Betty and Nicolás acknowledge the reality of the society they live in, where résumés need to be accompanied by photographs. It reads harshly, I know, but I see it instead as radical acceptance. Betty, in a fit of laughter, adds that they could be hired to scare the lions into behaving. In the very first episode of the Colombian original, Nicolás, joking about the challenges of finding a job, says they should try out for the circus. Instead, she and her friend Nicolás Mora even made light of their circumstances. And despite the social barriers she faced as a result of others’ superficiality, she never felt bad for herself. Betty was different from other female novela protagonists of the ’90s and early aughts, because she was distinguished by her intellect rather than her looks. So huge that I refused to watch “Ugly Betty” when it aired on ABC. And last week, Telemundo premiered its own reboot, “Betty en NY.” Production companies in Spain, Greece, the Philippines, Brazil and Thailand have all released their own versions. In the United States, America Ferrera won an Emmy for her starring role in “Ugly Betty,” which ran on ABC for four seasons. “Betty, la Fea” has spawned remakes all over the world: In Mexico, there was “La Fea Más Bella,” starring Angélica Vale. There, she falls in love with her handsome boss, Armando, who, despite his initial revulsion, falls for her too.īetty’s story struck a chord with viewers, in Colombia and elsewhere. In the telenovela, Betty struggles to find employment, despite her graduate degree in economics, so she ends up accepting a position as a secretary at a fashion company. She wore oversized red framed glasses and unflattering clothes, and her voice was raspy in a swallowed-a-frog kind of way.
Betty, played by the actress Ana María Orozco, had a unibrow, braces and blunt bangs. In the 1999 Colombian telenovela “Yo Soy Betty, la Fea,” viewers were introduced to the character of Beatriz “Betty” Pinzón Solano: a brilliant, accomplished woman in her mid-20s who is held back professionally because of her looks. ¿Lo mejor? It’ll be in Spanish and English, so you can forward it to your tía, your primo Lalo or anyone else (read: everyone). Expect politics, arts, analysis, personal essays and more. It is the first telenovela to have been remade worldwide and has been regarded as bringing the telenovela to new levels of success.El Espace is a column dedicated to news and culture relevant to Latinx communities. In addition, the premiere episode doubled and in some cases nearly tripled its prior audience among all key demographics.ĭue to the success of re-runs aired in the United States, in June 2009, Yo soy Betty, la fea re-aired in México on Canal de las Estrellas.īetty, la Fea is one of the world's most popular television shows and is considered the most famous Latin telenovela in history. Eight years after the telenovela's original run, the highly anticipated return of the original version of Yo Soy Betty, La Fea delivered impressive ratings for the network, attracting over one million viewers, more than half a million of which were adults aged 18–49. In the United States, both the comedy-drama hit Ugly Betty and Televisa program La Fea Más Bella are based on the Colombian soap opera.īetty, la Fea re-aired on Spanish-language U.S. More than a dozen versions of the telenovela have been made in other countries due to the popularity of the plot. Yo soy Betty, la fea ("I am Betty, the Ugly one") is a telenovela filmed in Colombia, written by Fernando Gaitán and was produced from 25 October 1999 to by the Colombian network RCN (Radio Cadena Nacional).