Watching Ugly Betty

Love is in the air for Ugly Betty actor Salma Hayek. Salma tied the knot with French businessman Francois-Henri Pinaul on Valentine’s Day.

Salma and Francois have a baby daughter - Valentina. They had called off their first engagement last summer but began to rekindle their romance at the end of last year.

Salma not only plays a reprising role on the soap opera watched by Igancio but also played Sofia Reyes- Daniel’s love interest last year.

Congratulations to Salma and Francois.

There were plenty of memorable quotes from last week’s ‘Ugly Betty’ episode The Courtship of Betty’s Father. The plots for the episode included Betty making a videotape for Claire’s surprise 60th birthday party, Ignacio dating his nurse, and the new couples building memories. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the episode.

Betty interviews Claire’s ‘friends’ for her video and learns that her friends are not really friends at all.

One friend called Claire a “Fun drunk!” One friend admired most about Claire ‘her ability to rebound from murder conviction.” Most fun one friend had with Claire “It actually wasn’t with Claire but when she was on the lamb, saw someone looked like Claire eating out of a garbage can.”

Amanda does a video for Mrs. Meade to help Betty out. “Happy birthday Mrs. Meade. you killed my mother!”

When Willie can’t get the parrot to stop saying I love Connor, she tells Marc to throw it out the window.

Marc, “You will throw your boyfriend’s beloved pet out the window just so he won’t find out you love him? That’s Birder!”

The quotes are usually pretty good on ‘Ugly Betty.’ There are usually a few good ones that stand out. This week it seemed ‘Ugly Betty’ to be a return to more quick wit and comedy. There were some serious tense moments especially when the plot revolved around Igancio and Elena. Hilda is not happy with the whole situation. It will be interesting to see just how it all plays out - if she will accept her dad dating or will she just not accept Elena into their lives? Another new episode is this week that’s entitled “There’s no place like Mode” featuring Fashion Week in New York City. It should be a good one as always.

Once again I missed the first part of ‘Ugly Betty.’ The good news is that it was only about the first 5 minutes so basically the set up for all the plots that would unfold.

Daniel is planning surprise birthday party for his mom, Claire Meade. So that means that Betty is doing a lot of the planning. She is compiling a video for the event. Daniel and Molly run into Wilhemina and Connor (ice skating) where Molly and Connor reminisce about some of their past experiences - which leaves Willie and Daniel out of the conversation and somewhat bothered by it.
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Michael Ausiello in another edition of Ask Ausiello answers a question from an ‘Ugly Betty’ viewer about giving us a scoop of something that is coming.

Ausiello gives a nice teaser. In one sentence he mentions a wedding, a new boss for betty, and a death. Wow. That’s some news alright. There is rumors and speculation that the death will be that of Molly. If that does happen, the Daniel may take a break from his job and then ‘Betty’ will have a new boss but whom? It’s suppose to be a surprise, so Willie wouldn’t be really that shocking. It would be awesome if Alexis made a return to Mode to take her brother’s place.

Just a few spoilers to give us something to think about between new episodes. Maybe all of this will come to pass before the hiatus that begins in March.

The cast of ‘Ugly Betty’ has been spotted around the upper East side this week. The scenes involve Betty and Matt - her friend(love interest?) from the YETI program.

With that hot pink coat and orange scarf, Betty(America Ferrera) stands out in a crowd.

Ana Ortiz in an interview with US Magazine says she loves being pregnant. Reading the article almost makes me want to be pregnant again as it does stir up some fond memories.

Ana says that she has been receiving a lot of pregnancy advice from Rebecca Romijn - who gave birth in December to twins and plays Alexis Meade on ‘Ugly Betty.’ The article mentions the Rebecca even gives advice on keeping the intimacy in your marriage. Rebecca is married to Jerry O’Connell. Ana is married to Half Life guitarist Noah Lebenzon.

This is the first child for Ana and Noah. They have been working through a list of baby names but haven’t decided on anything definite.

As far as cravings, Ana says that she normally doesn’t have a sweet tooth but has been wanting cake since she has been pregnant. If I’m remembering my pregnancy old wives tales, then craving sweets is a sign of a girl. I guess we’ll have to see sometime this summer when Ana is due to give birth.

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.

We offer a belated Happy Birthday to Judith Light. She was celebrating her birthday Monday, February 9th. Judith celebrated her 60th birthday - just like her character Clarie Meade will this Thursday night. Coincidence? I think not. But really cool that the show wrote in her birthday in the story line. Judith is a wonderful actor and she brings a lot to ‘Ugly Betty.’

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.

This week’s all new ‘Ugly Betty’ appears that some secrets will be revealed. Who gets exposed doing what? Well from the preview, it appears Betty learns about a secret romance and Hilda confronts someone about their behavior.

Betty spends the episode making a surprise video for Claire Meade’s 60th birthday. Daniel and Wilhemina hit some stumbling blocks in both of their blooming relationships.

This episode airs this week - February 12th - the day before Friday the 13th. Hopefully it’s not an omen for bad things to happen to Betty this week.

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.

Ana Ortiz - who plays Betty’s sister - is expecting her first child. The 37-year-old actress and her husband Noah Lebenzon of the band Half Life will welcome the new family addition in July.

Ana admitted back in the fall that the ‘Betty’ baby boom was really helping to turn up the desire to become a mother. Eric Mabius’ wife recently gave birth to their second child and Rebecca Romijn has given birth to twin baby girls. Rebecca has been quoted as saying that she is happy for Ana and says that if she has a girl, then she is about to get plenty of hand-me-downs.

Plans are to hide the baby bump while shooting and not to try to write it into a storyline. Congratulations to Ana! Motherhood rocks.

