Ugly Betty S4 DVD Review

Ugly Betty Season 4 DVD Review by Jazmine Harper-Davis

“Complete your Ugly Betty collection with the show’s most inspiring and surprising season ever. Relive all 20 episodes of the Final Season – uninterrupted- and enjoy never-before-seen bonus features, available only on DVD. It’s a must have for every Ugly Betty fan!”

Packaging

That description on the back cover couldn’t be truer about the Ugly Betty Season 4 DVD.

Packing is a slide on and off cover that has a picture of lead character Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), with a title “Ugly Betty, The complete fourth and final (which is highlighted in green) season. The tagline cleverly reads “From Poncho to Honcho”, and has a picture of Season 1 Betty next to Season 4 Betty.

The back cover is a quick overview of that the show is about, a cast picture which is all of the individual cast photos pieced together, like season 3. When opened, there are various small pictures of the cast on the inside flap and on the left side the first disc. On Disc one we have a picture of a butterfly, and the disc has episodes 1 – 5 and bonus features. The disc cases flip and fit into their holding places perfectly unlike the previous seasons where they slipped out occasionally. Disc 2 is orange and has a picture of a MODE chair and episodes 6-10 and bonus features, Disc 3 is red with the famous Guadalajara poncho with episodes 11-15 along with bonus features and Mode After Hours and lastly disc 4  had a mannequin and a dress with episodes 16-20 and hold the majority of bonus features. Opposite that is a list of the episodes in order along with the titles. They could be bigger, but they are there.

4/5

Menu

Menu style is like Season 3, on the side has various clips from the season with really cool, funky music playing in the background. Features include a menu that reads, Play All, Episode Selection, Bonus Features, and Set Up.  For the Episode Selection the five episodes on each disc show up in boxes with the episode title underneath a quick clip of the episode. Very colorful and pretty nice.

4/5

Technical Specifications

• As usual Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound so it sounds great on your TV.
• French and Spanish as well as English Subtitles, also subtitles for the commentary to read what the actors say. Helps a lot.
• Widescreen
• Clear Perfect Picture, Ugly Betty is already amazingly shot but looks beautiful on your TV screen, nice to look at.

5/5

Special Features

While the season itself is great there is some seriously lacking bonus features. The bonus features however, are amazing for what little we have.

Disc One

2 deleted scenes.

• “Connor Checked Out”
• “The Steam Room”

Though very funny, you can see why it was left out, added nothing to the plots.

Disc Two

3 deleted scenes

• “I’m Available”
• “What is Level 5”
• “Breathe”

Again, nice to see, but really pointless.

Disc Three

• Mode After Hours – 4 episodes

2 deleted scenes

• “Elevator”
• “No Male Models”

I enjoyed the first one quite a lot and thought it could have stayed but was probably cut due to time, and the second one I felt also could have been added to the episode for we, the viewers, were given a reason for no modes in episode 4.15 “Fire and Nice”

Disc Four

3 deleted scenes

• “Guy Talk”
• “Wedding Planning”
• “Going Too Far”

Nice Scenes really enjoyed the “Wedding Planning” that could have been in episode 4.19.

Audio Commentary for Episode 4.16 “All the World’s A Stage” with Michael Urie and Mark Indelicato.

Nice commentary those two are insightful and funny, as watch and comment on the history making episode. I wish there were more of these like the four we got on the Season 1 DVD, but it was great nonetheless.

Betty Bloops

Shorter than Season 3 Bloopers. Has titles such as “Gags”, “Noise” “Smooches” no cursing section which most people seem to like, but they are still fun, and show what a great sense of humor the cast and crew have.

Betty Goes Bahamas

My favorite Bonus Feature of all four seasons. The hilarious duo of Michael Urie and Becki Newton travel Atlantis looking for their cast members, on a scavenger hunt adventure. As they make their journey various clips of the cast whereabouts are shown. Such as Mark Indelicato and Ana Ortiz swimming with dolphins; Tony Plana, Judith Light, and Vanessa Williams making sushi; Grant Bowler, Eric Mabius, Daniel Eric Gold, and Adam Rodriguez receiving spa treatments, and America Ferrera lounging in a beach chair. This is my favorite because you see how well the cast interacts with each other and even those who don’t share screen time ( Tony with Vanessa and Judith) still hang out and have fun. Very fun and of course our tour guides are super hilarious.

3/5

Overall

I liked the sleek and smaller design its very compact and easy to store anywhere, however the inside design I felt was rushed in being put together, and the lack of cast photo is disappointing. The Bonus Features, were few and far between but still nice to watch. Over all I’d rate the DVD a 4/5.

If you love Ugly Betty as much as I do, it’s a must have for your collection. Enjoy.

JNicole's Emmy Picks

Hey Guys, Emmy Season is here. Where everyone who is anyone show's their face at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles to celebrate the best of the best in Television. Known as the Oscars for TV. This year is the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards hosted by funny man Jimmy Fallon (loved him on SNL). I wasn't going to watch this year for personal reasons, but as the TV-goer I am, I will. So I've decided to break down who I think will win, should win, and should have had the chance to win. Comedy Series and Drama Series are up.

Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm
30 Rock
Glee
Modern Family
Nurse Jackie
The Office

Will Win: Glee. It has all the hype and the Globe. It may not be funnier than those other shows but it's a fan favorite.
Should Win: I'd be happy with a Modern Family or Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Seinfeld reunion was EPIC. And ABC"s sitcom had one of the BEST pilots to date.
Shoulda had a chance: UGLY BETTY. Season 4 was deffo its best since season 1. Shame.


Drama Series


Breaking Bad
True Blood
The Good Wife
Dexter
Lost
Mad Men

Will Win: The Good Wife or safe to say Mad Men is pretty much a lock in.
Should Win: True Blood I am bias.
Shoula had a chance: hmmmm. Son of Anarchy

Thats it for now. What would you have picked? Sound off below!
And be sure to catch the 62nd Primetime Emmy awards on NBC, Sunday, August 29 (5-8 p.m. PT, 8-11 p.m. ET).

Adios Betty.

As the new Fall 2010 Season starts to unwind, I reflect on one show that wont be in this years line-up. Ugly Betty. After its cancellation in January of 2010, I spent time re-watching episodes seeing what happened, why people lost interest, and I found a few things.

When it aired in 2006 it was a phenomenon. It was different from anything that came out that year, to be honest the only other shows I remember coming out that year was 30 Rock and Heros. Ugly Betty had a campy, fun, and colorful humor that other shows happened to lack, nestling into its 8:00 pm slot on Thursday nights before Grey’s Anatomy, the show was a hit.

Season One of Ugly Betty was without a doubt the best season. The writing was top notch, the acting was brilliant, the storylines were captivating. I stared watching the show for the pure fact that my favorite actress was in it. Vanessa Williams. However, after the first 3 episodes I fell in love with everyone. I was never bored and I couldn’t wait till Thursday nights would come so I could sit in front of the TV and watch my favorite TV show. Season 1 touched on a lot of issues such as the storyline with Ignacio and immigration, transsexuals, Marc coming out to his mother and being harshly rejected, and the most important one, Beauty isn’t only skin deep. This was consistent through the entire first season which is why it did so well. Not to mention the characters showed growth even with 13 episodes. The “modies” weren’t as heartless as the seemed, they got hurt too. (Nico/Willie, Marc/Mom). Everyone character was relatable.

The latter seasons however fell flat. Ugly Betty was always its own, in season two it became more campy, more unrealistic so to say. It also had "too many guest stars" that didn't add much to the plot. Another factor in this was the writers strike that happened. I enjoyed it, thought it provided the funniest moments from the show. 

Season three was the big move to New York, and what a difference it made. I loved watching Season three on my TV screen. I enjoyed the development of the some characters that season. In season 3 I really disliked Betty, I felt the writers forgot who they wrote in 2006. However the other supporting characters were fantastic. It lost a lot of humor in Season 3 I must admit. I barely laughed at jokes, because most times it was concentrated on the plot, which is great but could have added more of the UB comedy we love. Comedy works well on this show, its makes it much more fun. That’s why I think people lost interest. What happened to the funny show we watched in the beginning? The Marc and Amanda banter. The sassy Hilda lines, the witty Justin remarks, and of course the wonderful Wilhelmina Slater quips. It was shelved to the Friday night death slot, where it would suffer in the rating and would lead to an uneventful death.

Season 4 came back with a tremendous creative resurgence. It had finally found a balance. It was drama and comedy and touched on important issues. Character development was amazing. And it made history, with the first teenage gay kiss with Justin Suarez and Austin, a scene wonderfully done by Ryan and Mark Indelicato. It was back to its old ways, I loved every character, I enjoyed every moment. It was just great.

Overall Ugly Betty had a great run, and I claimed it as part of my life. I own all the DVDs, listened to all podcast, supported them at every awards show. It’s become sort of a best friend to me. I was sad to see it go, and probably will miss it more times than I can imagine. One thing about the show that I truly believe made it different from everything else was the AMAZING togetherness and chemistry of the cast. I mean, saying they likes each other is an understatement. They loved each other. They supported each other. They cared for each other. They were a family. And it may not seem important for the viewer, but it really is, because as I sat and watched I could see how much fun they were having with each other, how much they love doing what they do. It’s the greatest reward a fan could have. They brought their A-game to the material that were given, and I’m blessed to have been with them along the ride for the last 4 years. A lot of things I’ve learned in life were from this show. It will forever live in my TV show hall of fame.

I’m gonna miss my little (not really) evil Willie, my dynamic duo Marc and Mandy, sassy Hilda, cooking Ignacio, vivacious Justin, awesome Claire, progressive Daniel, sexy Connor, and our heroine Betty. Also everyone that was apart of the show. My night’s just wont be the same. As they all venture out into other aspects of their careers I will continue to follow and I know that no matter what they always have each other’s backs. Just last week Ashley Jensen and Vanessa went to America’s movie premiere. And Mark Indelicato tweeted he was hanging with Ana and the baby. This cast family is amazing. And in a weird way, I feel the fans are apart of it.

Viva La Betty. Cannot wait until August 17^th. My collection is complete.