Although Ugly Betty’s new season hasn’t started airing yet, it’s not too soon to congratulate the show’s titular heroine on her recent promotion from assistant to features editor at Mode magazine. STA has been following her journey from the start, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the show changes now that Betty is in a position to have an assistant instead of be one. (As previously reported, former Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler will join the cast as Betty’s replacement working for Daniel.)
And what goes along with Betty’s promotion? A long-awaited makeover, of course. Sources report that focus groups were shown pictures of actress America Ferrera in different outfits, including a Chanel power suit and a black cocktail dress, and asked to say which one they liked the best. I guess it’s good that Betty won’t be so ugly anymore, but I really hope she doesn’t lose her spunk and kind heart. You hear that, show? Don’t let her get promoted to be the boss from hell. Our girl knows better than that.
Last season, Ugly Betty ended with our longsuffering assistant heroine Betty Suarez being promoted to Features Editor at Mode magazine, thus qualifying her as a Former Assistant Done Good.
However, that left a spot open for a new assistant. Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, best known as Meadow from The Sopranos, will join the show next season as Daniel Meade’s new assistant. For now, the role is recurring, but there’s definitely room for growth. Let’s just hope Jamie-Lynn fares better on the show than Lindsay Lohan did (i.e. doesn’t get fired from the show before her storyline is over).
Oh man, this news is almost too good to be true. STA’s favorite fictional assistant and STA’s favorite evil celebrity boss are going to go head to head. ABC announced yesterday that Naomi Campbell will guest star on Ugly Betty’s season finale. I can only hope that Naomi tries to mess with Betty and that Betty kicks major ass. I may have to liveblog this.
That reminds me…Ugly Betty is finally back tonight with its first episode since the writers’ strike ended. The episode is about Betty’s 24th birthday.
Miss Ugly Betty herself, America Ferrera, had this to say in Star magazine (UK edition) when asked if her character was an exaggeration of an assistant:
“If you work in this industry, some of our plot lines aren’t as far-fetched as they seem. A lot of people in the film and television industry treat their assistants even worse than in this show.”
Um, word.
Congrats to America Ferrera, whose portrayal of “Ugly Betty” inspires all beleaguered assistants, on her Emmy win last night. Instead of posting a picture of her in that pretty blue dress, we thought we’d post ‘an action shot’ of her in full out Betty gear.
