Ugly Betty is belle of television ball
From Sue Zeidler

LOS ANGELES—In Hollywood, thick glasses, braces and frumpy clothes don’t go far — unless they belong to “Ugly Betty,” one of the most successful new prime-time shows on American television this season.
The show, a U.S. adaptation of the hit Colombian telenovela “Yo Soy Betty, La Fea,” has an ethnically diverse audience that has found a friend in the plucky Latina heroine and comfort in the universal message that real beauty is on the inside.
Walt Disney Co.’s ABC has converted the show from the traditional Latin American telenovela soap opera format that airs five nights a week into a weekly serial comedy and put it in a lucrative Thursday prime-time slot.
America Ferrera, who debuted in the 2002 film “Real Women Have Curves,” stars as Betty Suarez, a capable but not-so-pretty working-class gal who lands a job as a fashion magazine assistant.
Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek, who worked on telenovelas in her home country, is an executive producer of the show.
“It’s the perfect hybrid of something Latin and something American,” said Carl Kravetz, chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies. “Certainly, it has found a Latino audience but it has also found an 18- to 34-year-old audience and an African-American audience.”
Averaging about 14.3 million viewers a week, “Ugly Betty” ranks as the most watched new series on U.S. television this season. The show ranks second in its time slot and is one of the highest rated among viewers aged 18 to 49, the group most prized by advertisers.
“ABC has taken a Latin story line and put it into an American sitcom,” Kravetz said. “I think other networks will try to copy it because it is the first general-market TV series that has an American hook that appeals to Latin American sensitivities.”
LATINO VIEWERS IN DEMAND
Indeed, all the major networks are angling to appeal to the huge Latino community, the fastest-growing ethnic demographic in the United States. Kravetz’ group estimates that $5 billion is spent on advertising aimed at the U.S. Hispanic market.
The buying power of U.S. Hispanic consumers, numbering roughly 45 million, is expected to rise to nearly $900 billion this year and $1.1 trillion by 2010, accounting for 9 percent of all U.S. purchasing power, up from 5 percent in 1990, Kravetz said.
News Corp. Ltd. went so far as to launch a new mini-network in September dubbed MyNetworkTV, featuring a lineup of steamy, pure-form English-language telenovelas, such as “Desire” and “Fashion House,” based on Colombian soaps.
MyNetworkTV has failed so far to gain much traction with American audiences. Still, News Corp. executives say they are committed to giving it a chance.