The success Ugly Betty will get early on will be thanks to viewers who are suffering from Little Miss Sunshine withdrawl.

Didn't Ugly Betty get hyped on Oprah? If so, I would imagine that's where a large portion of these initial viewers came from. I realize this is speculative, but it seems whenever Oprah reviews a book or something, it gets a ton of initial attention and then cools. I do hear that Ugly Betty is a quality show (one that doesn't appeal to me at all however...) but I'll be surprised if there's not a large drop off in viewers (more than usual) in the next week or two.

I love "Six Degrees",and look forward to "Friday Night Lights" and "The Nine".

Re: Heroes and Studio 60

I think Bob was quoting the advertising promos on NBC for Heroes and Studio 60.

Those statistics are from the premieres, re-runs on NBC Universal channels, and online streaming.

I don't think they think are all substantiated by Nielsen.

I thought "Ugly Betty" was HORRIBLE. I've sampled at least 10 other new shows this season, and I've watched them through, and I'll probably continue watching most of them. I could NOT make it to the end of this mean, ugly-in-the-soul show. Watching a nice girl be put in situation after situation where she looked awful and ridiculous, while 90% of the cast were dispicable people trying to get rid of her, was bad enough (I understand irony--but I saw none of it).

But the production, writing, etc. was uniformly amateur and sub-par. I've seen high school plays with higher production values and far, far, better actors. I gave up on it when she was put in that miserable costume on the photo shoot set. I'd had enough. What the heck are people thinking? This is their idea of entertainment? Even with the high caliber of so many other new shows this year? Blech!

I actually enjoyed this show alot. I mean compared to most shows out there i think this show is pretty decent and funny.

I loved Ugly Betty, too. I'm also hooked on Jericho. Heroes was worthy of a second watch -- it's really hard to judge a show like this that has so many leads to introduce in the first episode.

I've been disappointed by Standoff and Justice. Studio 60 I could take or leave.

@ 9/boshe

"the indians had their own version of "ugly betty". it was one of the highest rated programs. so i guess "ugly betty" will go a long way."

I read that Salma Hayek (who is Exec Producer) brought it here from Brazil. This of course after it had been translated to other markets (India, Asia, etc)

I was disappointed in Ugly Betty and so was my almost 14-year-old daughter. (so much for that demographic!) We both found it boring. Now, maybe it's because we both liked "The Devil Wore Prada," that it's hard to compare the two. Our favorite new shows this year are Studio 60 and Smith.

I didn't expect to like UGLY BETTY, therefore it was shocking that I LOVED IT! The best new show of the season because it did what no other series has been able to do -- make you care about the characters. My other favorites are JUSTICE and Studio 60.

BTW, Heroes debuted with less ratings than UGLY BETTY. But but no means low ratings.