I’m trying to figure it out: who could this be? It would have to be a pretty unusual character for us to “laugh our ass[es] off” at the thought of a contract dispute. I STILL think, based on Ausiello’s cryptic statements, that it’s Mark Indelicato.

I can tell you that if anyone SHOULD be renegotiating, it should be Michael Urie and Becki Newton. If those two are still under their “rookie contracts”, to borrow a sports phrase, they are very underpaid.

As an aside, I’ll miss Ausiello greatly. The teaser in the middle of the video (right after the Ugly Betty mention) is hilarious. I hope he has a column/podcast in the same vein for Entertainment Weekly.

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This is the mantra Betty Suarez repeated to herself on her first day at Mode. Of course, she then proceeded to walk face-first into a glass wall, but isn’t that the way it goes in the real world?

There are many lessons that young people could learn about the world of work from Ugly Betty, and that is the premise behind an upcoming book from Entertainment Weekly writer Tanner Stransky. “Find Your Inner Ugly Betty – 25 Career Lessons from TV Shows for Young Professionals” is a tome about the lessons young professionals can take away from watching their favorite sitcoms.

“The inspiration comes from the fact that ‘Ugly Betty’ is actually a really great example of a young professional getting her footing in the workplace,” Stransky says.

“So naturally, by taking a closer look at what she’s done right and wrong, you’re able to teach young people quite a lot that they can put to good use in their own jobs.”

Stransky gave thought to lessons learned as he was starting his career as a writer.

“I thought about the three post-collegiate jobs I’ve had and considered how advice about Betty’s situations could have been most helpful to me when I was starting out,” he said.

More after the jump

Well, hopefully he never fell off a mechanical steed, but we get the picture. Stransky touches on the one thing Betty has that may be more important than anything else: confidence.

“The gist of the advice is that confidence – and a belief in yourself – is sometimes more important than the skills you actually bring to the table,” he said.

“When Betty walked into the doors of Mode, she was obviously not a fashionista and was clearly out of place. But the one thing she had on her side was confidence and a willingness to put herself out there.”

Stranksy also touches on a very important issue to young workers: being very careful with your online image. Remember when Betty tried the online dating service (and how her co-workers found out almost immediately?). Stranksy says to be very careful with sites like Facebook and Myspace.

“It’s very easy these days for your boss – or potential boss – to find out everything about you online,” he said. “The thing is, they know all young folks are on these sites, and even if they can’t log in, they’ve got their own kids who may let them.”

Granted, most of us don’t have to deal with some of the unusual problems Betty faces every week. “But, in some ways I do think young professionals on television and those in real life are similar,” Stransky said. “Betty has issues with coworkers and her boss, and she’s always trying to figure out the right thing to do.”

You can preorder “Find Your Inner Ugly Betty” here.

Source: Des Moines Register Image via Amazon.com .

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Did you see the Spring TV Preview recently posted by EW? It’s quite a handly little reference guide, and the page that focuses on Ugly Betty gives us some great new insight on the refocusing on Betty we’ve previously talked about.

After giving a recap of “where we left off”, they let us know where things are going, and provide a much more in-depth quote from America Ferrera (about the direction of the show) than we’ve seen before. Apparently, she spent hours with Silvio Horta watching the show. What they realised was surprising:

”In the second season we lost a lot of what we loved about Betty,” says Ferrera. As Horta explains it, ”We were getting away from Betty’s point of view. The show had become incredibly funny, but it started to lose some of its heart.” As we know, Horta wrote the word “Heart” on a dry erase board and left it there to inspire himself and the writers.

They started working with a new executive producer, Joel Fields, the replacement of Marco Pennette. They’ve forged a new direction, which focuses on the love triange (Shippers Unite!), the return of Wilhelmina to Mode, and, get this: a Meade Publications softball game, perhaps featuring Naomi Campbell! I LOVE this idea, it could be an even better version of the paintball match.

Ferrera is happy: ”If anything good came out of the strike, it’s that we were able to step back and breathe,” she says. ”We’re coming back with our heads on straight.”

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Her entry in the prestigious listing:

AGE 23

BROKE OUT IN… the 2002 sleeper hit Real Women Have Curves, as a young Latina who struggles to leave the family nest.

WHY HER? Take away the braces, unruly brows, and frizzy hair and Ferrera is essentially the same character she plays on Ugly Betty: spunky, ambitious and, most importantly, genuine.

WHAT’S NEXT Before Ugly Betty comes back on April 24, she stars in (and executive produced) the gritty bilingual thriller, Hacia la oscuridad (Towards Darkness), out on March 14. This summer she can be seen in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (Aug.

Of course, she’s deserving. She is right on the edge of superstardom, in my opinion.

Post from: Ugly Betty News

Always eager to jump on end of year “best of” lists, Entertainment Weekly has named it’s Top 25 Entertainers of the Year.  Ugly Betty’s own Vanessa Williams made the list (as she should!).  She was listed in the “class clowns” section, which I am sure Ms Williams enjoyed – she has proven she is a top-notch comedian.

From EW:

”I think the producers were so strong about me doing this role because they had seen me do other diva roles,” says Ugly Betty star Williams (A Diva’s Christmas Carol, Broadway’s Into the Woods). ”They knew I could handle it.” And not just handle it — spin it on its stiletto heel. As diabolical editrix Wilhelmina Slater, she memorably burst onto the prime-time landscape last year in a masterful scene where her assistant injected her with Botox as she lounged in her office. This season, she’s upped the ante, as Wilhelmina attempts a coup to launch her own magazine, Slater. Williams garnered an Emmy nod in July, proving that those ABC producers are just as cunning as her character.

Also featured on the list were George Clooney, The Sopranos, Angelina Jolie, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, Amy Winehouse, and many others, J K Rowling as Entertainer of the Year.

Source: EW

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