A Thousand Words Before Friday

Infobox Television episode | Title = A Thousand Words By Friday
Series = Ugly Betty
Season = 2
Episode = 13
Airdate = January 24, 2008
Production = 213
Writer = Henry Alonso Myers & Sheila Lawrence
Director = Matt Shakman
Episode list = Episode chronology


Caption =
Prev = Odor in the Court
Next = Twenty Four Candles

"A Thousand Words Before Friday" is the thirteenth episode in the second season, and the 36th episode overall, of the American dramedy series "Ugly Betty", which aired on January 24, 2008. The episode was written by Henry Alonso Myers and Sheila Lawrence, and directed by Matt Shak.

Plot

During the evening at "Hilda's Beautilities" at casa Suarez, Hilda practices a new hairstyle on Betty, just in time for her to go out to see Henry's rock band that he manages called "IRS" (Internal Rhythm Service) at a local bar. However at the bar it appears that the patrons are not that impressed with the act, as Betty tells Henry, who is trying to raise money to help with financial support for Charlie and his unborn child, even though Betty thinks Henry should sing instead of managing. Daniel then stops by to see Betty and Henry's band for support when he meets a woman named Renee, who seems to know his name already. As she asks him to dance, he gets a message on his cell, prompting him to interrupt his dance to give Betty an important assignment, an interview with Phil Roth. Betty is excited that she gets to interview the famous author, since she is a fan.

After Daniel returned to dancing with Renee, the two would cap off the night at Daniel's place, where they're shocked that Claire has made herself at home in the weeks after being acquitted of Fey's murder. This has made Daniel very uneasy now that Claire has invaded his privacy. As Renee leaves, Daniel ponders about what to do to get Claire back into the social life.

At the Slater residence, Wilhelmina is attending to Christina, who has moved in until the baby begins to start developing. Wilhelmina also tells her that she to keep her legs up, watch her eating habits, and of course, no liquor for nine months.

At the Love Dungeon, Amanda and Marc try come up with a way to reach Gene Simmons, who has not returned a message or anything since she learned that he might be her father. Marc suggests that Amanda try a new approach, write a song that she can sing at a bar so he can send it on the internet.

The next day Betty runs into Gio, who then tells her that he is excited that she is writing an article on Phil Roth...only to tell Betty that this isn't the "Phil Roth" she was expecting, and is shocked to learn that this one writes books on picking up women. Betty is none too pleased at first about the interview, even as he worked his charm on Amanda after she walks in (and she falls for it successfully). Betty then takes Amanda and walks out on Mr. Roth, thus ending the interview.

Daniel spent the day trying to get Claire to leave his apartment, but with Alexis at a transgender meeting and shunning the country-club set she doesn't have anywhere to go and tells him that she will stay at his place again, not to mention taking advantage of going through his collection of magazines. Daniel then asks Betty to find a class or senior cruise or something to get Claire off his back. She agrees, and presents Daniel with her 1,000 words, but its about Hilda starting her own business and Betty thinks the readers will respond. She explains the whole Phil/Philip mix-up, saying that can't write an article on a person she sees as sexist. Daniel tells her she's off the assignment, adding that Phil Roth called and asked for another writer anyway. He felt Betty was a little close-minded but she pounces on this new bit of information and gets a second chance at doing the interview. She'll even read Phil's "stupid" book, she says, because she's open-minded.

Later that evening Daniel and Renee head over to Renee's apartment, where they spend the night together. But the following morning as Daniel gets up to go the shower, he starts seeing what he thought was Renee, only to discover its Wilhelmina, who happens to be Renee's sister. Renee was afraid to tell Daniel, who is stunned over this. And as he leaves, so is Wilhelmina, who warns "Rhonda" (Renee's real name) to stay away from him because she doesn't want any of the Meades finding out about the unborn baby. Renee responds to "Wanda" that she will date anyone she chooses and as she walks away, Wilhelmina sees Christina watching the exchange.

As Daniel sits in his office the following day and tells Betty about what happened, Betty, who found out via Christina, suggests that he stay clear of the Slaters after what Wilhelmina did to the Meade family. Moments later, Alexis stops by and the subject turns to Claire. After Daniel wins "Rock Paper Scissors," loser Alexis has to be the one to help Claire. Later on, Renee stops by to tell Daniel that she is not like her sister and she wants to see him again.

