The second season of the American comedy-drama television series Ugly Betty started on September 27, 2007, in the United States and Canada, while the second part of the season began airing on April 24, 2008.

The season was originally set to include minimum 20 episodes, but due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, it was shortened to 18 episodes.

Season 2 was the last to be produced in Los Angeles as the show returned to New York City, where the pilot episode had been shot, for seasons 3 and 4.

Cast All of the main cast from the show's first season returned for the second season, with the exception of Kevin Sussman (who had portrayed Walter). In addition, Christopher Gorham (Henry) and Judith Light (Claire) were upgraded to the main cast.

Starring America Ferrera as Betty Suarez Eric Mabius as Daniel Meade Alan Dale as Bradford Meade (episode 1–10) Rebecca Romijn as Alexis Meade Judith Light as Claire Meade Vanessa L. Williams as Wilhelmina Slater Becki Newton as Amanda Tanen Ana Ortiz as Hilda Suarez Ashley Jensen as Christina McKinney Tony Plana as Ignacio Suarez Michael Urie as Marc St. James Mark Indelicato as Justin Suarez Christopher Gorham as Henry Grubstick

Recurring roles David Blue as Cliff St. Paul John Cho as Kenny Eddie Cibrian as Coach Tony Diaz Illeana Douglas as Sheila Max Greenfield as Nick Pepper Jayma Mays as Charlie Alec Mapa as Suzuki St. Pierre Derek Riddell as Stuart Freddy Rodriguez as Giovanni ‘Gio’ Rossi Lorraine Toussaint as Amelia ‘Yoga’ Bluman Gabrielle Union as Renee Slater

Guest stars Kevin Alejandro as Santos Barry Bostwick as Roger Adams Julian de la Celle as Daniel Jr. Bailey Chase as Beckett ‘Becks’ Scott Daniel Davis as Dr. Morgan Remus Eliza Dushku as Cameron Ashlock Rick Fox as Dwayne Victor Garber as Professor Barrett Ava Gaudet as Gina Gambarro Lindsay Lohan as Kimberly Keegan Mo’Nique as L’Amanda Annie Potts as Linda Marlo Thomas as Sandra Winthrop James Van Der Beek as Luke Carnes

The second season also contained cameo appearances by Victoria Beckham, Bow Wow, Naomi Campbell, Kenneth Cole, Nina García, Larry King, Roberta Myers, Omarion, Gene Simmons, Christian Siriano, Vera Wang, Betty White and Joe Zee, all appearing as themselves. In addition, Megan Hilty and Eden Espinosa, stars of the stage musical Wicked, appear as their Wicked characters.

Broadcast history Mika’s song, "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)", a top-10 hit in the UK, was used as a promotional tool for the second season, with the altered lyric "Hey Betty, you are beautiful" and a music video featuring the cast.

In Australia, the show was put on hiatus after the July 2, 2008, episode due to the 2008 Summer Olympics. However, after the Olympics, only one episode, "Bananas for Betty", was shown on August 28, 2008, before the show was cancelled for no apparent reason. After the Australian network received complaints, the show went back to air on December 2, 2008, where it aired twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The final episode aired on Thursday, January 15, 2009.

Episodes

Notes:

Season 2 was originally slated to have a total of 24 episodes, but due to the Writers Guild of America strike, it had 18 episodes with the last five written and produced following the strike's end.

DVD release DVD name Ep # Release dates Additional Features Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 The Complete Second Season – Brighter, Bolder, Bettyer 18 September 9, 2008 November 10, 2008 November 10, 2008 This five disc box set contains all 18 episodes from the second season. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment release of Ugly Betty Season Second, subtitled "Brighter, Bolder, Bettyer", would be September 9, 2008 in the United States and Canada. All 18 episodes were included in the set, along with additional bonus tracks.

