Watching Ugly Betty

America Ferrera celebrates an important birthday today, April 18th. The star of ‘Ugly Betty’ turns 25. Happy Birthday, America.

Victoria Beckham is lending her voice to SpongeBob Squarepants. The singer/actor/fashion designer had a guest appearance on Ugly Betty in 2007 when she played one of Wilhemina Slater’s bridesmaids.

Victoria will voice a sea goddess named Queen Amphitrite on an episode called “Neptune’s Party.” Look for it summer 2010.

Victoria apparently turned down a guest role on another ABC show ‘Desperate Housewives’ stating that there just wasn’t room in her hectic schedule.

Well tonight I had to tune in to watch In the Motherhood. I guess it’s just habit to watch ABC at 7pm.

The show was pretty cute. A lot of laughs and funny situational comedy. I won’t go into too many details since it hasn’t aired everywhere just yet. Let’s just say that of the three moms I know moms just like them. Well, maybe the two sisters. Rosemary is in a league of her own.

It will be cute to watch while we wait for new episodes of Ugly Betty.

I was reading an interesting article about TV characters that needed saving. Basically these characters were being under used in their current TV show and would be much better with their own show. It got me to thinking about if there was an ‘Ugly Betty’ sequel, which character would be best to carry this new show?

With the current plots in place, it seems like a good choice would be Marc. Maybe when he graduates from YETI he gets a chance to either become a writer or start his own magazine. One of Betty’s past love interest like Gio might make for a good spin-off. Or even a funny Office-like setting featuring Henry might have potential.

One possibility I like but may be too close to breaking up the whole show would be to have Hilda(Ana Ortiz) in her own show. Hilda could move out on her own, and start her own business. Sort of like an updated Mary Tyler Moore Show. Not having Hilda on the show wouldn’t be good since she really represents Betty’s family. Sure there’s Ignacio but if you take Hilda then you take Justin. Betty and Hilda share a lot of sisterly advice that’s good for the show because it reminds us of Betty’s values and roots.

It’s kind of fun to think of a spin-off of ‘Ugly Betty.’ Which character do you think could be the star of their own show?

Is ABC getting close to renewing ‘Ugly Betty’ for a fourth season? Michael Ausiello thinks so and he knows his stuff. ABC says they are not ready to make any such announcements.

It was last year at this time when the renewal for a third season was announced. So hopefully ABC is getting close to announcing their decisions. I have to admit that the announced hiatus of ‘Betty’ had me really worried about its future. If ‘Betty’ wasn’t renewed before the hiatus, would the ratings still be there in the summer for the show to be picked up for a fourth season? Now it seems like there will be a fourth season and hopefully an official announcement soon.

This is wonderful news to read. It could only be better if ABC had done an official announcement.

Cheyenne Jackson is the next star to be announced to have a guest appearance on ‘Ugly Betty.’ The gorgeous openly gay actor/singer will play a gay dad on an upcoming episode. Details of the episode and air date have not been announced.

Jackson - who was named 2008 Entertainer of the Year by ‘Out’ magazine - was last seen on Broadway playing the lead role of Sonny in Xandau. Jackson has also had guest appearances on ‘Lipstick Jungle’ and ‘Life on Mars.’

Hopefully we’ll see him before ‘Betty’ goes on hiatus in March. It will be interesting to learn more about his role if it has something to do with a classmate of Justin’s since he plays a dad. It is about time to get back to some story line featuring Justin. He’s such a fun character, so it’s nice to see his role explored.

Christine Baranksi is making a guest appearance on ‘Ugly Betty.’ Baranski was last seen on the big screen in last year’s musical ‘Mamma Mia!’ Christine returns to television once again for at least three episodes of our favorite TV show.

Christine will play the mom of Matt - a fellow YETI member of Betty’s. It is rumored that Matt - played by Daniel Eric Gold - will be Betty’s next love interest. It will be interesting to see a mom in the picture. Christine is known for her funny, witty roles like her character ‘Maryann Thorp’ on the comedy ‘Cybil.’ I expect her character to be sure of herself, possibly a little bossy, and hilariously outrageous. After all, this is ‘Ugly Betty’ we’re talking about.

Betty meets Matt on the February 19th episode when they must do a YETI task together.

There hasn’t been much here in the past month. We’ve had sickness, illness, and crankiness ever since Christmas.

But now everyone is on the mend and so it’s time to concentrate on important matters - like what is going on in Betty’s world. Ok, maybe it’s not that important as family but it still ranks up there.