This week’s episode of ‘Ugly Betty’ brought some closure to some story plots and paved the way for new ones. Betty contemplates moving back home but then is torn when Jesse shows an interest in her.

I have to admit that I missed the first 30 minutes of ‘Ugly Betty.’ It has been freezing here all week, and my heater just wasn’t keeping us warm. So we took a quick trip to town to buy a new one. Once we got back, I was able to finally be warm and watch TV.

From watching the previews, I had gathered that Connor is really bother by Molly vacationing with someone else and wants to find out who he is. Wilhemina becomes mad when Connor blows her off and will question their relationship. Betty and Jesse share a kiss that leaves both of them confused and wondering what’s next. Ignacio is adjusting to having a nurse tell him what to do - albeit not very well.

Connor does find out that it’s Daniel who is dating Molly apparently through something he signed “RJ” (Real Jerk). Before Connor confronts Daniel in the boxing ring, Wilhemina tells Connor that she knows he hates to lose(with Molly) but that if she hates to lose, too! Connor needs to choose just what he wants. Connor and Daniel are boxing when Connor starts throwing real punches at Daniel. He then tells him he knows it was him dating Molly and how mad he is for Daniel lying to him. Connor then leaves the ring. Connor later tells Willie that she is the one he wants to be with and asks for her forgiveness. Later Betty and Daniel are in his office when Connor walks in and asks Daniel if he is set for the financial meeting. Daniel mentions what happened between them and Connor said he is past it and said all he needed to in the ring.

Betty has been trying to get a hold of Jesse but he doesn’t answer his cell phone. She goes by his place of work where he is singing to talk to him. They talk and Jesse says that he is a little confused but wants to go on a date with Betty. Betty agrees, so that night they have their date at the same place Jesse works. There is a cute scene where Amanda and Marc are ‘helping’ Betty prepare for her date. During the date, Jesse constantly talks about himself so much that Betty daydreams about him singing a song with just the word ‘me.’ (Too cute and too true. I had thought this plot might be heading this way since we’ve already seen Betty do way more for Jesse than he has done for her) She tells him that this is not going to work and that they aren’t really into each other - he using her for his purpose and she using him for her own purpose.

Ignacio is cooking when his nurse tells him he will need to cook with cooking spray instead of butter. Ignacio becomes mad since the kitchen is his domain and he has already cut out some of the fat. The nurse lays it all on the line by telling him that she has seen this before with heart attack victims and when they don’t change their habits, they die. She also plays the family card in her speech. The next day Ignacio makes omelets using the nurse’s suggestions. He then thanks her for being straight up with him and asks if she would like to take a walk that way - something she has been forcing him to do apparently.

Betty moves out of her apartment and Amanda looks a little sad. But Betty has found her a roommate - Marc. So those two are happy as Marc immediately talks about doing an ‘extreme homo makeover.’

The show ends with Betty being welcomed back home.

With the return of Jessie in tonight’s episode and a romantic encounter taking place between him and Betty, it’s fun to wonder if Betty will have a new man in her life.

There have been rumors of yet another guy entering the picture at some point, so Jessie may not be a great romance like that of Henry or Gio. To me Jessie just isn’t right for Betty. Sure he’s good looking, a musician, and is a great escape for Betty from her normal life. But still he seems needy. I mean Betty threw him a party so he would have a gig and feel better about himself. He did thank Betty but also made out with Betty’s roommate Amanda. I’m just not getting the commitment vibe from Jessie. With Betty’s background, I am pretty certain that she is not looking for a fling. In fact, she swore off relationships for a while. But with the YETI program, it is clear to see that her career is moving forward,, so maybe it is time for to introduce romance back into her life.

There is rumors that Betty will meet someone through the YETI program(Matt) who might be a potential love interest. Apparently he’s a hunky but nerdy type of guy. Matt will be making his entrance February 19th.

It’s hard to bring any substantial love interest into a TV show. You have your main characters and it’s nearly impossible for that status quo to be broken for very long. If they do introduce someone new then it will be interesting to see how they can make this romance different her past ones. Hopefully we are not going to start rehashing plots.

‘Ugly Betty’ is all new this week as Betty is making difficult choices. Betty contemplates a personal decision to help her family and her finances.

She did mention last episode about giving up her apartment. In fact, Betty and Amanda talked about this and it seemed that this was already decided? Maybe the cute neighbor Jessie makes her reconsider her decision? From the previews, something definitely happens between the two but what does it really mean? Does it mean that Jessie is interested in her or just interested in a good time?

Also Ignacio gets used to having a nurse who seems to be watching him very closely especially when it comes to cooking! Ignacio is the cook of the family, so this kind of intrusion might be too much for even him to take.

Connor vents to Daniel about Molly’s mystery vacation buddy. This has really shaken him up even though he went on vacation with Willie. Guess it’s OK for him to do as he pleases but heaven forbid his former fiance move on.

Connor turns down plans with Willie in lieu of making plans with Daniel. This does not sit well with Willie as she asks Marc if she was dissed. It looks like Connor has made her list. Heaven help him.

It looks to be a good episode with all of our favorites doing what they do best. Betty will be contemplating her encounter with Jessie while Wilhemina plots what to do about Connor. Marc and Amanda seem to be their old selves at least for a few scenes. It should be a good time all around.

Preview 1 - Ignacio gets a cooking lesson from his nurse

Preview 2 - Daniel and Connor talk about Molly

Preview 3 - Betty and Amanda talk about Betty’s ‘date’ with Jessie

Preview 4 - Amanda and Marc analyze Betty’s kiss with Jessie

Preview 5 - Connor blows off Wilhemina for Daniel?