ugly again!

Yay, my program is BACK! I hate to admit an affinity for certain tv programs or the boob tube in general, but I missed "Ugly Betty" during the writer's strike. The first "new" episode was on last night. It is such a great, hilarious mixture of campy fun and somewhat serious issues mixed up in a delightful hourly extended Calgon moment, who can resist? Not moi!! Especially with such a fantastic cast. It is the story of an ugly duckling in the ultimate swan business, the fashion industry. A perfectly seasoned Judith Light (remember Who's the Boss, when Alyssa Milano had no chest?) portrays family publishing matriach Mrs. Claire Mead, who through convoluted plots twists wound up in prison for the murder of her rival and was subsquently proven innocent due to temporary insanity brought on by tainted perfume given to her by said rival...see what I mean?? Her son and transsexual daughter run the money making fashion rag, Mode. But Claire wanted a new start after prison and the death of her husband, and so started her own magazine aimed at aging women going through change, Hot Flash (a smart idea in real life-aren't you so tired of "skin"-tight, bare abdomens that seem to get longer and longer on magazine cover?? )

I watch for relaxation, escape, some fun...but last night's episode did have a real-life application for me. I am going through change, my daughter soon graduates, my son isn't due home for years and when he is he'll have his own life. I can't just sit around the house. Recent challenges have come up that at first I balked at, but I'm rethinking. Perhaps I think of myself in too narrow of terms, determined I can't do certain things, or never thought about it. The episode continued with Claire's son-turned-daughter Alexis pointing out that Mode had no more money to help with the launch of her magazine. She needed staff and had no money to hire them. She decides to call it quits, and runs into Betty in the ladies' restroom. Betty tries to convince her otherwise, telling her she need to use all of her resources, exclaiming, "I believe you can do anything...!" The scene ends with the reflected image of Claire putting her expensive earrings on Betty, who has a special date that night.

Cut to a scene where a group of nicely dressed women are sitting around a table with Claire talking to them about her magazine. Alexis peers in the room, takes her aside and reminds her she can't afford staff. Claire replied that she simply used her resources and hired ex-inmates through a government-assisted program. She said something to the effect, "... who better than these women to express the experience of change in a life? I was one of them, remember?" I thought to myself, that's right. That's right. Difficulty only changes the course of the river, and what an intimate and pointed reminder?