'Ugly Betty' tries to alter look to suit family hour

"Ugly Betty" has always been a major-network variation on the Spanish-language telenovela, equal parts soap opera and saucy satire. Yet when it returns today from the hiatus brought on by the writers' strike at the head of a new ABC Thursday on WLS Channel 7, it finds itself out of whack: too much soap, and not enough satire.

Then again, "Ugly Betty" was already staggering a bit before the strike. When it debuted last season, it came across as a whimsical, stylish fashion lampoon, with America Ferrera as the enchanting title character, a well-meaning nerd trying to make it in a land of scheming fashionistas. As it got more sexy in an attempt to expand its audience, and the sex got more kinky -- complete with Rebecca Romijn joining the cast as a transsexual -- it alienated much of its family audience in the 7 o'clock hour.

This season it has remained stylish and sharp to look at, but it can't seem to figure out how risque it wants to be, not with the sexcapades of Eric Mabius' Daniel Meade and Vanessa Williams' Wilhelmina Slater pulling the show in one direction, and the underdog Betty pulling it in another. Tonight finds the series refocusing on Betty and her love life, befitting its leadoff slot in the so-called family hour, but the only thing the writers can come up with to complicate the drama is to bring back the pregnant girlfriend of Betty's would-be beau Henry, played by the equally nerdy Christopher Gorham. Yet they already leapt that obstacle last season.

The writers return from a 100-day hiatus, and the only thing they can come up with is a boilerplate reheating of last year's story line? I call that disappointing.

In any case, in tonight's episode, "Twenty-Four Candles," Betty has literal dreams of a carriage-driven, fireworks-filled birthday with Henry, but when he has to cancel out it opens the door for Freddy Rodriguez's Gio. Choosing between the two should occupy Betty for the remainder of the season, while Daniel and Wilhelmina tangle over his budding relationship with her sister, Renee, played by Gabrielle Union.

Just to make things clear, let me insist I like this show, and I like how ABC has securely placed it at the lead of its critical Thursday-night lineup, leading into "Grey's Anatomy" and now "Lost." That's an evening with flow, as "Lost" could be especially good in the later hour at 9, freed to get even more terrifying and bizarre than it has been while being skipped across the prime-time schedule by ABC honcho Stephen McPherson. "Lost" could excel at 9, and at very least it ought to extinguish NBC's "ER" once and for all, even if CBS' far more vital "Without a Trace" figures to put up a fight.

But back to 7, where "Betty" has been losing to CBS' "Survivor." That illustrates how tough it is for a family drama to make it in the 7 o'clock hour. On the one hand, families are crying out for something to watch after dinner, and "Ugly Betty" would look to be the ideal series for that. On the other hand, however, it has to lead in for the far more randy "Grey's Anatomy," so some sort of sexual element is called for. It's a delicate balancing act, and tonight's return finds the series flapping its arms as it sways back and forth.

Me, I wish the show would focus more on Betty as a professional and less on her personal life (especially if all they can come up with for her is a romantic tease between two lovers) and not be so eager to humiliate her all the time in order to engage the audience's sympathies. For all her "ugliness" and fashion flops, Ferrera's Betty has a security and a hidden confidence that are winning -- if only they were allowed to come out more.

In the air

Remotely interesting: Window to the World Communications has promoted Anne Gleason to senior vice president of marketing & Interactive media for WTTW Channel 11 and WFMT 98.7-FM. … WLS Channel 7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie will take part in the John Drury High School Radio Awards given out this weekend by North Central College.

Attention, "Meerkat Manor" fans: Tim Clutton-Brock is out with a new companion book to the Animal Planet series, "Meerkat Manor: Flower of the Kalahari," $18 from Touchstone Books.

End of the dial: Eddy Clearwater performs live in the studio on "Hambone's Blues Party" at 10 p.m. today on WDCB 90.9-FM.

Winter Arbitron ratings are released Monday.