Disney / Buena Vista | 2009 | 860 mins. | NR
While Ugly Betty had been a fairly popular series, with star America Ferrera nabbing both a Golden Globe and an Emmy award, by the third season ratings were on the decline. By the fourth season, ABC clearly had little faith in the longevity of the show. The network moved the show from its Thursday night timeslot and shifted it to Fridays, one hour later. Its audience virtually halved overnight, and at midseason after an ABC series on Wednesday night quickly flopped, Betty was shifted into its time slot: 10 p.m., a decision that sealed its fate. ABC confirmed in January of 2010, that the last original episode of Ugly Betty would air in April of that same year.
Thankfully, despite the cancellation, Betty was able to finish out the season (a total of twenty episodes). This gave producers the time to wind up their stories, but the pacing of the last couple of episodes inevitably felt rushed. Still, the final season of the telenovella adaptation proved more than satisfactory. Ugly Betty may not have gone out with a sizable audience, but it wrapped its stories up nicely and provided its fans a world full of possibilities for their favorite ugly duckling now blossoming into a lovely swan. Now, one can hope they’ll be a motion picture in the future.
As the season began, Betty (Ferrera) was having her share of troubles at home and in the office. She had been promoted to junior features editor which left her Mode magazine rival Marc St. James (Michael Urie) with the job of personal assistant to style editor Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams), a decision that left him far from thrilled. Wilhelmina was still fighting for her job, under the watchful eye of managing editor Claire Meade (Judith Light) and owner Calvin Hartley (David Rasche). Meanwhile, Editor-in-chief Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife Molly (Sarah Lafleur) from cancer, and Betty, wanting to be a good friend, found herself splitting her time between her former boss and her new boss and former boy friend Matt (Daniel Eric Gold) leading to all kinds of personal and professional conflict.
Away from the office, Betty’s sister Hilda (Anna Ortiz) began dating an old high school boyfriend, Bobby Talercio (Adam Rodriguez). She is also dealing with the teenage angst of her son Justin (Mark Indelicato), an artistically inclined boy who’s dealing with his sexual feelings. To make matters worse, he even turns to Betty’s nemesis Marc for advice. As it turns out, the scenes between Justin and Marc, and later, Justin’s acceptance of his sexual orientation, are among some of the best written scenes of the season; showing both humor and compassion.
Ugly Betty has always been known for its soap opera aspects, and this season is no exception. There are rather lengthy story arcs concerning Wilhelmina’s efforts to retrieve money stolen from her by ex-lover Connor Owens (Grant Bowler) and an extortion attempt by Willie’s daughter Nico (Yaya DaCosta) who concocts a murder scenario to swindle her mother. Also on tap are story arcs concerning a long lost son, a cult, Willie’s constant schemes to take over control of the magazine and Amanda’s (Becki Newton) eternal search for love. Former Betty boy friends who resurface include both Henry Grubstick (Christopher Gorham) and Gio Rossi (Freddy Rodríguez). Entertaining excursions to the Bahamas and to London also highlight the adventures of Betty and her friends during this final go-around.
Ugly Betty is presented on ABC at 720p with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and these 480p downconverted transfers retain the colorful world of the series with highly saturated hues. In fact, saturation levels are so deep that the disc often has trouble handling the intensity resulting in some very noticeable color noise. There are occasional glimpses of aliasing with tight line structures and sharpness varies depending on the given scene.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track features occasional ambient New York City noises sent to the rears with a sporadic panning effect here and there. The most consistent use of the entire soundstage is reserved for the music tracks which receive a nice placement in the fronts and rears. Dialogue, which is vital to the show’s effectiveness, has been well recorded and resides firmly in the center channel.
We are presented with the following special features:
Ugly Betty Starter Set (4:30) This presents a summary of the major events which occurred driingthe first three seasons of the show.
Deleted Scenes (9:00) These are spread across all four discs. There are a total of ten.
Mode After Hours is four webisodes featuring Marc and Amanda goofing around at the office after work. They may be watched separately or in one group.
The episode “All the World’s a Stage” features audio commentary by Michael Urie and Mark Indelicato. The two co-stars do more watching than talking in a spontaneous watch and talk commentary.
Betty Goes Bahamas (8:30) Has the cast enjoying the island, in this gag filled featurette.
Blooper Reel (6:30) Just what you’d expect.
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