Among the features:

On Set With The Besties The Suarez Tour Wihelmina Slater: Love to Hate Her Las Pasiones De Telenovelas I ♥ Betty Bettly Bloops Deleted Scenes

Ratings

United States Episode # Title Airdate Rating Share 18–49 Viewers(millions) Rank 24 "How Betty Got Her Grieve Back" TVPG-DL September 27, 2007 7.4 12 3.9 11.16 #28 25 "Family/Affair" TVPG-DLSV October 4, 2007 7.4 11 3.4 9.78 #31 26 "Betty's Wait Problem" TVPG-DLV October 11, 2007 7.3 11 3.5 10.35 #29 27 "Grin and Bear It" TVPG-L October 18, 2007 7.8 12 3.1 9.67 #35 28 "A League of Their Own" TVPG-L October 25, 2007 7.7 12 3.2 9.84 #34 29 "Something Wicked This Way Comes" TVPG-DL November 1, 2007 7.3 12 3.4 9.90 #27 30 "It's a Nice Day for a Posh Wedding" TVPG-LS November 8, 2007 7.7 13 3.5 10.89 #25 31 "I See Me, I.C.U." TVPG-DL November 15, 2007 7.6 14 3.5 10.73 #29 32 "Giving Up the Ghost" TVPG-DL November 22, 2007 5.3 9 2.2 7.49 #50 33 "Bananas for Betty" TVPG-DLV December 6, 2007 6.4 10 2.8 9.34 #26 34 "Zero Worship" TVPG-DL January 10, 2008 6.7 11 3.2 9.89 #27 35 "Odor in the Court" TV14-DL January 17, 2008Broadcast TV Ratings for Thursday, January 17, 2008 « Your Entertainment Now 6.4 10 3.0 9.52 #25 36 "A Thousand Words Before Friday" TVPG-DL January 24, 2008 6.2 10 3.0 8.92 #23 37 "Twenty Four Candles" TVPG-DL April 24, 2008ABC Announces the Return of Television's Biggest Hit Shows, The Futon Critic, February 20, 2008Ratings for the week of April 21st–27th, 2008 6.0 10 2.5 8.52 #3238"Burning Questions" TVPG-LV May 1, 2008 5.6 9 2.4 7.93 #3739"Betty's Baby Bump" TVPG-DLS May 8, 2008 5.6 9 2.4 7.99 #3640"The Kids Are Alright" TVPG-DL May 15, 2008 5.9 10 2.7 8.47Breaking News – Quick Take for Thursday, May 15, 2008 (Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings) | TheFutonCritic.com #2941"Jump" TVPG-DL May 22, 2008 6.2 11 2.8 8.75 #17

United Kingdom Ugly Betty was aired on Channel 4 on a usual time of Fridays at 9.00pm. These figures are official ratings released by BARB.

Episode # Title Airdate Viewers (millions) Channel 4 weekly ranka 24 "How Betty Got Her Grieve Back October 5, 2007 2.82 1 25 "Family/Affair" October 12, 2007 2.11 18 26 "Betty's Wait Problem" October 19, 2007 2.19 9 27 "Grin and Bear It" October 26, 2007 2.11 19 28 "A League of Their Own" November 2, 2007 2.19 18 29 "Something Wicked This Way Comes" November 9, 2007 2.04 24 30 "It's a Nice Day for a Posh Wedding" November 23, 2007 2.42 18 31 "I See Me, I.C.U." November 30, 2007 1.92 28 32 "Giving Up the Ghost" December 7, 2007 2.16 22 33 "Bananas for Betty" December 14, 2007 1.75 28 34 "Zero Worship" September 5, 2008 3.12 8 35 "Odor in the Court" September 12, 2008 2.12 11 36 "A Thousand Words Before Friday" September 19, 2008 1.83 22 37 "Twenty Four Candles" September 26, 2008 1.66 27 38 "Burning Questions" October 3, 2008 1.7 30 39 "Betty's Baby Bump" October 3, 2008 1.65 31 40 "The Kids Are Alright" October 10, 2008 1.63 30 41 "Jump" October 17, 2008 1.68 30

a Ranks are for Channel 4 weekly, not for overall TV.

