Fans mourn loss of ‘Ugly Betty’

It turned America Ferrera, who played the plucky but style-challenged Betty Suarez, into a household name. And it landed a prestigious Peabody Award.

As the credits roll on the wacky dramedy’s last episode at 9 tonight, Hispanics, gay-rights groups and fans are lamenting more than the loss of Betty’s cringe-inducing outfits and the melodrama of the Meade family — owners of the show’s fictional fashion magazine Mode. The hourlong show was also among the rare network programs to tackle such issues as gay teens, body image and illegal immigration.

The show contrasted Betty’s career at Mode with her working class, Mexican immigrant family, including her widower father, Ignacio, her impulsive older sister, Hilda, and her theater-loving, fashion-expert nephew Justin, who came out as gay in this last season.

"Having this family at the center of the show made it normal to watch a Latino family in a non-stereotypical way,” Ferrera wrote in an e-mail.

Lisa Navarrete, a vice president for the National Council of La Raza, said the show’s absence will leave a void.

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"You don’t have a lot of Latino-themed shows on TV, so when we lose ‘Ugly Betty,’ we will have a major loss,” she said.

Navarrete said George Lopez paved the way for "Ugly Betty” in 2002 with his Bill Cosby-styled family sitcom, but she called "Ugly Betty” edgier.

The brainchild of producer Silvio Horta and actress and producer Salma Hayek, "Ugly Betty” was based on a Colombian telenovela that became so popular that it was copied in Mexico, Germany and elsewhere.

The English version also proved a global hit. More than 10,000 Facebook fans from as far as England, the Philippines and Bangladesh have begged ABC not to cancel the show since it announced this season would be its last, following a decline in the show’s ratings.

Shortly after the height of the immigration debate, the show followed Betty’s father as he confessed to his American-born children that he had been living in the United States illegally.

Even with comedic turns, "the plot line illustrated the complexity of the lives of many undocumented immigrants who are otherwise integrated into American life,” Navarrete said. "You have a lot of families like ‘Ugly Betty’ where you have U.S. born children whose parents have undocumented status.”