daniel meade

I love hearing stories about how certain stars auditioned for certain roles and didn't get them. What would the show/movie have been like if they were cast in it instead of the person who eventually got the role? For example, did you know that Danny DeVito was almost cast as Serena on Gossip Girl?

Here's another tidbit: Ugly Betty star Eric Mabius auditioned for the role of Peter Petrelli on Heroes. It's not really clear whether he didn't get the role because Milo Ventimiglia got it or if producers of Ugly Betty grabbed him for the role of Daniel Meade before Heroes producers could sign him up. Whatever happened, he's now playing the head of Mode magazine while Ventimiglia is absorbing people's superpowers.

The interview above is rather interesting. Mabius has moved back to Massachusetts with his family (he met his wife here while in college and wants to raise his kids here). He says he doesn't have a plan for his future, though he might have to get one. I have a feeling this might be the last season for Ugly Betty.

(S01E10) I don't have a whole lot of fancy observations to make here, folks. That was just some freaking good television. Those last couple of scenes were heartbreakers, and on a purely formal level, the writing was flawless.

Let's look at the penultimate scene at the Christmas party. I haven't seen a voice-over used that well since the Buffy "Passion" episode when evil Angel provided the soundtrack to Willow collapsing in grief at the news of Jenny Calendar's death. Entirely different circumstances here obviously, but could there have been a more perfect, tie-it-up-with-a-bow backdrop to Betty and Henry's wordless exchange than Daniel's phone call to Sofia? Then, boom, we see poor Betty's heart squashed right under that lingerie model's stiletto.