Metal Mouth Message Board

Anyone else seen the ABC ad for a new show coming up in the fall TV lineup called "Ugly Betty" about an otherwise attractive woman who is apparently supposed to be ugly because she has braces?

Anyone else not too thrilled about being stereotyped?

http://abc.go.com/primetime/schedule/2006-07/betty.html
Although I am not sure what I think of the show or how braces really fits into its plot line. I dont think they are trying to single people in braces but more frumpy rumpled people who prefer to hang success on hard work and fortitude instead of looks.

I doubt it will make it through the first season unless it is very funny. It doesnt seem to have a very good story behind it IMHO. The short outline they have posted on ABC's site doesnt spark my interest. looks like a show i would watch if i wasnt feeling well and couldnt find the remote, but i would have to be feeling sick enough to not get up and change the chanel. Wait NM i looked at the time slot no way i will be watching it its on durning CSI.

I have seen the commercials. I understand the concept of a 'not so fashionable, frumpy rumbled gal' trying to get ahead but does she have to have braces to further that point? I kinda had a reaction when I saw the ad too. Does having braces equal not being fashionable and being frumpy? Not in my world.

Is she wearing glasses too? I hate how the media sticks glasses on someone to make them nerdy/ugly/unpleasant to look at.

I'd rather wear glasses than go blind, and I'd rather have braces than look the way I did before.

I kind of had the same reaction too. Not a huge deal to me, because I'm sure it won't last at all. I think the only reason it got an executive head-nod was because a celebrity was involved in the creation. I think Selma Hayek or someone like that.
The glasses thing never bothered me, nor has it really for any other "stereotype" in a show. Maybe it's because I have a light prescription or make them more into my own fashion accessory, but yeah, glasses never bothered me.
Maybe it's because I'm so new to the whole braces thing and a bit more sensitive that I did flinch a little the first time I saw the ad.

Got the glasses...got the braces..........anyone I know who sees that show and makes any sort of connection is gonna be sorry lol
Geez this is tough enough on the old ego without someone making a show actually called Ugly!!!!

Wow....I had the same reaction. How many adults do you see on TV who have braces....practically none. Now why does the one who does have to be labeled as 'Ugly' Betty?

I think she's kind of cute!! If she lost the silly clothes they have her in, like that Guatamala poncho...

I read that the show is based on an Hispanic novella (soap opera) with a similar premise and name. I don't know if the Hispanic version has the woman wearing braces.

Maybe in one episode they can show Betty browsing the web and looking at ArchWired, LOL.

I don't know if the stereotype of "braces+glasses = unattractive" will ever go away. It's like bald guy jokes -- an easy mark, an easy laugh.

I can just imagine some people at work making connections between the show character and us. "Hey, ugly Evelyn" "Ugly Karen", etc. That would be enough to not only make me not watch the show, but to urge the network to cancel it!

They wouldn't come up with such a connection with people who have a leg brace, use crutches, use a wheelchair, etc. It's hard to understand how some things are acceptable and others are not.

Geez, why don't we give the show a chance? Maybe it is heart warming and really about teaching people not to judge?

I just watched (parts of) "Shallow Hal" yesterday. That was pretty good. But yeah, the girl on the show was fat. I mean really fat. I don't think the intention was to put down fat people. It was more about this guy who had to get over his "shallowness".

You got a point there! I'll give it a chance. Like they say, "Never judge a TV show by its previews".

It's a catch 22 stereotype. People say braces = geeky and frumpy. Yet how many times have you heard someone say "why doesn't she just get her teeth fixed?". My own father, who is not normally like that, said it about Jool. And I think her teeth are fine. (But apparently she gets bad press about it.)

Who is Jool?

I think the stereotype is really being broken. I think when I was a kid braces were geeky. Now I think so many of the kids have them that it is not really geeky anymore at all.

I know a kid in her adolescence that was being teased alot more about her crooked teeth than about braces.

I am beginning to think that in some countries having braces could even be a status symbol.

And I know I certainly don't feel geeky wearing braces. Maybe I don't feel better about with them on, but I don't feel geeky or frumpy, although when I got the braces I started dressing WAY better. People really noticed!

Who is Jool?

Jewel is a popular singer. I bet you'd recognize her songs if you heard one...here's a picture of her.