Guest Author - Ehmonie Hainey

In this month’s Vogue magazine, an advertisement was placed on page 737 – a resume for one Betty Suarez. Was this a desperate attempt to break in to the fashion industry? How about a person with too much disposable income? Turns out it was neither. The ad was placed on behalf of ABC, to promote their new fall series, Ugly Betty.

Ugly Betty is the newest fashion offering. Set in the glamorous backdrop of ‘Mode’ fashion magazine, where everything and everyone is gorgeous, Betty (portrayed by America Ferrera) is “the square peg in a round hole”. Her appearance is lackluster, she doesn’t dress in couture, and she isn’t stick–thin”. Betty is the proverbial fish out of water.

The series makes light of Betty’s struggles to acclimate within her contradictory environment, like Andrea in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Betty is smart and talented, but in the fashion industry, appearance is everything, so Betty and her new boss bump heads before teaming up to conquer the backstabbers in the industry, and in the office.

“Betty” is positioned to air directly preceding “Grey’s Anatomy”, on its new night. “Betty” may likely become ABC’s new breakout hit, thanks to clever scheduling strategies and decent casting. Also, with the recent successes of The Devil Wears Prada, and reality dramas like Project Runway, the fashion industry has become the focus in mainstream media and ABC’s timing couldn’t be better.

Executive produced by Salma Hayek, “Ugly Betty” premieres September 28 at 8/7c, on ABC.