At ABC, a hopeful bet on ‘Betty’

Over the past week ABC’s new fall show “Ugly Betty” has gotten the kind of lucky break most producers would swap their August rental in the Hamptons for. The big question now is whether its target audience of young women will turn the series into this year’s sleeper a la “Desperate Housewives” -- or be repelled by a concept that just didn’t translate.

Inspired by the Colombian telenovela “Yo Soy Betty, la Fea” (I Am Betty, the Ugly), a smash hit in Spanish-language markets, “Ugly Betty” stars America Ferrera as a smart but fashion-challenged young Latina -- her signature garb is a loud, print poncho -- who endures regular humiliation in her job at a snooty magazine. There’s no shortage of glamour on either side of the camera; the cast includes the former Miss America-turned-pop singer Vanessa Williams, who plays a haughty fashion editor, and one of the executive producers is Mexican-born sexpot Salma Hayek, who also has a cameo in the pilot.

But what really raised “Betty’s” profile was ABC’s decision last week to shift the hourlong program from the dead zone of Friday nights to a high-visibility 8 p.m. Thursday berth leading into “Grey’s Anatomy,” one of the most-watched shows on TV.

Thursday is shaping up as prime time’s top race this fall, and “Betty,” a show that just a few weeks ago looked like an also-ran, is suddenly in the thick of it, taking on CBS’ durable “Survivor” plus the NBC comedies “My Name Is Earl” and “The Office.”

Thursdays are especially important to TV executives because that’s when car and movie companies spend top dollar to pitch their products to prospective weekend shoppers. But the competition for viewers usually isn’t quite this stiff.

“It’s the night where the stakes are clearly the highest,” CBS scheduling chief Kelly Kahl said last week.

Thanks to “Grey’s” and “Housewives,” ABC has had enormous success courting women aged 18 to 49 lately, and if “Betty” continues the trend the payoff could be enormous. ABC executives said they were encouraged that at last month’s TV press tour in Pasadena, the pilot earned positive reactions from some writers (although not a certain blogger-columnist for this paper, who found the pilot not “nearly funny or engaging enough”).

But “Betty” is already fending off concerns that having characters ridicule an unattractive heroine every week might strike many Americans as anti-feminist or otherwise politically incorrect. TV blogger Terry Morrow of the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel wrote: “The title is terrible.... Why don’t they just call it ‘The Sexist Show’ and be more obvious?”

Hayek told reporters last month that the title is meant sarcastically, and that the show intends to criticize superficial notions of beauty. “We’re making fun of the people that would think that’s ugly,” she said of the title character. “I think she’s beautiful.”

What’s more, the fashion world has lately become familiar to viewers in hit series like CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” and Bravo’s “Project Runway” and in movies such as “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Rival executives said that in addition to the positive critical reaction, ABC was likely guided by recent marketing surveys that gave “Betty” a better shot at success than the two tepid comedies originally tagged for Thursday, “Notes From the Underbelly” and “Big Day.” (Hope Hartman, an ABC spokeswoman, said the network doesn’t comment on internal research.)

ABC needs the help more than one might think. The network battled to No. 2 in the 2005-06 season in the adults aged 18 to 49 demographic, just a fraction behind market leader Fox, home of “American Idol.” But ABC’s new shows performed badly last season; the low-rated “What About Brian” was the only first-year scripted series invited back. Some of the ABC shows slated for this fall have run into trouble, too: Last week, the executive producer behind “Brothers & Sisters,” a family drama with Calista Flockhart, abruptly quit the series after a dispute with the show’s creator over the program’s creative direction.

“ABC really needs some hits this year,” warned Brad Adgate, senior vice president at ad firm Horizon Media in New York.

Thursday may give the Walt Disney Co.-owned network its best shot. While ABC has never had much success programming that night, NBC’s once-dominant ratings have cratered since “Friends” went off the air in 2004. And “Earl” and “The Office” have failed to pay big dividends after moving to Thursdays this year. Meanwhile, the “Grey’s” move suddenly gives ABC momentum -- and an opportunity like this may not come again soon.

As ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader said, “This is an incredibly important night for us.”

That may help explain why “Betty’s” creators are already toiling to reposition the series not as a telenovela import with an off-putting title, but rather a timeless ugly-duckling tale.

As executive producer Ben Silverman optimistically told reporters last month, “It is an eternal show. It is ‘Cinderella,’ it is ‘My Fair Lady.’ It has worked a thousand times in a thousand places in a thousand ways.”