The gap between "Bananas for Betty" on December 14, 2007, and "Zero Worship" was taken for three reasons:

1. Channel 4 was originally scheduled to take a three-week break at Christmas and resume episodes in January; this hadn't happened.

2. The 2007–2008 WGA strike meant only three episodes were left after the last episode, so Channel 4 decided it was pointless to resume them for just a couple of weeks in late January unless there were no more episodes to be produced. The WGA strike was resolved in February, so Channel 4 had promised viewers the series would return later on in the year with new episodes, but had no idea of when to return them, as the next six months (February–August 2008) was already filled.

3. Channel 4 decided to wait until September after Big Brother 2008 had finished airing, as the episodes took up approximately 100 minutes of airtime on a Friday night, which filled Betty's slot. Prior to Big Brother, March–May was filled with the whole first season of Dirty Sexy Money, which occupied Betty's slot whenever it was not on, and moved accordingly. Betty made its return to Channel 4 on Friday 5 September 2008 between the two season finale episodes of Big Brother. Unlike Desperate Housewives' 3rd-season premiere, Betty's timeslot for that week was not changed as the first show finished at 9pm and resumed with episode 2 at 10pm, meaning that Betty could return to its normal slot. Episodes played straight through into season 3 without a break, and viewers who were desperate to see the next episode of the show could see it one night earlier on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday in its usual 9:00pm slot on E4. T4 then introduced weekend encore sessions on Sundays which replayed that week's episode from 1:30 pm–2:30pm.

Soundtrack Despite never having a physical or digital release a soundtrack of the series, the following songs were included in the second season of the series.

"Quicksand Thievery" by Natalie Walker "Golden Dreams" by Syd Straw "Fire" by Arthur Brown "Mile in These Shoes" by Jennifer Lopez "Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton "Get'cha Head In the Game" by Zac Efron "Makin' It" by David Naughton "Heart of Glass" by Blondie "Sigh" by Crowded House "Dirty South Hustla" by Carolina Slim "Left in the Dark" by The Leonards "As Time Goes By" from the film Casablanca "You Can't Have Me" by Clearlake "Hot Sahara" by Jimmy Century "Fantasy" by Julian Smith "Defying Gravity" by Wicked Cast "I'm Not That Girl" by Wicked Cast "Popular" by Wicked Cast "Milkshake" by Amanda Tanen "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" by U2 "I'm in Love with a Girl" by Cynthia Felton "Hernando's Hideaway" by From the album 'Tango – Music of Passion' "Step It Up" by The Bamboos "Eyes Wider Than Before" by Scott Matthews "Arky, Arky (Rise and Shine – Noah)" by Anna Laura Page & Jean Anne Shaffeman "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes "Rise and Shine" by Vanessa Williams "Ice Cream Man" by Van Halen "Dance Away the Day" by Blanche Dubois "Can't Get Tired of Me" by Bow Wow "Hey Baby (Jump Off)" by Bow Wow & Omarion "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Betty Suarez "The Girls" by Calvin Harris "Drama Queen" by Switches "Gene Simmons Is My Daddy" by Amanda Tanen and I.R.S "Shout" by I.R.S "Simply Irresistible" by I.R.S "It Takes Two" by Betty Suarez and Henry "In My Dreams" by Walter Meego "Blister of the Spotlight" by Ashtar Command "1st Movement String Quintet – Come Try Me" by Savourna Stevenson "Never Enough" by Belinda "Bounce with Me" by Kreesha Turner "No One" by Alicia Keys "Calabria" by Enur "Didn't You Know (You'd Have to Cry Sometime)" by Gladys Knight & the Pips "True" by Spandau Ballet "Forever" by Walter Meego "In Love with a Friend" by Deep Dish "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen "Boys Like My Beat" by Joniece "All Night" by Joshua Tyler "Brighton's Rock" by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra "Miles Away" by Madonna "Jump" by Madonna "Candy Shop" by Madonna "Spanish Lesson" by Madonna "Give It 2 Me" by Madonna "She's Not Me" by Madonna

References

See also List of minor characters on Ugly Betty