to tackle the title role. Viewers can’t help but root for her. She’s buoyed by a snappy script full of funny lines.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Those are a lot of loose ends to wrap up (and, actually, there are more, including the whereabouts of prison escapee Claire Meade, played by Carnegie Mellon University alumna Judith Light), but “Betty” does a surprisingly nimble job of hopping from story to story without the hour feeling like a janitor cleaning up a mess in aisle five.

Chicago Sun Times:

I can’t even force myself to keep thinking about the clunky lunacy and all the things that are wrong with “Betty.” Almost nothing works. I used to enjoy this show on occasion, believe it or not. It had heart and brains. Now it’s a glitzy, zany corpse.

Fort Worth Star Telegram :  For more than half the episode, this feels like it’s biding its time, and I was worried that the novelty was beginning to wear off. But then we get to the final act, with several touching moments and a couple of good plot twists, and Betty is back on its game.

Newsday : Whew. That’s it. And it’s enough. Ugly-duckling star America Ferrera deserved her comedy actress Emmy just for knowing minute by minute which serious/silly tone she’s expected to deliver. (She’s also a fine physical comedian. That’s where the eyepatch comes from.) This episode so illustrates that range of rhythms – zippy, languid, bumbling, poignant – that it’s actually not a bad intro for “Ugly Betty” newbies. Several characters allude to “a fresh start.” But longtime fans may call it a holding pattern.

Obviously, Betty isn’t for everyone.  Doug Elfman in the Sun-Times never liked the show, and admits it in his review.  He obviously doesn’t get the premise and style of the show, so any other elements after that won’t make sense to him.

All in all, I’m excited.  Remember, live blogging during the broadcast tonight!

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Access Hollywood

(sorry, can’t embed Access Hollywood videos)

The beginning of this interview is hilarious – Ferrera loses the statue.  Thomas has a great quote about Emmys as well: “I only have 4, my husband [Phil Donahue] has 20″.

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