Ugly Betty (season 3)
The third season of the American comedy-drama television series "Ugly Betty" was confirmed in the ABC lineup, which was picked up for a full season on February 11, 2008. The season premiere aired on September 25, 2008 and ended with a special double episode on May 21, 2009. In Australia, season 3 premiered on November 3, 2009, at 7:30 pm EDT. This took place as one of the first exclusive premieres on the new digital channel 7TWO, after over two years of erratic screening of the first two seasons on the Seven Network. In South  Africa, season 3 premiered on Tuesday January 13, 2009 in its normal 7:30.P.M CAT timeslot. Season 3 premiered in the UK on Channel 4 on Wednesday June 24, 2009, in the 10:00.P.M. slot, after "Big Brother". It changed from Wednesdays to Mondays from Monday October 12, 2009. Episodes finished airing December 2, 2009. The season would be the first to be produced in the show's setting, New York City, in an attempt to take advantage of a credit change. However, the move would have side effects as several cast and crew members prefer to stay in Los Angeles where  the first two seasons were produced which resulted in contributing less onto the show. For example, Ashley Jensen, who plays Christina McKinney, opted to stay in Los Angeles and eventually left the show. Cast. Most of the main cast from the show's second season returned for the third season, with the former main characters Alexis Meade (played by Rebecca Romijn) and Henry Grubstick (played by Christopher Gorham), becoming recurring characters. Production. A musical episode and having Lindsay Lohan on board for a storyline were planned for the third season. The two proposed ideas were already in the planning stages  during the second season, but were put on hold due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. However, only Lindsay Lohan's storyline came to fruition. (The episode "Granny Pants" involved a plot about a musical, but was not a musical episode.) Despite appearing uncredited in the season two finale "Jump", Lohan appeared (credited) in the episodes "The Manhattan Project", "Granny Pants" and "Ugly Berry". Shooting of the episodes moved from Los Angeles to on location shooting in New York City, where the show is set. The last time the show was shot in New York was in the  pilot episode. In addition, the season had more physical elements, especially for Betty. Casting changes. It was announced before the season aired that Rebecca Romijn's character of Alexis Meade, Daniel's male-to-female transsexual sister, would be demoted to a recurring character because of Romijn's dissatisfaction with the direction the writers had taken her character. It was speculated that this was in part due to Romijn's then-impending pregnancy. There was also speculation that the move might also have resulted in another regular opting to stay in California because of family and/or other personal commitments, although  TV Guide<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Michael Ausiello reported that it might be a ploy to ask for a salary increase. The season opener featured Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa making a cameo in which Wilhelmina and Alexis appeared on "Live with Regis and Kelly", which in turn comes on the heels of Ripa's husband Mark Consuelos having signed up for a multi-episode run in which he played a police detective. Ralph Macchio had a recurring stint beyond his appearance in the fifth episode, where he played a city official. Also, Nikki Blonsky signed on for a guest stint that  aired on January 8, 2009. Christopher Gorham (Henry Grubstick) revealed to "TV Guide", in his own words, "The show is moving, I am not." But several days later after Gorham made those comments, "TV Guide"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Matt Webb, in his video blog, said that he had a different version of the story coming from ABC, which claimed that Gorham would still be part of the cast. On July 11, 2008, "TV Guide" confirmed that Gorham and Rodriguez would be moving on from "Betty" as the two actors would be making their last appearances due to other commitments, especially Gorham , who began working on CBS' "Harper's Island". However, in a Q&A submitted to Ausiello at his webpage at "Entertainment Weekly", he asked Ferrera about the absence of the two actors after they were no-shows at the Season 3 premiere party in New York City on September 12, 2008: "Betty's decision at the beginning of this season is not an ending to anything," Ferrera insisted. "It's more about huge beginnings for her. Christopher [Gorham], who we love and adore, and Freddy [Rodriguez], who is wonderful and so great on our show, are not gone [forever]. You'll  never know when they'll pop in or pop out, but they'll be around." Episodes. <onlyinclude> Notes: Proposed storylines. Other proposed storyline hints before the season aired, in addition to the ones mentioned already, included Amanda's past and her continued search for her father and more romantic action for Marc and Cliff. In an interview about the new direction the series would be taking, Silvio Horta told E!'s Kristin Dos Santos at an ABC press meeting for its show runners, "This season is going to be about growing up. We aren't going to be  doing anymore child-like storylines. It is going to be about moving Betty forward." He then added more details to MediaWeek about the changes: "On "Ugly Betty" I think we started to veer a little too much into the romantic storyline, where it started to really become the show. And it started to just get away from what I originally wanted to do and where we originally started, which was about a girl making it in the city and her work life. So we're trying to refocus that back. But there's always temptation and you want to explore  it. You want to have the opportunity to explore it. And the second you start getting too involved in it, it's like any plot line. You go in; it's very hard to get out and it takes a little longer." He later revealed that the audience would see a more evolving Betty: "Betty will solve a crime. Inject Botox. Get attacked by an animal. Throw a Wilhelmina mannequin down a flight of stairs. And that's just the first three episodes." Webisodes. For the third season, a spin-off online series called "Mode After Hours" accompanied the main  series. The program followed Marc St. James (Michael Urie) and Amanda Tanen (Becki Newton) having fun around the "Mode" offices when they were not working. There are thirteen lasting 5 minutes in length. Here are the scheduled listings: DVD release. On March 13, 2009 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment announced that the release date of "Ugly Betty" Season Three, subtitled "Start Spreading the News", would be September 22, 2009 in the United States and Canada. All 24 episodes were included in the set, along with additional "Betty Bloopers", alternative takes, deleted scenes and a featurette, "Coming Home to New York  City", detailing the show's return to the Big Apple after having filmed the pilot there. Among the features: