Usually, television comedies focus on either the workplace or the home. There is always a little bit of crossover, but a show tends to stick to one or the other. There are of course some notable exceptions to this rule, and one of them, Ugly Betty, just released its second season to DVD this week.
The show focuses on Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), and her attempts to juggle the insanity of her work life at a fashion magazine with the innumerable personal dramas that take place in her home life. It's a mix that doesn't always succeed as the over-the-top intrigues that take place at her office are no match for the everyday problems she faces at home.
Though she gets into trouble herself, Betty is a sane, calming influence in an insane — at home and at work — world. Her own personal troubles tend to erupt from her doing things to help others rather than to help herself. Her relatively selfless do-gooding is a trait that makes her far more accessible to the audience and so she functions as a great character through which the audience can view the Ugly Betty universe.
At work this season much of what Betty witnesses features Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams), the creative director of MODE, doing her best to take over both the magazine and the parent publishing corporation, Meade Publications. It is here where many of the soap opera-type plots can be found. Wilhelmina attempts to get into the family, and therefore a part of the fortune, in a number of ways (it would spoil the fun if I delved too deeply into her evil plans), and does her best to separate the Meade family itself. Slater is the main villain on the show and not only are her plots outlandishly evil, but the very way the show divulges her plots is over-the-top and silly. Due to this, while her evil is apparent, she never really appears menacing to the audience.
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