Ugly Betty

Episodic

ABC originally announced 22 episodes for the season 1, but increased the number of episodes to 23 by one. The season finale is the episode called "East Side Story."

Etymology

The series is an adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea ("I am Betty, the ugly one"), also simply known as "Betty la fea" ("Ugly Betty") written by Fernando Gaitán (also author of Café, con aroma de mujer).
ABC had announced the title of the series would be Betty the Ugly, a change from its developmental title, but changed it back to Ugly Betty on July 14, although the Ugly Betty title was already being used in promotions prior to this date on Citytv.

General

Ugly Betty won two Golden Globe Awards on January 15, 2007, for "Best Leading Actress in a Comedy Series" (America Ferrera) and Best Comedy Series. Ferrera also won a SAG Award on January 28, 2007 for "Best Actress in a Comedy Series".
There were speculation that the show would be a daily serial that would have debuted as a summer 2006 or midseason 2007 entry, but given the buzz and growing interest in the show, the network decided to make it a weekly series instead.

Online

In addition the network screened the debut episode on the web and made the episodes available for download on iTunes after their initial airings on January 5, 2007.

Production

NBC was planning to adapt Betty in 2001 as a half-hour comedy, but it never made past the planning stages until ABC and Hayek's company came on board in 2004 and retooled it as an hour-long dramedy.

Schedule

On August 8, 2006, ABC decided at the last minute, a schedule change to move "Ugly Betty" from its previously announced Friday 8 p.m. (ET) time period to Thursday at 8 p.m. replacing sitcoms Notes from the Underbelly and Big Day as a lead-in to top-rated program Grey's Anatomy, due to the growing interest in the show.

Timeline

On October 13, 2006, ABC ordered a full season pick-up for the series, beyond the original 13 ordered at the May Upfronts due to its premiere ratings.
On March 21, 2007 ABC renewed the series for a second season.
On June 4, 2007 the series was be honored with a Peabody Award for its storylines, which explores clashing concepts of beauty, class, race and footwear with intelligence, warmth and wit.
On May 16, 2006, ABC announced that Ugly Betty would be part of the 2006-2007 North American season lineup as a weekly hour-long series; the initial order was for thirteen episodes.

TV Station

The program's pilot was tested on several cable providers to gauge interest and feedback from viewers, most notably the Hispanic community, including those who are fans of the original Betty, who hoped that ABC will maintain the integrity of the original. ABC has also allowed its affiliates to show free off-air screenings to the public at various events ahead of the show's debut.
The encore episodes have also run on ABC Family and SoapNet, both of which have been airing marathons of the show.