Subscribe
Anyone familiar with team sports understands the concept of coach-speak. Coach-speak is the art of answering questions while giving no real information away. Think of an evasive politician on steroids. After seeing this interview (at Zap2It) with Ugly Betty executive producer Silvio Horta, it’s obvious that he has mastered the craft.
First, though, he is quite up-front about this season’s move to Fridays: “Friday nights are just a tough night. The average age of our viewer is not home watching TV on a Friday night…I think. ABC took a gamble. They knew that the show had a strong, loyal core and that they would follow them there, but it didn’t happen unfortunately. I’m very happy and grateful that they saw a slot and an opportunity to move us somewhere else and give us a shot to hopefully improve.”
Is Horta right? Did ABC move Betty to Fridays in a gamble, or to kill the show off quietly, as the folks at TV By The Numbers insist? I think the move to Wednesdays answers that question. I don’t think ABC is out to kill the show. It certainly WILL, if ratings don’t improve. But the network obviously likes the show and is trying to give it every chance.
“Hopefully, we’ll do well [on Wednesdays] and this will give us an opportunity to go a fifth year, which we all want and we’ll all be really excited to have. It’s still uncertain. The future is still a little murky. We’ll have to see how we deal with the next few weeks”, Horta adds.
I’d say everything hinges on the next few weeks, as well. Time to break out that Run,Lola,Run episode!
The plan is simple: win back viewers who left, and gain new ones. How? Betty “can be a very serialized show.”, Horta says. “How do we do episodes that are a little more stand-alone, so someone can tune in without having seen the past season. That’s what we’re sort of juggling now.” We’ve noticed, Silvio.
Read on for more!
Then, Horta breaks conventional wisdom and says that he doesn’t necessarily think that Ugly Betty season one was as perfect as most people think, nor were subsequent seasons awful. “I think we did some not-so-great episodes the first season. I read articles now and it’s like, oh it was this perfect season of TV. There were some clunkers.
In the past couple seasons, it’s been put out there that oh, it’s on the decline or it’s not so great episodes, we’ve done some really great episodes. I don’t think it has been as perfect as they made it out to be or as horrible that it has been made out to be. I think we’ve had just normal ups and downs. Fortunately, right now, we’re creatively being seen on an up, which is nice and I do feel that way, too. I hope the good will from the media continues. It definitely has an impact, as well, on perception within the network..”
Now for Horta’s coach-speak:
- On Rebecca Romijn: “Right now, there are no plans to have Rebecca come back. We’d love to have her back. I think she’s great and obviously part of the show. There are no plans for the immediate future. The son has been set up and he will definitely come back.”
- On Betty’s braces coming off: “Definitely her braces are gonna come off very soon, regardless if this is going to be the last season or the next to the last season, that’s going to happen. “
- On plans for a Detty hookup: “As far as the Daniel-Betty hook up, everything is considered.”
- On the idea of Justin “coming out”: “I think there’s going to be a lot of stuff happening toward the end of the season.”
I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned!
Image: Pacific Coast News
-I want Alexis back more than any character that has ever been on the show. She WAS my favorite character. I miss her so much.
-I want either Detty or Hetty, and it seems I will get one of the 2 so I am HAPPY!
-The synopsis for Ugly Betty 4.12 (Blackout!) Is out, it sounds GREAT. Tom you MUST cover it.
-I’m curious as to if we will see Fey on this years Fashion Week episode, which always has some of the most outstanding episodes of the season.
-Ausiello Files has a new Betty scoop, and will have all the answers to Metty and what is going to happen to Matt later this week. (I want Matt gone)
-I hope Wilhelmina does some MASSIVE scheming soon. She was my favorite in “Giving Up the Ghost”. She was so perfectly evil, I want her evil back. As soon as Connor showed up she got soft. Connor would be so much better if he and Wilhelmina became this EVIL duo try to take over Meade. Right now they just have a little bit of “mild” scheming.
Reply
*Being* serialized is that missing ingredient from the heart of the first few seasons (alongside a silent macho influence, santos, bradford, gio, etc. behind the scenes.) What people don’t understand about making something new is that you *still* gotta pay your dues. One golden globe award and a few Emmy nods are great but if you’ve been given the one-in-a-million shot to take on the network champion of the world you’d be a bum not to listen to someone that wants to train you. Sound familiar? UB has a chance to defeat American Idol in the ratings like Rocky Balboa had against Apollo Creed and instead of listening to the Bartman or anybody like Mickey Goldmill, UB wants to say that nobody was there before and that everything now just stinks. How do I know? My posts keep needing moderation, don’t they? Heh, it don’t take Forrest Gump Jr. to figure everything out. You’re bums to throw out both macho male leads that can challenge Cal Hartley’s authoritarian attitude and “previously intro” serialized storylines. If it worked, why did you feel the need to fix it? What you need is the thing that will draw in the viewers: Gio Rossi. Did you guys see Dancing with the Stars last season? Heck, if I can graduate college and Kelly Osbourne can get in the finals on that show then Gio_Bravo says you guys better not sit on your butt with the opportunity ABC has given in putting you back on the Wednesday night radar!
Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtMML_zdfxA
Reply
by the son, does he mean DJ or tyler?
Reply
I think he refers to Tyler. We know via Ausiello that this character should have a some-episodes arc, but he has been only in one yet. So..
Reply
its a little too late to play the media game.We’re onto him.lol.Detty all the way.Have you seen the reaction on Auseillo.Its gone mad.Silvio always drops something like this before a major episode.Some of us are still recovering from the brother /sister comments from a year or so back.
Reply
Kevin Alejandro (Santos) is moving down to Bon Temps, Louisiana, the fictional setting of “True Blood”.
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Southland-Star-Joins-1013379.aspx
Reply
People are freaking out on Ausiello. It makes me wonder what’s so wrong with me that makes me like Henry, because 95% of people hate him! That percentage is how many people like Joey/Rachel from Friends, lol.
Reply
Forgot to add:
Betty/Daniel, to me, is like Liz/Jack on 30 Rock. Both are platonic but caring WORK relationships. Betty/Daniel may be more like family than J/L, but still, not romantic at all. They’re just friends!
Reply
am i missing something.is being friends a no go to romantic relationship.hooking up with total strangers must be soo much more appealing.
Reply
TOM: CAN YOU PLEASE POST THIS: It’s like another Ask Ausiello thing but for TV Guide
http://www.tvguide.com/News/MegaBuzz-Lost-Chuck-1013408.aspx
If Ugly Betty is canceled, does that mean that Matt and Betty get married this season? — Tamara
MICKEY: Hold your horses, Tamara! While it was looking grim for a while there, what with all the Friday night shenanigans, my spies tell me that Betty was and is planned as a five-season show — hence ABC’s timeslot-change vote of confidence. You’ll soon see that while Betty and Matt appear to be happy, there’s no happily-ever-after in their immediate future — no matter how much they miss each other.
So we mightttt get a 5th season?
Reply
I consider myself one of the biggest UB nerds!
I really want UB continues as far as possible and – if tonight ratings will not improve – I’ll never forgive you, dearest Americans! :)
I defenitely want the 50th birthday of Wilhelmina in a mythical sixth of seventh season…
In 9 days’ time, fourth season will begin here in Italy!
Reply
I always thought the idea of Detty would be interesting, since it was in the orginal show and all…but…I just don’t know. I don’t like the idea that there can’t be a guy/girl friendship that can’t be corrupted by romance. I mean, I guess we get that with Marc/Amanda, but still.
Reply
[...] the same coach-speak I told you about earlier. Lots of “mays” and “mights”. Lord bless Ausiello, he knows [...]
Reply