On the Ugly Betty set . . . visiting. Just visiting. : )

Then today:

Notes from Ugly Betty set – Everyone is well. Ana Ortiz’s daughter is beautiful. Giant hanging props (you’ll see) are hilarious.

Needless to say, Chris Gorham on the Ugly Betty set raised a lot of eyebrows, since many assume that if Ugly Betty gets cancelled and has its season finale THIS season,  characters from seasons past would show up – something that often happens in series finales.

Chris posted a clarification:

And, again, NO, I’m not back on Ugly Betty. Just dropped by to visit my friends. 

Alas, Ugly Betty fans are a little on edge right now, with the horrible season 4 ratings and all, and we worry that Gorham’s appearance might mean a little more than just a friendly visit.

EOnline’s Kristin picked this up and ran with it.  She says, “Inside sources tell me that ABC has been working on ways to try to save Ugly Betty (including the possibility of moving it to Wednesdays, as previously reported); however, if ratings don’t improve by mid spring, it’s possible that Betty will be canceled in May.”

(I think it’s safe to say that if the ratings don’t improve, Betty WILL be canceled).

A Betty insider says to Kristin:  "The writers have accepted that this season may be the last and are brainstorming endings now, just in case. The big question is: Who will Betty end up with? The writers room is deeply divided."

Hoo boy.  If this does come about, and I pray it doesn’t, we get to go through the ship wars again.  Those season 2 days were crazy, but in a way they were fun, too. 

And to you Gio fans, he is in the writers’ discussion, according to Kristin.

I hope we don’t have to worry about these things till next season, but Betty cannot survive on Fridays, critical buzz or not.  It’s all going to come down to whether or not Ugly Betty gets moved to another day/time. 

I haven’t given up hope yet, but at the same time, I’m preparing for the possibility that this season is the last.

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Christopher Gorham

The Ugly Betty star is filming Pursuits, and is also listed on his IMDB page as filming “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend” with Alyssa Milano.

Trivial Pursuits is set at the University of Michigan, which is why the filming is in Ann Arbor.  Production is expected to finish early this month on Saturday with filming during the first week of classes next week and at Michigan Stadium before the kickoff of the football season’s opener on Saturday.

Trust me, you don’t want to get in the way of Big Ten football.  Even if it is just Michigan. 

Apparently, the film is starting to cause quite a buzz amongst the crew and locals. 

It’s turning into something really great,” says Gorham, 35. “When it started, I didn’t know what it was going to be, how it was going to turn out. Seeing a lot of the dailies we’ve shot so far, it’s really good.”

Writer-director Christopher Farah, 33, a U-M alumnus, was a journalist before he made the switch to movies. He drew on his student days in Michigan and his bar trivia experiences in New York for “Trivial Pursuits,” which is about frustrated college types who enter a trivia tournament.

This looks like a cute little movie, and might just be the thing (besides playing a deranged serial killer) that might propel Gorham’s career to the next level!

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Christopher Gorham

Starring with Gorham are Arielle Kebbel and Chris Parnell.  The film is being directed by Christopher Farah. His brother Mike Farah is producing.

Trivial Pursuits is Set in the world of competitive bar trivia (who knew there was a world of competitive bar trivia?)   The script centers on frustrated academics who finally get a chance at beer, women and nerdy redemption when they enter a citywide trivia tournament. Gorham and Kebbel are the love interests.

This is going to be right up Gorham’s alley.   He seems to really excel at playing the “smart guy” who seems to have something wilder or even more dangerous underneath.  And it’s great to seem him in a role with a romance again.

Also appearing in the movie are Kip Pardue ("Remember the Titans"), Evan Jones ("Jarhead"), Nelson Franklin ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") and Kali Hawk ("Couples Retreat").

The movie just began shooting in Ann Arbor, Mich. (they have a little college there, don’t they? ), of which the Farahs are natives. Christopher is a former editor at "Foreign Affairs" magazine who left journalism for filmmaking, while Mike heads production for comedy Web site Funny or Die.

Gorham is going to be busy, not only working on Pursuits, but also USA Network’s spy thriller "Covert Affairs."

