the hit and miss thing was a good concept and i applaud you for coming up with this.

anyhow, I pretty much agree with most of your points- and whilst I can see where you are coming from when you mentioned that season 3 was inconsistent for most parts, for me personally, I enjoyed it much more than the previous season. which I have countlessly echoed on many occassions to be abysmal and the least enjoyable.

just want to touch upon some of your assessments-

- the soapy elements didn’t work as well, but then again there were less of them this season, which i thought was a good thing because season 2 became over-the-top, silly and too soap-opera ish anyway.

- the ’sisters on the verge of’ was for me a good episode to watch because i liked the intrigue and the moment where marc had the guts to stand up to willie- HOWEVER i utterly loathed the outcome, and i hated the way hilda and ignascio behaved towards betty, who is supposed to be old enough to make up her own decisions- and yet they treated her like she was a little girl, still. i was appalled by their attitude, and betty going back home to please her sister and father, i believe she was doing it out of guilt and doing it to make them happy, as opposed to making herself happy. and for me, that was wrong because, as a result of her moving back home, i felt she has regressed a lot as a character by being more naive and has gone backwards.

- i agree that betty’s independence was a huge plus point- after 2 years living at home, moving into a new apartment was a stepping stone for her and this show…. and so why drop it all of a sudden? they didn’t even offer us an explanation as to why- other than the implication that because of her father’s heart attack, betty had to go back home. how lame is that? very. i’d be even more annoyed with the writers however if she doesn’t move out permanently out of queens by say the 5th season.

-jesse- meh. didn’t offer anything new, plus he was in truth boring to boot as well.

- lohan- a utter waste of time and resources. seriously, if they wanted to secure a guest star they could’ve gone for someone more low-key. after their screw-ups and managing to force feed every celeb in our face all for the sake of publicity in season 2 and in place of its dire storylines, this one was no exception.

as for the hits, i agree with almost all of those as well. but on what i’ve seen, though it wasn’t that successful, i enjoyed season 3 a lot still. great article tom, even though I still regard it as one that was entertaining and at times amusing. despite most of the criticisms levelled towards it, particularly by the ex-UB fans .

I guess you didn’t like my fashion comments huh, Beatrice B even after I begged to have that creepy bag burned to a crisp?

About Betty’s clothes. Apart from the fact that Betty is expending a lot of money in shallow matters like designer clothes when her family is struggling financially -Mode Girl!) I never had any problem with Betty’s braces or her clothes “inside” the fantasy of the show. My main concern about the clothes is the fact that the producers and writers actually had to hire an expensive customs specialist (money!!) in order to make the clothes look worse than how they looked back in season 1 and 2. Yes, they look brandish but they don’t look wearable. They have become a character of their own! (distracting! totally distracting). Yes, season1-2 Betty was clueless regarding her choice of clothing but at least she looked cute (like a little sister). Now she looks like a plastic doll and sometimes you need to be remembered that, under all those expensive clothes, lies the smart little girl who wanted to succeed in the world (not of fashion… she doesn’t care for fashion that much -even if Horta says so) but of owning a magazine that would excel womanhood no matter the race, class or age. What happened to that girl?
And about Wilhelmina, Marc and Amanda. I used to like how the show subtly mocked their dressing style… you could tell “poor them, they want to look fashionable but they are looking a bit ridiculous”. But now you see that without that purpose in mind Fields literally dresses them ridiculously and sometimes you just want to scream: “what on earth is this? a joke?”
I mean what is really the purpose of bringing so much color and bold costume designs to this season? To emphasize the abstract beauty of the world of fashion?
Was it worth the money? No matter what Fields said in an interview (they buy in Century 21, etc.) They rarely repeat clothes this season. That must mean money. Notice Season 1 and 2. You could tell the same jacket or pants or skirt or belt was wore several times by a character throughout the season. You could pin point: look! Betty’s yellow belt or Amanda’s high heels, etc.
Now it’s all… too psychedelic to even want to remember… you just go ARRGH!
Betty’s purses in season 1 were lovely… don’t get me started on the scary doll or the fluffy cat purses. Is it something the season 1 Betty would have worn? No. Well she has changed, you say. So that means that by wearing that she has “grown” or she’s just trying desperately to fit in to the world of fashion… what’s the message these new customs are sending to the viewers? and again… was it worth the money?