Admittedly, I only first delved into Ugly Betty this past spring when I got a freelance gig interviewing Vanessa Williams. I'd never seen a single episode of the show, but did a bit of brushing up by watching some of the first season before the one-on-one.Needless to say, I got sucked into the series. Betty's bumbling, Mark's bitchiness, Daniel's man-whoring and Wilhelmina's conniving were just too good to abandon after only a few viewings. And then there's Amanda...
Anyway, imagine my delight when I landed a three-month freelance job in June writing episode recaps for the ABC network's website. Between that and Netflix, I flew through nearly three seasons of Betty by September.
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't catch any of Season 4 once it began airing this past fall. But it wasn't because I lost interest—I was still busy getting through Season 3 on DVD.
So today comes the news that the show has been canceled, and that its final episodes will air in April. You don't need a degree in rocket science to pinpoint that the move to Friday nights in September torpedoed the ratings. By the time ABC switched it over to Wednesdays earlier this month, it was sadly too little, too late.
Heavy sigh. I'm happy that I have a full unwatched season ahead of me. (These characters really do feel like old friends after 60+ episodes.) But I'm utterly gutted that, sadly, it's hasta la vista for Betty Suarez.