[IMG:L]If there’s a Cinderella story from last TV season, Ugly Betty is it.
Part soap opera, part campy comedy and all delicious fun, the fish-out-of-water fable about the plucky, style-challenged Latina from Queens not only surviving but thriving in the piranha-infested waters of the Manhattan fashion biz hit big in its freshman season just as its popular and critically acclaimed star became America’s darling, showered with awards including an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy series. Not surprisingly, there’s a lot riding on Betty’s sophomore season, and resting on the shoulders of star America Ferrera.
“I think if I let it, I could feel it, but I try not to think about it,” says Ferrera. “Sure, it’s a lot to live up to. We had a fantastic first season, but I think we’re really doing it justice.” Tony Plana, who plays her papa Ignacio, admits that the bar-raising pressure is “a little daunting,” but is confident that the writers and actors are working hard to meet the challenge. “Comedy is serious business,” he affirms.
Based on a popular Colombian telenovela, Ugly Betty was remade for American TV by Cuban-American Silvio Horta and Mexican-born superstar Salma Hayek, who handpicked Ferrera for the title role. The Real Women Have Curves and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants actress of Hoinduran heritage “immediately connected” with Betty’s “honesty and with who she is,” despite the fact that she grew up in predominantly Anglo neighborhood in Woodland Hills, Calif., unable to speak Spanish. “I went to 52 bar mitzvahs and not a single quinceañera.”
Ferrera doesn’t mind being a lantern-bearer for Latins and is encouraged that the show has opened diversity doors in Hollywood a bit wider and given hope to youth in need of positive examples, but she believes that portrayals of Hispanics have a long way to go to achieve true representation. “This is just one version of a Latin-American family,” she cautions.
It’s that salt-of-the-earth Suarez family, contrasted with the glamorous, deliciously over-the-top denizens of the Mode magazine universe that gives Ugly Betty its heart, and the mix has proved to be a winning combination. “You have the home life and real problems. And the fantasy of Mode–there’s something everyone can relate to,” says Ana Ortiz, who plays Betty’s big sis Hilda. “I think because we’ve had so much success we can push the envelope even further this season.”
So what’s ahead? More juicy intrigue, romantic entanglements, guest stars, a wedding and a musical episode, for starters. Betty, while working to bring her undocumented dad back from Mexico, will find herself in a love triangle with Henry (Chris Gorham) and Mode’s sandwich cart guy, Gio, played by Freddy Rodriguez.
[IMG:R]Mode editor Daniel Meade is still the playboy, but becomes cougar bait for a jewelry mogul played by Marlo Thomas. “Once a rogue, always a rogue,” sums up Eric Mabius, who adds that the character will “continue to screw up and slowly to grow up this season. He’s forced to step up to the plate in a way that he hasn’t ever before.” Mabius will also be on view later this month in the ABC Family movie Nature of the Beast, a werewolf flick airing Oct. 21.
Whether new mom Salma Hayek will make a return appearance as rival editor and Daniel’s former flame Sofia Reyes is unknown, but “There’s definitely room for her to come back and stir things up again,” says Ana Ortiz (Hilda).
Daniel’s brother-turned-sister Alexis hasn’t been lucky in love, but real-life newlywed Rebecca Romijn hopes that will change. “It’s going to be a very special person to take Alexis on as a love interest. So I’m holding out for that special person on the show,” she says, noting that she has received “super positive” feedback to the character from transgender friends and strangers. “It can be a sensitive subject and I would never want to offend–and hopefully I have not,” she notes.
Amanda’s fling with a straight-pretending-to-be-gay designer is over and she’ll get a new companion besides BFF Marc (Michael Urie): a dog. She’ll also deal with the ramifications of her discovery that she’s Fey Summers daughter. “What I really like about Amanda is that she sort of fails at everything she attempts,” says Becki Newton. “It’s way more fun to play someone who thinks she knows what she’s doing but fails miserably every time.”
As for Urie’s character, “Marc will find love this year,” promises executive producer Marco Pennette, and the husband Christina (Ashley Jensen) abandoned will make an appearance.
Mode diva Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) will be plotting as usual. “You can expect the usual unrelenting drive that Wilhelmina always has. She makes sure that she finds her way to the top,” says Williams, and toward that end she’ll wed mag mogul Bradford Meade (Alan Dale) in episode seven, though he’s not her only bedmate. Enter bodyguard Dwayne, played by Williams’ real-life ex-husband, Rick Fox.
[IMG:L]Other guest stars in the Mode universe will include Victor Garber, Patti Lupone, returning as Marc’s mother, and James Van Der Beek as a smarmy advertising executive. According to Ana Ortiz, the former Dawson’s Creek star had quite the effect on set. “All the girls were atwitter. It was really hysterical.”
Also making a big impression on everyone: Victoria Beckham, playing herself at Wilhelmina’s wedding. “She was so nice, the most down to earth. Everyone else who has come on brings their own hair and makeup people, but she let ours do her hair and makeup,” notes Ortiz. “We poke fun at her, but she was great. She has a really good sense of herself.”
Ortiz’s Hilda starts off the season in an emotional place, not dealing well with the season one finale shooting death of her fiancé, Santos. “In the opener,” Ortiz explains, “she’s locked herself in her room and [she sees him] there.” As she heals, she realizes she needs to take responsibility for her life and provide for her son, and she opens her own hair salon. “It’s really going to be really fun to see the characters that traipse through,” laughs Ortiz, who looks forward to Hilda’s dating adventures later in the season, though they will “cause some tension” between her and teenage Justin (Mark Indelicato), who’ll also be coping with the loss of his father. And in a coup for the fashion-crazed kid, he’ll get an internship at Mode.
Meanwhile, as of episode four, Ignacio Suarez is still in Mexico, “dealing with complications of my past that are catching up with me,” says Tony Plana, pleased that the writers have been able to depict the serious issue of immigration within the context of a lighthearted comedy.
[IMG:R]Ugly Betty will celebrate Valentine’s Day with a musical episode, which Marc Shaiman is writing music for now. “We’re all going to be going through our individual love angst,” says Ortiz. The musical theater connection also presents itself earlier in the season when Betty goes on a date to a performance of Wicked.
That episode was shot the day after Ferrera’s Emmy win, and the cast, bleary-eyed from celebrating, took turns posing with the pointy-winged award Ferrera brought to work. What does Ferrera’s Emmy mean for the show? “I hope it means better craft services!” quips Ortiz. “It’s more recognition and appreciation for her, and it gives us a boost and the drive to keep doing well and keep swinging for the fences and keep it real and funny and honest. It’s all good.”
