Ugly Betty - The Complete First Season DVD Credits:

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Ugly Betty - The Complete First Season DVD Release Date: 20th August 2007

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Ugly Betty - The Complete First Season DVD Review:

There is little about the premise of Ugly Betty which seemed appealing to me, and the more I heard the less I wanted to see even one episode, so I must admit I sat down to watch season one with great hesitation and somewhat of a bias. Part of the problem for me was the similarities between the show and the recent surprise hit film The Devil Wears Prada, which coincidentally preceded the airing of Ugly Betty, but I was mostly dreading watching a show starring America Ferrera. I sincerely did not care for Real Women Have Curves and her segments in The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants irked me for some unknown reason. I found myself aggravated by her presence on film and actors which have done this in the past hardly ever redeem themselves, but it only took one episode of Ugly Betty to change my mind. The show itself is a large banner telling everyone not to judge by appearances alone and Ferrera brings a bubbly irresistible charm that makes her impossible not to like even if sometimes painful to look at.

There is somewhat of a strange counter-balance in each episode in regards to Betty’s looks. Although she continuously proves that she is capable of handling the job and often proves that looks don’t matter by the end of the episode, nearly all of the humor up to that point is usually at Betty’s expense. She is ridiculed in every way imaginable, and often doesn’t make the wisest choices in staying out of these situations. Betty is brilliant enough to think up a plan to save clients and book photographers at the magazine, but she can’t get a clue when it comes to her appearance. The fact that the magazine Betty works for is one of the hottest fashion magazines makes her life especially difficult. Everyone is surprised to see her show up with the highest assistant job under Daniel, who is running the magazine because his father owns it and has several enemies because of this. Soon both Daniel and Betty are trying to protect their jobs together. Each episode has Betty doing her part to help Daniel as he tries to do right by his father for the first time. Problems always arise and they find a way to fix them just in time to secure their place for a little longer.

Another quality that each Daniel and Betty share is a heavy reliance upon their meager paycheck, each requiring and receiving just below what their lifestyle requires. Daniel having spent all of his trust fund money is unable to afford the lifestyle his is accustomed to and Betty is constantly trying to take care of her father as well as herself. These moments of life’s harsh realities are brief in-between the madcap melodrama of the fashion magazine, but it is a necessary change in the show. Unfortunately it is much more difficult to ignore problems when drama is concerned, and there are some issues with Ugly Betty that are hard to swallow. Although the show takes place in New York, the fashion capital of the U.S., the show is filmed in Los Angeles. There are some clever ways that the show covers the actual location with green screens but that does not change the fact that the show feels very distinctly like Hollywood rather than New York. For example, Betty and her family are Mexicans living in New Jersey and her father is having immigration issues. These small nuances make the show feel somewhat phony and staged, obviously attempting to fit the agendas of the producers into a popular setting after a hit summer film.

There are also some convenient changes mid-season to allow producer Salma Hayek a re-occurring role on the show. In the first episodes she is an actress on the telenovela that Betty’s family watches but she then appears again as an editor of another magazine owned by Daniel’s father. There are even more convenient accidents that allow them to have even more interaction together and she inevitably becomes part of the plot.

The DVD has a cover as off-putting as many of the opening camera shots. Extremely close shots of Betty’s metal-filled grin is the bread and butter of the show and the cover of the set as well. The first season is fit onto six discs, which is twenty-three episodes and plenty of special features. The deleted scenes and commentaries run plentiful but the last disc is filled with mostly superficial special features. The featurette about the green screen used to give the illusion of Manhattan is interesting but the other featurettes are a lot of the usual cast interviews about things that are just meant to entertain and promote the show further. Now the game on the television DVD special features is to continue ratings for the following season and all that is given is precisely what they want you to see.

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Ugly Betty - The Complete First Season DVD review written by: Ryan Izay