TV: Ugly Betty

What a charmer this is, a perfectly marvelous Cinderella variation set in the world of fashion magazines.

Betty Suarez (America Ferrera, finally getting the star-making role she deserves) is a plain Jane who desperately wants a job in publishing, but potential employers refuse to look beyond her appearance to see the smart, likable young woman behind the bushy eyebrows, large glasses, and braces. But veteran publisher Bradford Meade (Alan Dale) has just turned over the reins of Mode magazine to his son Daniel (Eric Mabius), a compulsive womanizer; in Bradford's eyes, the only hope of getting Daniel to focus on work is to give him an assistant who won't tempt him in the slightest.

And so, Betty finds herself working at Mode. Daniel is horrified, and since he can't fire Betty, he sets out to make her so miserable that she'll quit. Betty quickly makes friends at Mode, though, notably the manager of the magazine's "closet," Christina (Ashley Jensen, sharp and bubbly).

Daniel has problems of his own beyond Betty. Fashion director Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams, in full-on Wicked Stepmother mode) had expected to get the editor's job herself, and with the help of her own assistant, Marc (Michael Urie), she sets out to destroy Daniel.

The plot of the first episode is admittedly a bit predictable. Wilhelmina sets Daniel up for disaster; Betty saves him and makes him appear the hero; Daniel realizes that she's perfect for the job, and that the two will make a great team.

Ugly Betty is based on a Colombian telenovela which has been adapted for countries around the world, and it has some of the over-the-top flavor of its source; the tone is big, broad, and a little bit campy. That's risky; if everyone doesn't match style and tone precisely, it can come across as nothing more than an exercise in bitchy nastiness. That's not a problem here, though, and the first episode gives us hints of plotlines to come that will fit right into this style. (Who is that masked woman giving Wilhelmina advice? Is it possible that the previous editor of Mode isn't actually dead at all?) The show is a light, fluffy, perfect souffle, and if it lives up to its first episode, it'll be one of the year's highlights.