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Chris Gorham

Now, this one looks like fun.

The show centers on Annie Walker (Perabo), a multilingual CIA trainee who joins the agency still reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her bosses.

Gorham will play Auggie Anderson, a CIA military intelligence/special-ops agent blinded years ago on an assignment who is helping Walker navigate her new job.

Excellent, excellent, excellent!  Chris will really get a chance to show off his skills.  The plot seems to have a touch of "The Bone Collector" to it.

USA handled the pre-production of Affairs interestingly.  Instead of giving the show a straight pilot order, USA last month hired a casting director and began quietly casting the two leads. It seems the casting of Gorham gave producers a green light to go ahead with the pilot.

The show is written by Matt Corman and Chris Ord, and executive produced by Dave Bartis and Doug Liman, with Corman and Ord co-executive producers.

The events in Ugly Betty episodes 2.23 and 3.24, Curveball and The Fall Issue, seemed to close this book on the Henry character (IMHO), while, in typical Ugly Betty fashion, still leaving the door open for a return.  If Gorham is going to be busy with "Covert Affiars", I’d say any new UB guest appearance wouldn’t happen in season four.  But we’ll see.

Congratulations on the new pilot, Chris!

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I mentioned in my “quick notes” that I liked “The Fall Issue” more than this part of the finale, but I should have mentioned that I really liked this episode as well.  I thought it was very good, almost great.

First and foremost, the Henry storyline was well done.  You could almost see how much the two of them had matured in a year.  Their knowing glances were romantic and sad at the same time.  It was very good to see Chris Gorham on the show again – I love to watch his reactions to Michael Urie and Becki Newton.

The Molly/Daniel storyline made me cringe.  Not that it’s not believable; it’s just the idea of a dying person joking about their spouse’s love life after they are gone.  Daniel’s surprise for her at the end was nice, though.

The YETI interviews storyline was a little intriguing; I love the thought of Betty working at The New York Review.  But Betty is like a modern-day George Bailey, stuck in her Bedford Falls of Mode Magazine.  Jodi stealing her job was quite believable (especially in this economy).

Vanessa Williams and Christine Baranski are very good together (both in acting and in song).  Maybe we can see more of that in season 4.

America Ferrera was quite good in this one.  Her voice-overs were nice comedic distractions from all the drama.

Look for a recap for 3.24, The Fall Issue, soon.

Suzuki St Pierre reports on Fashion TV that New York has gone ga-ga over Daniel, because he has turned into such a devoted husband.  Molly is released from the hospital some time after her wedding night collapse.  Daniel is so popular, he gets invited onto The View.  he thinks it’s to talk about the Wedding Issue, but all Behar and Hasselbeck want to talk about it his devotion to Molly.

As Daniel is working out, Cal approaches and tells him he wants to capitalize on Daniel and Molly’s popularity, for he’s arranged for Molly to throw out the first pitch at a Mets game.  Daniel isn’t comfortable with that, so they agree that Daniel will do it instead.  Cal also gives tickets to Betty.

Wilhelmina exclaims, “Why does God hate me?”  She then recaps how Claire talked Cal into placing her in power over Wilhelmina.  Claire comes in and tells her she needs to make a change to the cover of the Wedding Issue.  Wilhelmina vows to find a way to get Cal to turn against Claire.

Matt shows Betty his first painting – an almost-nude portrait of Betty (glasses and all).  He uses this as a segue into asking Betty to move in with him.  She tells him it’s a biog step, and she’ll think about it.  Amanda comes in, sees the painting, and runs away screaming “My eyes!  My eyes!”

As Claire and Wilhelmina discuss the changes to the Wedding Issue cover, Victoria walks in, and shares a terse hello.  Claire is obviously uncomfortable, and Wilhelmina notices this.  She tells Marc that she will find out what’s going on between the two.

Jodi comes to Mode and advises her before her YETI interviews.  They have a nice mentor/student moment.  Jodi asks about Marc, and Betty says he hasn’t mentioned Jodi.

Betty tells her family about Matt’s proposal, and surprisingly, Ignacio agrees. (With a little fatherly muttering thrown in).

