All good things come to an end. Ugly Betty's Season 1 officially wrapped this past Friday (well, Saturday morning). I’d tell you all about the eloquent speeches and heartfelt goodbyes, but I wasn’t there. I finished on Thursday, in the middle of a long day of work, with an enthusiastic applause as everyone moved on to the next scene. Oh, and there were crepes. Free crepes. I ate two, grabbed a cup of coffee to go and walked off the lot for the last time. Well, until July anyway.It’s a funny thing, the ending of a season. I expected a little more out of it, to be honest. But the reality is that we’re coming back. And not only are we coming back, we’re coming back in two months. And during those two months, the cast is going to be together at least three times for promotional events. So, really, it’s more of a little breather than a full-fledged hiatus, nothing to get all blubbery about. And, looking back at the season, I feel grateful, not sad. I am grat...
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Anel and I went to the Ugly Betty wrap party Saturday night and had a great time. It was held at The Bungalow Club in Los Angeles. Everyone made it, and I think I mean literally everyone because that place was packed. You can see pictures at wireimage.com, but please believe me when I tell you that I was absolutely not trying to get my hair to look like an emergency road cone. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Anel looks great. Look at her instead.Aside from the open bar, the only reason everyone goes to the wrap party is to see the gag reel. This is the ultimate teaser, actually, because you won’t be able to see it. Well, maybe they’ll put a cleaned-up version on the DVD. They’ve been working on it for months, getting interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, the works. I’ve never seen anything like it. Anyway, the gag reel was very well done. Usually, they’re just a mishmash of line flubs and cursing, but this thing had themes! I can’t tell yo...
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So, I've noticed that the kind folks at TVGuide.com have moved me to the "Featured Blogs" section of their website. I wonder if this is because a lot of people are reading these entries, or because they're not. And then I figure, well, it's probably because I write such an amazing blog week after week. But then I remember last week's short, sad exercise and decide that I probably have little to do with the honor. Anyway, I've noticed, and I think it's nice.Now, there is (finally) a real, honest-to-goodness, brand spanking new episode of Ugly Betty this week. I'd tell you all about it — well, a little bit about it — but I'm not in it so I haven't seen the script. Sure, they would have given me one if I'd asked, but I kind of like not knowing. It reminds me of the beginning of the season when I was as much a fan of the show as I was a part of it.In fact, in this case, I'm glad I'm not in it. As a fan, I really feel like Betty needs a little time away from Henry. And since He...
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The good news is that the seemingly endless parade of reruns is over! The bad news is that Season 1 of Ugly Betty is rapidly drawing to a close. This week's "clip show" will catch everyone up on what has happened up till now and introduce you to some of our wonderful writers along the way. And next week begins a five-week sprint to the finish. Oh, and we won the Peabody. Which is a pretty big deal. Amazing. Really. I want to use a bunch of exclamation points here, but the feeling of our show winning all of the awards we’ve won has gone past excitement and surprise to a kind of wonder. I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but for me it's become a bit of an out-of-body experience. Amazing.Which reminds me: you just can't get a good suit of armor these days. The first suit I tried on didn't fit. Not even close. It was like trying to wear a Red Bull. The second one worked, but how people ever fought in those things is beyond me. They’re loud, slow, awkward and, who am I kid...
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I know, I know, enough with the reruns, already! Sorry. I wish there was something I could do. That said, "Fake Plastic Snow" is my favorite episode to date and I can’t wait to see it again. This episode has everything that’s great about Ugly Betty, and fake snow. We used real snow in “Derailed,” but this episode is all fake plastic goodness. I read this script for the first time at home with my wife, Anel. I’d felt pretty good about Henry’s long-term prospects after "The Lyin’, the Watch and the Wardrobe," but then we read this:Betty: Actually, it’s just holl—But before she gets the word out, he kisses her. A perfect, romantic-movie kiss. They break apart. She’s speechless.Henry: Wow. You know what, Betty? You’re just the girl I’m looking for.And then this:The bag explodes! Fake plastic snow flies everywhere. The air clears, revealing Henry. (What an entrance!)Followed by this:As he departs, Betty looks at her hands. Snow ...
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Ugly Betty is a repeat this week, and I can't tell you how tempted I was to just copy and paste last week's blog as this week's blog. In my mind, I could see all the posts congratulating me on my clever joke. Posts like, "Amazing! Get it, guys? Betty's a rerun, so Chris 're-ran' his blog. He is so funny!" with happy faces and LOLs aplenty. Then I thought, "I'm an idiot." And then I started writing.If you haven't already heard, Ugly Betty was picked up for its second season this past week. We, and by we I mean me, America and Ashley (Jensen), heard it from the horse's mouth. And by horse's mouth, I mean Steve McPherson (President of ABC Entertainment), at the post-mini up-front presentation lunch he was hosting at our studio. I've never been to one of these "mini up-fronts" before, but basically, the network rounds up some key advertising buyers and then sits them down and tells them how amazing, innovative, provocative and exciting their new shows are going to be. It's like the "rea...
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This is my first blog. I know that I should probably be embarrassed, only blogging for the first time at the age of 32, but I'm not. I'm an old-fashioned type of guy and I believe in waiting to blog until you're ready. So what have I been waiting for? Betty. Like Henry, the quirky accountant I portray on Ugly Betty, I guess I just needed the right heartbreakingly sweet, smart, funny, four-eyed, metal-mouthed beauty to bring me out of my shell. That said, if I'm not very good at it, please be patient. It is my first time.I wasn't supposed to be on this show. I wasn't available to audition for the pilot episode because I was starring in another show at the time. But I'd known about the project from the beginning. Before he'd written a page, I remember Silvio (Horta) describing the project to me, over lunch on the Paramount lot. We'd worked together before and had kept in touch. The conversation went something like this…Chris: "What are you working on?"Silvio: "Blah blah blah blah...
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