Ugly Betty
Oct. 15th, 2006 03:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tenayaMy old original Tivo is in the front room still grinding away taping the overflow shows. My NTSC/Pal VCR won't spit out a tape so I guess it's history. Should I get it fixed? Replace it? VHS! Those things are pretty much history now and I'm not sure I can convince myself to spend money to access the smattering of PAL tapes I have (mostly Peter Wingfield stuff.) :::sigh:::
Anyway, I finally got a new VCR/VHS machine and we watched the first two eps of Ugly Betty. I had a hard time getting past the title, but apparently this is a remake of a very popular Spanish language series. I enjoyed it and it's examination of society's skewed values. Betty is very likeable and one does root for her as she faces an uphill battle in life. She's spunky and smart in a realistic way. Circumstances get her a job as an executive assistant to the editor of a fashion magazine and Betty is *so* out of place in this arena of shallow, narcissistic backstabbers. The villains are all mustache twirlers but the stereotypes they portray are delightful. There are gay characters (at a fashion magazine? Go figure!) and they're funny but we're not laughing at them because they're gay, but because they've said something witty. Yes, actually this is a comedy, but it has a lot of heart, and its humor (so far) hasn't been the forced type that usually turns me off sitcoms. Betty is an excellent role model, but don't let that turn you off. It really is very funny.
Anyway, I finally got a new VCR/VHS machine and we watched the first two eps of Ugly Betty. I had a hard time getting past the title, but apparently this is a remake of a very popular Spanish language series. I enjoyed it and it's examination of society's skewed values. Betty is very likeable and one does root for her as she faces an uphill battle in life. She's spunky and smart in a realistic way. Circumstances get her a job as an executive assistant to the editor of a fashion magazine and Betty is *so* out of place in this arena of shallow, narcissistic backstabbers. The villains are all mustache twirlers but the stereotypes they portray are delightful. There are gay characters (at a fashion magazine? Go figure!) and they're funny but we're not laughing at them because they're gay, but because they've said something witty. Yes, actually this is a comedy, but it has a lot of heart, and its humor (so far) hasn't been the forced type that usually turns me off sitcoms. Betty is an excellent role model, but don't let that turn you off. It really is very funny.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-15 11:18 am (UTC)You know we seem to agree on pretty much all TV shows well except for one and that's Supernatural ;-)
Yeah I like Ugly Betty, it's actually pretty funny without being forced. The morals can be pretty heavy handed but again they are so predictable they are endearing so yeah I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-10-16 12:11 am (UTC)The morality doesn't bug me as much because she decides to do the right thing and deal with the results, where in sitcoms they lie, lie, lie and get into all sorts of comedic trouble, like the Susan character on Desperate Housewives. For me, that's like so 20 damn years ago I'm so tired of it!