Ugly Betty, Wednesday 10pm, Channel 4

Posted by Jane Murphy

Betty’s back! Just when bright, breezy, throwaway US dramas seemed a little thin on the ground, Channel 4 has come up trumps by filling the vacant slot left by Desperate Housewives with series three of Ugly Betty.

And as last night’s opening episode quickly conveyed, a lot’s been happening while Betty’s been off our screens. Having dumped both of her love interests and been on a US road trip, our not-so-ugly heroine has arrived back in Manhattan brimming with enthusiasm and ideas about how to clamber up the career ladder at Mode magazine.

However, Mode’s now being run by the evil Wilhelmina - and former editor Daniel is heading up lads’ mag Player, which is staffed almost exclusively by bikini babes and halfwits. Hmmm… surely no good will come of this? Meanwhile, Betty’s big sister Hilda is bonking a married man (except nobody else knows he’s married - yet). And dad Ignacio is working in a burger bar with Lindsay Lohan. Now, that is a little worrying…

So will this series match up to the stellar standards set by the previous two? Well, the signs from across the Atlantic aren’t overly encouraging: viewing figures soon began to flounder when it was shown in the US earlier this year. Li-Lo’s performance in particular came in for some hefty criticism, and several other cast members have left. But, hey, the Americans are a notoriously fickle lot: just look at how Pushing Daisies went from hit to has-been in less than a year.

I suppose the trick is to keep things moving on and not keep going over the same ground, plot-wise. It’s no secret that Ms Lohan won’t be sticking around for long in this series - so we don’t need to get too involved with her character. And frankly, who needs catty comments from Lindsay when Amanda-the-receptionist delivers them so much better?

There’s obviously a romance brewing between Betty and her new neighbour - but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that she’ll eventually hook up with Daniel. Still, I suppose she may need to lose the braces before he looks at her in that way - but surely it can’t be that long until her teeth are fixed, can it?

 Picture: Channel 4

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Comments

[lolly]

I have to agree with Melanie - it was very disappointing and not funny at all.

[tee]

I thought it was great to have Betty back, not sure of her dress sense, but that's just Betty I suppose. I do think she is so funny and hope the laughs just keep getting better and better.

[melanie]

My Family and I were unanimous in the opinion that this episode reminded me of a wet fish, a flounder to be specific.It seemed to be thrashing around looking for a storyline. Will persist in watching, but a big let down for us all.