Ugly Betty News: The Truth Is Revealed & Ugly Betty Fanblog Future

About a month or so ago, the so-called Ugly Betty News site had dissapeared out of nowhere and with no explanation as to how and why it went. For those of you wondering what had happened, well, whilst I was on Twitter the other day, I saw this posted by Vanessa Williams fan. Here is what Tom wrote: 

To The Readers Of Ugly Betty News

March 9, 2010 — Slartibartfast

Regular Shoot The Moose readers (both of you), bear with me a minute.

For those of you who got here by searching for Ugly Betty News, I owe you an explanation for that site’s sudden disappearance, and I wish I had a better venue from which to provide it.  But, it is what is it.

So, here is what happened.  On February 16, I was informed by the company for which I wrote Ugly Betty News that they were severing my contract, per the terms.  I found out later that the company had nixed the entire Entertainment department, which was sizable.  We were locked out of our blogs, so there was no chance of properly saying goodbye.  I was able to post a couple of tweets about it, so SOME of you might have gotten word what happened.  I wanted to send out a mass email to the biggest regular commenters at the site, but unfortunately, most of you posted with bogus email addresses (as you probably should).

The next day, the UBN domain no longer pointed to UBN, but to the replacement site for all the Entertainment channel blogs.

And that was that. 

It sounds so clichéd.  The last post I made at UBN was a revisiting of the possibility of Liza Minnelli appearing on Ugly Betty (as we now know, that isn’t going to happen).  Had I known that it would be my last post, I would have said something more profound.  I would have said goodbye.

This is how ghosts must feel.

Ironically, the cancellation of Ugly Betty had been quite good for Ugly Betty News, business-wise, up until our own “cancellation”.  The readership there spiked to record levels on  the day of the show’s cancellation announcement, and it didn’t decline much after that.

We – you and I – did an amazing thing.  We built an informative fan/news site which featured intelligent discussion minus the mean-spirited gossip.  It was a long shot from the beginning. I worked my butt off, and you guys kept coming back and bringing your wonderful thoughts to the comments.  We were part of a larger Ugly Betty community, which WE helped will into being (notwithstanding the ship wars, but even that was done with the context of a greater Ugly Betty community.)

We were seen as a conduit between fans and the show.  Ironically, although the many in the cast read UBN,  I NEVER had any contact with the producers, until right before UBN got axed, and I’ll be doggoned if I didn’t give Mr. Horta my b5Media email address, which is no longer valid. Was he going to invite me to the wrap party, or issue a cease and desist?  We’ll never know.

After all those years of work, once I got the sad notice, I decided to check and see just what I (we) had done.  I hadn’t checked in many months, but typing in the phrase “Ugly Betty spoiler” on Google returned Ugly Betty News as the number one result (with many more links in the top 15).  Beating out EOnline.  Beating TVGuide.  Beating Entertainment Weekly.  Even beating Wiki-freaking-Pedia, who is always number one on every search for anything.  Many other search terms revealed the same result.  All this with NO help from the network.

(This is where I get to say: ABC, your media relations with bloggers SUCKS, more than any other network.  You seriously need to revisit your asset access policy.  We had the number one Ugly Betty site in the world, we proved our professionalism time and again, and you refused, to the end, to treat us like “media”.  It boggles the mind.  Your loss. There, that feels better, although I guess blogging for ABC is now out of the question ).

So, I’ll be fine.  If I choose to seriously blog again, I know how to do it now, thanks to the wonderful people (I’m looking at you, Arieanna) who gave me a chance and taught me the ropes. Who knows where I could go?  Politics, parenting, cooking, travel, maybe even entertainment again.

Regardless, I am almost over my period of mourning, so watch out, world.

So, to the faithful readers of Ugly Betty News, I say thank you for all your wonderful contributions and readership.  As the show itself winds down, we have to go through another long, sad goodbye.  But, I’m glad we get to have that.  I am sorry that UBN just disappeared on you.  Had I had any control over the situation, it would have been done differently.

I will miss you, dear readers and commenters, most of all.  But, we will meet again, somewhere, somewhen.

Sincerely,

Tom Landers

Writer – Ugly Betty News

*hat tip- thanks to Vanessa Fan on Twitter

http://shootthemoose.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/to-the-readers-of-ugly-betty-news/

In other words, the company- not Tom- decided to pull the plug on the Ugly Betty News site- I was very dissapointed by this news although given the show is about to finish airing next month in the U.S, the news on the site's demise was, in a way, expected.  I had this feeling the site would be wrapped up at the end of the last week of the penultimate episode, but not before it.

It is such a terrible shame that Ugly Betty News ended the way it did- ABC's woeful treatment as explained by Tom, indicates that their refusal to acknowledge sites such as this one, as well as cancelling the show shows their lack of respect- not just to the fans who watch UB, but to the fans of UB news and other fan sites. Many Betty fans have already posted how much they will miss that site, as well as they have come across Betty fans from all over the globe. Sharing their love for the show and the characters and cast, as well as it was an ideal platform to air their views on the episodes and suggestions.

For a few years or so, UBN has been one of the very few most frequently and regularly visited Ugly Betty-related sites around and it showed via the amount of comments made by numerous fans.

I will continue posting articles, news, gossip etc in UBN place- although insofar as to what will happen once the show is over, post-Betty I have yet to come to a decision as to whether I will continue running my Betty blog. I also have another blog idea- which isn't related to Ugly Betty- that I may consider and run. Depending on what happens next, I will keep you informed and let you know in advance.

But thank you Tom for the last few years and for keeping us updated throughout- you are indeed A die-hard Betty fanatic.

Thanks for the memories. :)

Waiching 


Writer & poster - The Michael Urie & Ugly Betty Fanblog