It might be wishful thinking but I keep coming back to “benching does not equal cancelling”. An ABC representative insists, “…Betty is a solid performer and there is no question that it will definitely be back to complete its season, just without repeats.”

Then there’s this: EOnline’s Kristin spoke to ABC insiders, and says, “The Alphabet net is looking at more of a cable model when it comes to its programming and scheduling. ‘

McPherson is interested in reducing the number of reruns,’ one well-placed insider tells me, adding that Betty—after its dip in the ratings this season—seemed the best place to slot in Samantha [Who?] and Motherhood.”

Let’s take the ABC suits at their word. No, quit smirking – we have no other choice. Stick with me here. Let’s say Betty comes back at the end of sweeps, and runs through much of the summer. Can that work? Has it ever been tried by a broadcast network before?

I do know that shows (especially on cable) can have devoted followings during the summer. I know my family actually blocked out time this past summer to watch “Wipeout” and “I Survived a Japanese Gameshow” (we’re weird like that…).

What I do know is this. The ratings for Ugly Betty were not great for a Thursday night 8pm show leading into a mega-hit. But they weren’t bad enough to give the show the axe altogether, IMHO. The darling of Hollywood, 30 Rock, had 1.1 million fewer overall viewers than Betty last week. (But to be fair, it did better in the 18-49 demos).

There are still many questions. Let’s say Ugly Betty does well when it comes back (for arguments sake, let’s say it stays in the 7-8 million range; that’s pretty good for summer). If it is brought back for a 4th season, would that season start in September, or would Betty become one of those shows that begins in January (or later?)

I will stay on top of this, and let you know ANY news as soon as I get it. Also, remember – there are still at least 2 episodes that will air before the benching.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Ugly Betty News

Since my pretty negative Ugly Betty poll last week, I feel I should follow through with the promised positive one. For all my bellyaching and nitpicking, the third season of Ugly Betty is shaping up to be a great one – even up there with the first half of season 1.

For you numbers geeks like me, the ratings have been creeping up as well. This is a surprise, I expected a long, small erosion all season (as is the case with many shows beyond the first season). Now, the decline could still happen – they always get temporarily worse around Thanksgiving, but it would appear that Ugly Betty is pretty much holding its audience.

So what have we liked about season 3?

Betty’s new direction. OK, this on is pretty contoversial, but I really like Betty’s character more this year. The season 2 stories were interesting, but I can only take so much of Angsty Betty. Now, she’s an optimistic, if not hapless, young lady. She lost her mind a little bit in 3.06, Crush’d, but that just shows she’s human. The romantic entanglements with come, but, I’d like to see her make a few dreams come true first.

Daniel and Wilhelmina. Forcing Daniel and Wilhelmina to work together was genius, if a little unbelievable. The tension is incredible as the pair simultaneously try to undermine one another and work together to put out the best product. The introduction of Connor has only emphasised this more.

Crazy Amanda. You know, I’ll be honest. I’ve always liked the fact that Amanda is subconsciously obsessed with Betty. I really don’t care for the fact that they’ve turned it slighly sexual (especially at Mode After Hours), but the overall jist of it is fun to watch. Besides the obsession, Amanda has actually seemed more comfortable in her skin this year. This allows her to do all kinds of crazy things (like traipsing around Mode after hours totally naked), and she does them with confidence .

Soft Wilhelmina. The Connor character has been good for Wilhelmina, I think. Although I have no doubt she’ll come out of her latest heartbreak colder and meaner.

DJ (and Daniel). Having DJ around in the early part of season 3 helped change Daniel; that kid was adorable. Daniel is more mature, while not becoming cynical like his father. I even liked the short stint at Player; Daniel was FUN there. The Detty moment in 3.06 was wonderfully written and acted. I know they can’t do it every week, but Eric Mabius and America Ferrera have a wonderful (platonic) chemistry, and they are at their best encouraging one another.

The guest stars. As usual, Ugly Betty uses its guest stars better than any other show on television (taste that, 30 Rock!) As crazy as it seemed at the time with Lindsay Lohan, her last appearance on the show was an intriguing, fun episode. That one also had Adriana Lima, who was gorgeous and gracious. Eddie Cibrian was a good addition, even though i didn’t care for his story. Ralph Macchio absolutely HAS to come back. Val Emmich was a pleasant surprise. None of the guest stars this year have seemed as gimmicky as last season’s appearance by Christian Siriano.

Of course there are a thousand other things to love about this season: the Suarezes (even though they haven’t gotten much screen time this season), the return of Cliff, the fact that they let Gio patch things up with Betty, the surprise ending in 3.03, and I’m sure you have many more.

So,let me ask you – what’s your favorite thing about Ugly Betty season 3 so far?

Post from: Ugly Betty News

“We’re returning our dominant core group of shows from last fall,” said McPherson. “The few openings we had we’ve filled with the kind of quality programming viewers have come to expect from ABC, and we have a very strong bench. As always, our focus is on delivering the best stories and most memorable characters on TV every day of the week, every week of the year.”

Luckily, ABC was smart enough to keep Ugly Betty in its most prime of primetime slots, the lead-in for Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s is typically the number one ranked show in the key demographic, Women 18-34 (even beating out American Idol). Ugly Betty may be “the gayest show on television”, but I think that the producers and ABC executives know where their bread is buttered. The show’s refocusing on Betty’s character has started to pay dividends; the ratings were up for the first time in a while this past week. Betty came in second to Survivor: Micronesia with 8 million viewers.