On the phone the next day, Betty tells Matt she will move in with him.  At this moment, at the end of a rainbow, she sees Henry getting into a cab.

Marc tells Wilhelmina he’s looked into Victoria’s background (including a “lesbian rumor” …hmmmm), and that he’s signed Wilhelmina up for Victoria’s tennis club.

As Betty looks over he YETI interview guide, she also checks Henry’s Facebook status, which he is updating quite often.  Marc sees this, and reminds her that it’s time for their interviews.  As they are leaving she notices Henry’s at a restaurant around the block.

Betty then goes through a series of interviews, including with the New York Review.  As the interviewer is leaving, Betty gives her an impassioned speech about how much the Review means to her.

Jodi tells Betty the interviewers loved her.  She had less kind words for Marc, but mostly because he hadn’t been calling her.  Later, Betty asks Marc what happened between them, and he say “there were kisses, and boobs, and beer, and…I don’t want to talk about it anymore!”.  Amanda approaches, and they all end up in front of the restaurant Henry said he was at.  As Betty struggles with whether she should go see him, Henry shows up, with his girlfriend Chloe.

Henry explains that they are in New York for Chloe’s aerobic convention.  She’s proud of her work, including what she’s done with Henry.  Betty turns down Chloe’s dinner invitation because she’s going to the Mets game.  Marc and Amanda “helpfully” give their tickets to Henry and Chloe.  Later, Matt says it’s fine if they all go together.

Jodi calls and tells Betty she’s been offered an editor position at the New York Review (although it’s not official yet).  She tells Daniel, and they have a tearful pre-goodbye.

Victoria beats Billie Jean King at tennis, and then Wilhelmina walks up. Victoria and Wilhelmina decide to play a game.  Then, they decide to have a drink together.

Molly jokes about the women who are fawning over Daniel, joking about how much “tail” he’ll get when she’s gone.  This makes Daniel very uncomfortable.

At the Mets game, Daniel throws out the first pitch.  In the stands, Matt gives Betty the key to their apartment, as Henry and Chloe arrive.  Henry tells about being an accountant, and Matt talks himself down.  Betty tells about his art and almost-law degree, but her conscience scolds her for “trying to sell Matt”.  Chloe tries to show off Henry’s abs, and Matt uses the occasion to make his own belly button “talk”. 

Betty looks at the scoreboard, and it has changed to Henry vs Matt, and Henry is winning 1-0.  As the evening progresses, the score goes back and forth as each man does something that impresses Betty.

At the same time, Molly runs into a friend from the school she teaches at, and says she’s always wanted to introduce them.  Daniel takes this the wrong way, and tells the woman he can’t “go out with her”.  Unfortunately, she’s married and very freaked out.  So is Molly.

Henry tells them about his new apartment, and Matt prods Betty to tell their “really big news”.  She tells Henry about her job offer, which upsets Matt, who thought she’d mention their moving in together.  Matt later asks her if she did this because she was leaving the door open for Henry.  Betty apologizes.

Wilhelmina and Victoria sing “The Man That Got Away”, having been drinking heavily.  Claire (supposedly) calls Wilhelmina, and Victoria uses the occasion to tell Wilhelmina about an affair that Claire had with Cal long ago – and that a baby was the result.

Hilda tells Betty to forget about Henry, even though Betty still has feelings for him.

Daniel apologizes to Molly, who makes a joke about him dating her friend.  Daniel tells her to stop this, and she tells him in tears that she’s most fearful of dying and everyone forgetting that she was ever here.

Betty almost “unfriends” Henry on Facebook.  Marc tells Betty that he hasn’t had a single call.  Betty tells him he should call Vogue (the one he really wanted) and tell them just who Marc St James really is.  He agrees.

Betty calls The New York Review, and discovers that Jodi has stolen her job.  She rushes to confront Jodi, who tells her that she couldn’t sit by and let some cheery 20 something take what she’d dreamed of her whole career.  Betty storms off.

During her acupuncture, as Wilhelmina tells Marc about what she found out about Claire, Marc tells her he got a job offer from Vogue.

Betty leaves Matt a tearful voice message, and discovers that Henry is only a block away (according to his Facebook status).

