An Ugly Betty Mugging
What’s a TV Bzzz column without an item about one of our all-time faves? The good news here is that Ugly Betty recently placed on the American Film Institute’s annual list of the year’s best TV shows, reflecting “most outstanding achievements.” Ugly Betty was one of 10 shows on the list, which also featured HBO’s The Sopranos and Showtime’s Dexter. The bad news, however, is that actor David Blue (who plays Michael Urie’s love interest) was mugged by a man with a gun right outside a recent L.A. party for the Ugly Betty cast and crew. The actor handed over his wallet, camera and mobile phone. Afterwards, he quipped he was “happy they got me and not America Ferrera or anybody else at the party with way more money than myself!” The show’s future for this season has been hurt by the Hollywood writer’s strike. At press time, only three new episodes were in the can for 2008, meaning the season would end sooner than planned.
Gina Ravera’s New Project
Gina Ravera, a regular on both TNT’s The Closer and ER (on which she plays Dr. Bettina De Jesus), has launched “Project Reina” to educate Latin and African-American teens and young adults about AIDS and HIV. African-Americans now account for 50 percent of all reported HIV cases in the U.S. (with a staggering 61 percent among youth aged 13–24), with Hispanics accounting for 20 percent (even though they represent 14 percent of the total population). The organization raises awareness of the problem via educational programs focused on prevention and treatment. “There was a time when people chose to ignore this epidemic because it didn’t affect their community directly,” says Ravera, who recently returned to the big screen, co-starring with Denzel Washington in the holiday release, The Great Debaters. “HIV and AIDS are spreading like wildfire among our young people and it would be irresponsible for us to wait until there is no turning back. Now is the time to act.”