Betty will live or die by young women viewers. Leading into Grey’s gives the show the best possible chance of success.
The only thing better would be leading into Desperate Housewives, but Extreme Makeover: Home Edition isn’t going anywhere (and who doesn’t love THAT show?).

I’m looking forward to seeing Life on Mars, and the it should be interesting to see the final season of Scrubs playing on ABC as a midseason show.

The full ABC schedule after the break.

MONDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars”
9:30 p.m. “Samantha Who?”
10:00 p.m. “Boston Legal”

TUESDAY:8:00 p.m. “Opportunity Knocks”
9:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show”
10:00 p.m. “Eli Stone”

WEDNESDAY:8:00 p.m. “Pushing Daisies”
9:00 p.m. “Private Practice”
10:00 p.m. “Dirty Sexy Money”

THURSDAY:8:00 p.m. “Ugly Betty”
9:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
10:00 p.m. “Life on Mars”

FRIDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Wife Swap”
9:00 p.m. “Supernanny”
10:00 p.m. “20/20”

SATURDAY:8:00 p.m. “Saturday Night College Football”

SUNDAY: 7:00 p.m. “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
8:00 p.m. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
9:00 p.m. “Desperate Housewives”
10:00 p.m. “Brothers & Sisters”

Source: ABC
Image: Newscom

Post from: Ugly Betty News

If you’re wondering why the French haven’t yet taken to Ugly Betty, here’s why:  the French network TF1is airing 3 episodes each Monday, the third one starting at around midnight!  No wonder.  However, Arthelius is encouraging its readers to watch the show – because as we all know, once people are exposed to Ugly Betty, they can’t resist.

Let’s hope Ugly Betty gets a better time slot, and hopefully, better ratings in France!

Oh, and here’s the other alternate cover of Arthelius for this issue, the cast of One Tree Hill:

The Ugly Betty cover is far superior, IMHO.

Post from: Ugly Betty News

The ratings are out for Thursday (Thanksgiving night). The good news: Ugly Betty came in second in its time-slot to Survivor China, as it has all year.  Ugly Betty has been a solid second, and seems to be holding its viewership.

The bad news: this past episode could be called the best episode of the show that nobody watched.  OK, nobody is probably an overstatement.  However, Betty has been holding at a respectable 11 million for most of the year (with great numbers in the 18-49 demo), but Thursday night, 7.52 million watched. 

Numbers were down all around (Grey’s Anatomy got it’s worst ratings ever) – Only CBS’ crime dramas seemed to hold.  NBC had the good sense to run The Incredibles, which had a respectable 7.23 million.

Enjoy a good rant after the jump…

This wouldn’t be too alarming, but the exact same thing happened last year!  Ugly Betty in 2006 had been averaging 12-13 million, last Thanksgiving it had only 8.5 million viewers.  Grey’s had been averaging 21-23 million, and only pulled in 18.5 million on Thanksgiving.

I’m not a sociologist, but perhaps the programming people at ABC ought to consider that the people in demographics who watch Grey’s and Betty are probably doing other things on Thanksgiving! 

Please ABC – next year, show a rerun on Thanksgiving (instead of the next Thursday).  Or show a movie like NBC did.  Thanksgiving generally puts folks in a mood for something different.  Save the episodes of your Thursday shows; don’t first-run them when the majority of your viewers are watching football, or getting in early shopping, or cleaning up after a feast, or napping.

This only makes me angry because “Giving Up The Ghost” was an EXCELLENT episode (I absolutely love those high-tension, got-to-improvise,war room, Apollo 13 type dramas).

Hopefully, most who missed it watched on ABC’s site (I did).  ABC, please, next year, show Charlie Brown in the 8:00 hour on Thanksgiving!

Source: Televisionista

Post from: Ugly Betty News

ABC’s two other programs on the night, the season two premiere of Ugly Betty and the series premiere of Big Shots, perform well, but Ugly Betty was off a good deal from its series premiere last year, and Big Shots opened in a slightly weaker position than last year’s timeslot occupant (the now canceled Six Degrees) did, losing out to CBS’s relocated Without A Trace, which won the timeslot.

…

8:00 p.m.: The season two premiere of Ugly Betty (7.4/12 HH rating/share, 11.05M viewers, 3.8/11 A18-49 rating/share) was, expectedly, down from last year’s inflated series premiere numbers. A fairer comparison for a sophomore series would be a measurement against where it ended last year, and in that case the news is much better. But, you can’t ignore the season premiere comparison, what with the 5.27 million or 32% decline among both households and viewers and the 24% decline among adults 18-49. If anything, those numbers show just how much more powerful the series could have been, had it remained more consistent throughout last season.

• Season premiere comparison (September 28, 2006):
  • Households – 10.8/17 to 7.4/12
  • Viewers – 16.32M to 11.05M
  • Adults 18-49 – 5.0/14 to 3.8/11
• Episode-to-episode numbers (May 17, 2007):
  • Households – 7.1/11 to 7.4/12
  • Viewers – 10.50M to 11.05M
  • Adults 18-49 – 3.6/11 to 3.8/11

 With the strong writing that was evident last night, and the soap-opera feel of the storylines, I’d say Betty is on solid footing.  There are more than half a million new viewers since last May, and most of those will be hooked (IMHO).

Can’t wait to see the numbers from the UK, when it airs over there.

Source: Entertainment Now

Post from: Ugly Betty News