Daniel comes to see Molly in the bed, and shows her the cover if The Wedding Issue; Molly in her wedding dress is the cover.  He says, “Now everyone will know you were here”.

Betty meets Henry to tell her his problems.  They decide that although they have feelings for each other, they need to move on with their lives.  As they share a small goodbye kiss, it turns into a passionate kiss.  As they walk away from each other, we see Matt holding flowers, who has seen the whole thing.

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“I got a call from creator Silvio Horta.  When I left the show the first time, he made it clear to me that he was hoping that I would be able to come back at some point. So it wasn’t a totally unexpected phone call. He wanted me to come back and do an episode near the end of the season and, of course, I was happy to do it.”

On his exit from the show, he says the responsible party was “the writers. It was a story problem. I always felt that Henry was kind of accidentally written off the show.”  (I always had that feeling, too, like they backed themselves into a corner and said, “whoops”).

Gorham says, “Everybody got so excited about America Ferrera and I together, so the writers immediately tried to save that relationship for the long term on the show, and their way of doing that was to start throwing obstacles in the way to keep us apart. I think what they underestimated was deciding to give him a baby. I don’t think that they realized what that really meant.”

Apparently, something we discussed at Ugly Betty News during season 2 was discussed behind the scenes: “At first, there was a lot of talk that they wouldn’t make the baby Henry’s. That they’d make it Dr. Farkas’ or something. But they didn’t want to cop out and not make it his. So we had long conversations about how Henry could come back with the baby having left his girlfriend Charlie and be a very sympathetic single dad in New York and how that could be really interesting because Betty’s dad is a single dad, too. But as Season 2 was winding down and they started breaking stories for Season 3, I think they realized the show isn’t called ‘Ugly Betty and Henry.’ It’s ‘Ugly Betty’ and there’s a lot of other characters and to really service that single dad storyline you’d really have to spend a lot of time on it. It just wasn’t going to work.

More (including some interesting quotes about the S2 love triangle) after the jump.

About how his character changed at the end of season 2:  “Yeah, at the same time they’re giving me this baby to keep me and Betty apart they also brought in Gio, to do that as well”, said Gorham.  “So they had to make me a little dumber and make him great. It was very much to make people like Gio, to make this triangle work and make it believable. It just was not good for my job security.”

Shippers, please do not read this next quote from Gorham (about Betty choosing “herself”):  “As a viewer, taking my life out of it, I was actually relieved. Because as an audience member and as a fan of the show I was bored of me. Me and Gio and all of her romantic stuff. Like seriously? I never dated that much. Who does that?”

How does Henry come back?  “Henry has a new girlfriend, who remarkably looks like his old girlfriend. She’s an aerobics instructor so he’s going with her to New York for an aerobics convention, but he really wants to run into Betty, so he’s updating his Facebook page every five minutes, saying where he is at all times.”

Ha!  I’ve done that before!

As for Charlie and the baby, “We talk about the baby. Charlie we don’t talk about. They’ve broken up. In my head, they’re not together. They were never going to be together. The whole point of going to Tucson was not to be together with her, it was to be there with his kid. It’s very Dr. Laura. I think Dr. Laura would like Henry.”

There is so much more at the original interview (hat tip Beatrice B).  Check it out!

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Christopher Gorham has closed a deal to reprise his role as Betty’s ex-love Henry, setting the stage for a geektastic showdown with her current beau, Matt (Daniel Eric Gold).

Un-freakin-believable.  There’s more:

Ugly Betty creator Silvio Horta confirms to me exclusively that Gorham — who’s currently trying to stay alive on CBS’ Harper’s Island — will reappear in the show’s two-hour season finale on May 21 when Betty runs into Henry and his new girlfriend Chloe (played by Gossip Girl’s Dream Walker) in the Big Apple. To prove to themselves that they’ve moved on, Betty and Henry agree to go on a double date to a Mets game with their respective significant others.

[Me] Uh…stammer,stammer,deer in the headlights look, stammer, stammer…

Horta says, "As Henry and Betty reconnect, it could potentially threaten her relationship with Matt.”  He adds that he’s "really happy" to have Gorham back in the fold. "Chris has always been, and will always be, part of the Ugly Betty family."

