Ugly Betty News » disney

Ugly Betty Available On Hulu Within Next 2 Weeks

Tom — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:45:49 +0000

Two months ago, Hulu, the video content provider, announced a deal with ABC to post that network’s content on its website. That deal is now starting to come to fruition.

Episodes of Grey’s Anatomy are now available on the site – five episodes from season five.

“Over the next two weeks, more ABC shows will launch on Hulu as part of our ongoing Hulu Days of Summer promotion, including current hits like I Survived a Japanese Game Show and The Superstars, as well as popular shows like Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty and Scrubs,” a Hulu spokesman said.

Also to be available soon under the Disney/ABC umbrella are shows from ABC Family, SOAPNet, and The Disney Channel. Disney will also contribute selections from Walt Disney Studios and original, short-form content.

It will be kind of neat to be able to stream episodes of The Office, Family Guy, and The Daily Show along with ABC favorites like Grey’s, Wipeout, and, of course, Ugly Betty. This, to me as a consumer, is the real advantage of Ugly Betty being available on Hulu. I’ll be honest, I LOVE ABC’s video player as it is.

That being said, testing Grey’s on Hulu’s player shows that it might even be better. Streamed in high-res (480p), full screen, the clarity is wonderful, and I can’t wait to see Ugly Betty on the player. I haven’t looked into the embedding feature, certainly there have to be some limitations – maybe some of you are more familiar and can fill me in on Hulu’s embed policy.

As usual, you readers outside the US are left out of the loop, due to licensing reasons. Hulu does, however, plan on launching in the UK in September.

It’ll be great to have Ugly Betty available on another platform!

Image: Newscom

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Laid Off Ugly Betty Crew Blame California Government

Tom — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:41:32 +0000

Most of the crew of Ugly Betty, losing their jobs by the show’s relocation to New York, are placing a full-page ad in Variety, asking state and Los Angeles officials to take action to ensure more productions are filmed locally. According to Nikki Finke at DeadlineHollywood.com, not only are the crew buying the ad, but also several dozen vendors to the show.

This is exactly where the blame should lie, IMHO. As I said in the comments here yesterday, there is now little difference between the entertainment industry and the sports world in this regard. Cities and states are played against each other to extract the absolute highest perks for producers/owners. And cities can complain all they want, but the hard,cold truth is that if localities don’t play the game, another city or state will.

Los Angeles used to be at an extreme advantage because it had the infrastructure for TV/Movie production. But New York was never really far behind, and every locality in the country seems to have a film commission now. It’s a new world, and CA cannot arrogantly sit back and say, “We’re California!” and think that’s enough anymore.

Text of the full-page ad after the jump:

To Whom it Should Concern
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Members of the State Senate and State Assembly, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors:

We are writing to you because we just lost our jobs. We are the 300 plus members of the crew of the television show Ugly Betty. We were informed this Tuesday that the production of our show is moving to New York primarily because of the 35% tax incentives being offered by the state of New York. Instead of making good wages and paying our fair share of California state income tax, we will all be collecting Unemployment Benefits. In addition, we will certainly be cutting our spending back to the bone, which will not only cut back our sales tax contributions substantially, but it could end up costing the jobs of the people who provide services and products to us. Not only are these crew positions being lost; all of our local vendors are losing our business.

Our production buys: lumber, paint, wallpaper, cabinets, other building materials, office products, fabric, art supplies, computer equipment, food, beverages, flowers, film, makeup & hair products, wigs, insurance, jewelry, clothing, etc.

Our production rents: lighting equipment, sound equipment, video playback equipment, heavy machinery, office equipment, backdrops, costumes, furniture, scenery, props, soundstages, offices, parking facilities, cars, trucks, storage facilities, computers, camera equipment, grip equipment, editing equipment, drafting equipment, cell phones, computers, toilets, dumpsters, live plants, production trailers, tools, hardware, artwork, walkie talkies, etc.

Our production also uses the services of: dry cleaners, printers, location companies, Special Effects companies, utilities, caterers, payroll services, restaurants, security, Post Production Services, Clearance Houses, etc.

When we shoot on locations around Los Angeles we pay for permits; we pay homeowners & businesses for the use of their property, we hire police and fire department personnel, we pay for facility engineers, etc.

So, while the loss of our individual positions may be insignificant, the loss of this production is staggering. Now multiply this by all the other productions going to New York, New Mexico, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina and other states with incentives, not to mention Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Eastern Europe, etc. and the cost to the California state economy is monumental. We implore you to do everything in your power to level the playing field and bring our jobs back to California by enacting meaningful incentives to keep film and television production in our state.

Sincerely yours
The Crew of Ugly Betty

Image: Newscom

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Pics of Vanessa Williams at Lincoln Center Gala

Tom — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:31:54 +0000

Ugly Betty’s Vanessa Williams hosted the Lincoln Center’s annual Spring Gala last night, April 9 at Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City. (By the way, wouldn’t you love to have ust a portion of Williams’ frequent flyer miles?). The event honored Disney Company president Robert A. Iger.

Image details: Lincoln Center’s Annual Spring Gala Honors Robert A. Iger served by picapp.com

It was an ABC/Disney-riffic night. Dianne Sawyer presented Iger with the Lincoln Center Laureate Award. Many songs from Disney’s history were sung, but my absolute favorite has to be Michael Bolton singing “Go The Distance” from Hercules. Micheal Bolton. If MB is there, it’s a party.

Williams was a classy beauty in this green number. The green matches her eyes, she always looks great wearing it.

More pics (including a few with the dynamic Mr Bolton) after the jump.

Image details: Lincoln Center’s Annual Spring Gala Honors Robert A. Iger served by picapp.com

This is my favorite…absolutely gorgeous:

Image details: Lincoln Center’s Annual Spring Gala Honors Robert A. Iger served by picapp.com

Image details: Lincoln Center’s Annual Spring Gala Honors Robert A. Iger served by picapp.com

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‘Ugly Betty’ Wows Hispanic Convention

Tom — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:27:56 +0000

America Ferrera is becoming a phenomenon:

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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