Not So Ugly Betty

Last night was the ABC premiere of "Ugly Betty" and in this new year, the title of the show did not ring as true as in the past.

If you're not familiar with the show, it's basically about a young dowdy looking girl, Betty, who somehow scores a job at a high end fashion magazine house called Mode. She should be the most unlikely female to work at this fashion house considering she has green braces, bad hair, is slightly overweight (by fashion magazine standards, not mine), and really bad personal fashion. This image of Betty makes this scenario really comical that she actually works at Mode and fun to watch.

However, this year, Betty ain't so ugly anymore. Check out the comparison pictures of the new improved 2010 Betty (up top), then the old school 2007 Betty (below).

They have chosen to glamorize Betty a bit more, which in turn made me lose interest because I actually fell asleep watching it last night! Betty has lost quite a bit of weight (good for actress America Ferrera, bad for character), has lovely straight and glossy hair, her makeup was pretty perfect, and those trademark bushy unruly eyebrows are waxed to perfection!! The only thing left t0 make her original character believable was the braces and the bad fashion. But now that she is thinner, the bad fashion almost looks kinda cool and original!!

Not that I'm against people making changes in themselves for the better, but for this certain character, she is NOT as believable in her role, and I don't feel as sorry and compassionate

for her as I did in the past. With all the wonderful and talented makeup artists and stylists in the TV biz, you'd think someone could at least slap on some bushy eyebrows and some extra padding in her wardrobe to make her look like the "ugly" Betty that made the character so lovable and interesting!! I just hope this makeover doesn't cause Betty to lose her job. Remember when Keri Russell's main character in Felicity on the WB cut her trademark long curly hair off?? This chop job caused people stop watching the show all together which eventually led to it's cancellation! It just shows you that in TV land, unfortunately, image is everything, and people don't really take to change very well.

Do you have any fave TV characters that had makeovers that you didn't agree with?