America Ferrera films a scene in a hot dog costume for “Ugly Betty.”


That’s hot! (No pun intended)
Bauer Griffin
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That’s hot! (No pun intended)
Bauer Griffin

Things are looking pretty gloomy for Ugly Betty.
In a just-announced Thursday night scheduling tweak, ABC is benching Betty beginning March 26 and replacing it with episodes of Samantha Who? and the new Megan Mullally-Cheryl Hines comedy In the Motherhood. The network’s release concludes by saying, “Ugly Betty will return to Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. following the run of In the Motherhood and Samantha Who?”
After crunching the numbers, that puts Betty’s return (provided Sam Who/Motherhood don’t tank) sometime around (gulp) June — a.k.a. outside the regular season. Now, granted, Betty hasn’t exactly been killing it in the ratings this season, but it’s still one of ABC’s signature shows.
“The Thursday night block is a good opportunity to launch these comedies,” counters an ABC spokesperson. “That said, Betty is a solid performer and there is no question that it will definitely be back to complete its season, just without repeats.”
