I vaguely remember when Ugly Betty was a new show, but I was almost done with high school at the time, and it just was not my cup of tea as a near-adult. After watching Superstore with America Ferrera, though, I became genuinely interested in going back to Ugly Betty, despite the two being very different shows. Superstore is a sitcom, while Ugly Betty is a dramedy, but Ferrera’s presence was enough to pull me in. After finishing the first season, I can definitely see why this show put America Ferrera on the map.

America Ferrera plays the lead character, Betty Suarez. Despite Ferrera being a genuinely beautiful woman, Betty herself is, to put it mildly, unfashionable. Her hair is a mess, her fashion sense is impossible to ignore, and she even has braces as a fully grown adult. Despite all of that, she lands a job at Mode, one of the most prestigious fashion magazines of its time. I find that a little funny because the show came out in 2006, when it was already becoming pretty obvious that magazines would eventually become shadows of what they once were thanks to the rise of the internet.

In a fairly messed-up way, the only reason Betty gets the job is rooted in some behind-the-scenes maneuvering and questionable ethics. Mode is part of Meade Publications, owned by a wealthy man named Bradford Meade. Bradford installs his son Daniel as Editor in Chief despite Daniel having no real experience in the industry. Bradford is not worried about Daniel tanking the magazine so much as he is worried about Daniel sleeping with every woman on staff. He spots Betty Suarez and immediately offers her the job of Daniel’s assistant since she would be the least likely woman to tempt him.

Mode magazine is exactly what you would expect. Betty sticks out like a sore thumb in an office full of fashionistas with toxic personalities, and they are not above bullying her, especially since she landed the prestigious role of assistant to the Editor in Chief, which is not exactly the kind of job that just falls into your lap.

Vanessa Williams does an amazing job as Wilhelmina Slater. Picking a singular main antagonist for a show like this is tricky, especially when the character shifts from outright villain to frenemy at various points and with various people. If the show had pulled bigger ratings, Wilhelmina would probably rank much higher in conversations about great TV villains.

I also heard that Salma Hayek had a production company behind the show for ABC. She shows up early on playing an actress in a Mexican telenovela that the characters are watching on TV, which I thought was a cute little Easter egg. She later returns as a character with a much more prominent storyline, and she steals every scene she is in. She is also very easy on the eyes.

Season one also carries a substantial mystery running through the center of it. The former Editor in Chief, Fey Sommers, died under suspicious circumstances, and someone is quietly working to reopen what the police considered a closed case. It all ties back to Mode and the Meade family in ways that keep the season moving.

My wife and I were genuinely pleased with the first season of Ugly Betty. It is a surprisingly long season, with episodes that run on the longer side as well. Honestly, they could have split it in half and had a full two seasons by modern standards, especially since the show naturally shifts between distinct storylines. That is something I had almost forgotten about television from that era, before David Benioff and D. B. Weiss wrapped up Game of Thrones in a way that made the entire industry feel lazy and unimaginative afterward.