Horta will not say if Gorham will be back next season.

But, you know what?  This shows me that the producers have figured out where their bread is buttered.  Yes, this probably means a return to the “ship” wars (although the Matt fan club seems kind of lukewarm, at least based on the comments here). 

Henry fans, out of nowhere, it seems, you have new hope.  Gio fans, this has got to be a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, you’ve got to be thinking “why not Gio (Freddy Rodriguez)?   On the other hand, this shows that the producers are open to the return of an old suitor.  The “single girl in the city” storyline is over.  Matt fans, if you weren’t here at the end of season 2, you have no idea what you’re in for.  All I can say is, fasten your seat belts.

I am absolutely gob smacked by this.  I THINK it’s a good thing, as long as it’s not a big tease.  I can’t wait to find out.

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It seems like a combination of an Agatha Christie murder mystery and an 80’s slasher film.  It seems a little intense for us to watch with the kiddies, but intriguing just the same.

In the video, there’s a short snippet of interview with Christopher Goham, and several clips of some of his scenes (amongst others).  At the Harper’s Island web site, there’s also “biographies” of each character, including Gorham’s  (who is, once again, named Henry).

About Island’s unorthodox filming, Gorham admits it was a little unsettling. 

“As an actor, it requires an unprecedented amount of trust in your producers, because none of us knew what was going to happen,” he said. “None of us knew what our story arcs were going to be. There was no planning in advance. There was no planting of seeds. In a situation like that, you just have to trust your instincts, and trust that the producers know what they’re doing.”

“You say to yourself, ‘OK, I’m going to play what’s in front of me, and only what’s in front of me. And trust that when we get five episodes down the line, I’m not going to look back and regret the choices that I made, because something changed, because a relationship changed, because someone died . . .’ There was an extraordinary amount of trust involved.”

“On the flip side of that, I think it brought an incredible freshness to what we were doing. It made it incredibly alive, incredibly in the moment, and it made the whole experience a lot of fun. The funny thing is that, by doing it that way, we got to experience, as actors, what the audience is going to experience when they’re watching it.”

I know I’m going to at least DVR this show.  What about you?

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Her name is Alondra Cecilia Lopez Gorham (love that name!). According to Gorham, she’s “perfect”. He and his wife also have two sons, Lucas and Ethan.

Gorham is only a part of keeping the baby-making streak for the show alive. First it was creator / executive producer Salma Hayek, and more recently new parents Eric Mabius, Rebecca Romijn and the newly expecting Ana Ortiz.

I hope when (and I say whan, not if) Ugly Betty renews for its fourth season, they include a nursery in the contract.

And of course, keep an “eye” out for Gorham on CBS, where he will be playing the lead in the upcoming new serialized drama “Harper’s Island,” in which he plays a groom at a wedding that soon becomes a nightmare when the guest get picked off one by one by a mysterious killer among them.

Congratulations Chris!

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This week’s print version of TV Guide has a blurb about Christopher Gorham and his new show, Harper’s Island.  You can view a scan here.

Gorham says, of his Ugly Betty character Henry’s relationship with Betty, “The show got us together and had to think of ways to keep us apart”. 

There’s really no disagreeing with that.  We can argue whether the producers jumped the gun with the Henry/Betty relationship (as much as I like him, I think they did – romantic tension is always better, dramatically, than a healthy relationship), but there’s no denying that the whole love triangle thing was not handled well. (This is assuming that the story just abruptly ends early in season 3)

Back to the blurb, it mentions that Gorham’s character on Harper’s Island, Henry Dunn, is a “dashing groom”.  The plot of the show has friends and family gathering on the island, only to get picked off one by one by a mysterious killer. The killer is revealed in the season finale.

But there’s an interesting Ugly Betty connection: Adam Campbell, who plays a guest and subsequently one of the suspects, is married to none other than Jayma Mays, who of course played the girl we loved to hate, Charlie.  Asked if she could be the killer, Campbell says, “I live with the girl, so I know she’s got a sinister side.  Nothing would surprise me.”

Source: SpoilerTV

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