@Lu Per caso frequenti qualche forum italiano su UB? :D

Has there been any more news regarding the Italian Betty? I would like to update the following page at my website, if you have any new information: http://sirlizard.prohosts.org/italy.html

Timmeh, to put it bluntly, I think it is pretty obvious that The Community is the cult that you’ve read about. It seems that your ideas of what a cult is are similar to the things that many parents tell their children to frighten them. If cults advertised themselves as these bloody, child-sacrificing, Devil-worshipping covens, it would be very difficult for them to trick people into joining. A cult has to start out as something alluring, in order to increase its numbers. The cults that turn out to have sinister leaders usually burn themselves out pretty quickly, either by losing their followers to disillusionment, or, as in those rare but news-making cases, by convincing the followers to commit mass suicide. Most cult leaders are usually satisfied if they are able to use their charisma to trick enough people into giving up their free will, as well as a good portion of their earnings, to their “churches.” It can be argued that most, if not all, of the world’s accepted official religions started out as what would be defined as “cults.” If a cult and its leaders are really good at attracting people, and they don’t kill themselves off, eventually when there are enough members they become accepted religions. Nobody in any “religion”, no matter how big or small, ever thinks of themselves as being in a cult. Sometimes a cult, just like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Marc and Betty: I thought that this plotline was done very well. I was completely satisfied with Betty and Marc in this episode. I definitely love the new attitude that Betty has and I recall reading a comment that someone made about her voice returning to normal. I definitely agree that it no longer has that squeekiness that made it so unbearable in season 3.

Wilhelmina and Nico: Some people are saying that the actress who plays Nico is a terrible actress, but I definitely disagree. I think that she’s a very good actress. I thought that it was weird that Wilhelmina didn’t have a plan to counter the fact that Claire and Cal were looking for someone to replace her- like Marc says, she almost always has a plan. Although Nico came through by faking a call from French MODE (she really is Wilhelmina’s daughter, isn’t she? :) ), shouldn’t Wilhelmina have thought of that initially? Great mother and daughter bonding at the end.

Amanda: Her fantasy was hilarious and unbelievable! I can’t believe Amanda and Betty shared a kiss!

Hilda and Archie: They are adorable together, they really are! The scenes where Archie was really mad were the best scenes that we have gotten from the character so far. It’s good to know that he’s not always so calm and collected.

Daniel: I thought that Brooklyn Decker was used very well in this episode. I scoffed when Daniel was saying how he was such a good judge of character and how he went so far as to say that he did hire Betty after all. Betty mentioned how it was actually his father that hired her and I felt like adding to that that he tried to have her quit the first day that she worked! Also, has Daniel reflected on the women that he’s dated? One lied to him and another was plain crazy. Not a very good judge of character! :) Anywho, I still love him and I thought that that scene was funny. I felt a bit uncomfortable with the Community of the Phoenix scene since what speaker was saying (I think his name is Bennett) was so cheesy and I felt that this was where the writer (Brian Tanen) really didn’t do so well. It’s good that Daniel felt the same way about what the speaker was saying. However, the community just seems so innocent that I’m not sure how they are going to become such a threat- I was impressed by how subtle they were and how the show didn’t give any hints as to how they may (or may not) turn out to be bad news.

I agree with what M said in that although the ratings haven’t improved, stable ratings are better than a ratings drop.

There is an article on EW written by Ken Tucker that I’m a bit ambivalent about: http://watching-tv.ew.com/2009/10/31/ugly-betty-cancel/. I agree that there are only so many times that Betty can be the underdog and only so many ways that they can keep Wilhelmina from becoming advancing in the company, etc… However, I also believe that there are so many more places that they can take the show. In most shows, most women are more older and already fairly grown up, but for a woman that is in the process of growing up, there are many more plotlines that can be used. A lot of people long for the Ugly Betty that we saw during season 1 and 2. The thing that I miss the most from those two seasons is the humor since not a scene went by where I didn’t fall on the floor laughing. With the scenes that we have in season 3 and 4, I usually find myself just chuckling a bit only. However, season 1 and 2 were also very campy and full of some unrealistic plotlines. They were also very fragmented and I feel like season 3 and 4 were far more realistic and put together. I guess a balance has to be struck somewhere between being laugh out loud funny and being realistic- I definitely prefer the latter. I feel that Ugly Betty still has another 2-3 years left in it.

Sorry Tom about all the long comment entries. I really do try to be concise, but it’s hard since I love talking about Ugly Betty!