Tonight’s previews looks to continue the storyline from last week. Betty’s first YETI assignment is causing rifts at home. Betty’s dad suffers a heart attack at the end of last week’s show. How will this affect Betty?

It should be - as usual - a great show.

Thursday’s new episode will have Kimmie showing her true mean colors and Betty in competition with her. From the preview, it looks like Kimmie has ruffled a few wrong feathers as it appears Marc and Amanda set her up for a big fall.

With the announcement that Lindsay Lohan’s guest appearance has been cut back, Thursday’s episode might be her final one. It will be interesting to see just how Kimmie ticks off Marc and Amanda. It must be pretty bad or either pretty petty to get those two on her bad side.

Talk about an ‘open mouth, insert foot’ moment. A British talk show host who misunderstood Salma as to say she was “half lesbian” asked the actress flat off if she was.

The host Eamonn Holmes asked Salma about her last name and said it didn’t sound very Mexican. Salma then said she was half-Lebanese - that is her father is from Lebanon. Holmes misunderstood and thought she had said she was half-lesbian and then asked her if she was. Salma remained cool and calm to the question. She leaned over and spoke very slowly the word “Lebanese.” Holmes then apologized for the faux pas.

The Northern Irish Holmes might have been having trouble understand Salma’s Mexican accent. However, some are questioning whether he actually misunderstood. Anyway, it seems the whole incident played out well with Salma handling the question like a pro and keeping her cool.

Salma was on the TV show to promote her joint efforts with UNICEF and Pampers to eradicate tetanus in mothers and babies in the next five years. She has been in Europe for the past month getting the word about this effort. Joining her on her trip is her one year old daughter Valentina.

In other Salma news, look for her to make a guest appearance on ‘30 Rock.’ Tina Fey asked Salma to do a guest role for 1 to 2 episodes. She will not be portraying herself but a fictional character. Salma joins an impressive list of guest stars to the NBC hit that include Jerry Seinfeld and Oprah Winfrey. She could be on the show as early as this week. It will be nice to see Salma on the small screen. Hopefully soon she will make an on screen return to ‘Ugly Betty.’

Looking to know what is in store for Betty and the rest of the characters on ‘Ugly Betty’ this year? You can gain some insight with this interview with Silvio Horta - the executive producer of the hit TV series.

In the interview with AfterElton.com, Horta talks some about the direction he would like to see some characters take and how the strike cut short some story lines. It’s definitely a good read especially while you’re waiting for the second episode which airs tonight at 7pm central/8pm eastern.

Good News and bad news. Good news is that I did get ‘Ugly Betty’ taped. Bad news is that it has no sound on my VCR! Good news is that it will play on my parents’ VCR. Bad news is that I didn’t get to watch it last night.

So look for a recap sometime later this evening as I will watch the episode this afternoon as the earliest.

In just a few hours, the two hour season premiere of ‘Ugly Betty’ will be here! It all starts at 7pm central.

From the TV Guide preview, we’ll hear Betty’s decision when it comes to Gio and Henry. Also, Ignacio gets a new job at a fast food restaurant. Daniel deals with the sweeping changes at Mode now that Wilhemina is in charge. Lindsay Lohan guest stars as Kimberly and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa make a guess appearance as themselves. What a great premiere it’s going to be.

There is too much good television on Thursday nights. Of course we have ‘Betty’ but there is also , and The Office. The VCR will be working overtime tonight.

Apparently Eric and family are settling down into their new life as New Yorkers. It seems his wife and young son have made the move to NYC. Soon the family will have another one to add to the Mabius roster. While Eric and his wife, interior designer Ivy Sherman - still hammer out the name for their second child, Eric spent some time this past weekend at Toys R Us Disney preschool toy event.

Mabius read stories to the crowd that gathered to watch demonstrations of new Disney toys. Now that is one story time that I would have loved to attended. Sadly that would have been a heck of a drive but I’m thinking it might have been worth it.

Ever wonder what the fictional magazine Mode would really look like? Ugly Betty the Book has the look and feel of Mode magazine but has more information about the TV show like cast bios and behind the scene layouts.

For us Betty fans, there’s no better companion to one of the best shows on television. The book not only features cast interviews but has several articles that might just appear in Mode magazine. Such articles like how to win friends at work and your style horoscope. You can also get make up tips from Hilda.

Ugly Betty The Book looks interesting enough and know that it covers a great subject. It just might be worth it.