Meanwhile, in the lobby, Henry learns Amanda is looking for a band to accompany her at the bar. Henry shows Amanda the flyer he printed--"Rock Band Needs Singer." Amanda, who wasn't paying attention and didn't realize whose band it was, excitedly grabs the flyer and runs off to call the number on it... immediately reaching Henry's cell phone.

That evening at the Suarez's, Betty and Henry do research on Phil Roth's "Tap That" book and decide to try his theory at a singles bar. Henry wants to help out, but Betty suggests Gio ("He's perfect, he's a total dog"), making Henry uneasy. At the bar, Betty and Gio talk about what Gio likes in a woman. Being the player he is, Gio agrees to help Betty with her research on the article, only to be upstaged by Henry, who challenges Gio to a contest to see how many girls' phone numbers they can get. After several hours, Henry beats Gio 7 to 6, but as Betty begins to tear up the numbers, Gio tells her that he's keeping them and plans to score a date with one of his catches. At this point, it's clear that Henry is jealous of Gio's attentions to Betty.

Hours later, Daniel stops by the Suarez house unexpectedly; he's been driving around for hours and can't get Renee off his mind. Betty is understanding and encourages Daniel to "go for it," saying that she and Hilda aren't alike and neither are Daniel and Alexis, so perhaps Renee is different from Wilhelmina. At daybreak, Daniel casually strolls into Wilhelmina's kitchen, having spent the night with Renee. Willie is infuriated and warns Daniel that he doesn't know what he's getting into.

Back at MODE, Alexis and Daniel discuss how to deal with Claire, when Claire walks in to tell her children that after spending time in knitting class and being inspired by the rest of the over-50 women there, she plans to launch a new magazine called "Hot Flash." Daniel and Alexis think their mother has gone crazy, but Claire cooly informs them she intends to proceed with her plan.

In another part of the building, Betty catches up with Phil Roth and tells him she'll submit her interview to MODE. However, when she recounts what Daniel told her earlier (that Phil said Betty was closed-minded), Phil tells Betty she was "played" and that he never said anything to Daniel. Later, as Daniel exits the elevator, Betty hands him a cinnamon twist but pulls it away as "punishment," getting Daniel to admit that he played her so she would write the article. Unfortunately, MODE pulled the story because of Alexis, who thought Phil's book sent the wrong message about women. Daniel told Betty she was a good writer, he wanted her to step out of her "comfort zone" when she wrote, and that there would be better assignments for her in the future. Betty thanked Daniel for having faith in her, and the two called a truce and shared the cinnamon twist.

Betty then visited Henry to reassure him about the band's performance that night, and said she'd ask Gio to attend. Henry confessed that he was uncomfortable when Gio was around Betty. When Betty asked him not to be so competitive, Henry said he trusted Betty completely, but not Gio. Henry reminded Betty of how she felt when he was hitting on the women at the bar, and said that was how he felt when Gio was around. Betty agreed not to see Gio, as she didn't want anything to get in the way of the little time she and Henry have together.

At the bar that night, Amanda belts out her newly-composed song, "Gene Simmons Is My Daddy." She's managed to get the whole story into her lyrics, right down to the Tweety Bird tattoo. As Marc videotapes her performance from the audience, he's annoyed by someone standing in front of him. When he asks the guy to get out of the way, it turns out to be...Gene Simmons! While Amanda is wailing away and winning over the crowd, Marc frantically points to Gene. As Amanda concludes her song with a scream, Gene yells "Yeah!", and sticks out his famous tongue. When she spots him, Amanda's face lights up and she runs up to hug the KISS rocker. It turns out that Gene wanted to meet his love child, and the two leave to get better acquainted. When Betty and Henry see them leave, Henry frets that the band has no lead singer, so Betty convinces him to get on stage. He agrees... under one condition, Betty has to sing with him! She joins him in a redition of Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock's "It Takes Two," which gets the audience to party the night away.

Finally, back at Wilhelmina's place, Renee tells her sister that she's going out to have drinks with Daniel. Wilhelmina warns Renee that she hopes Daniel doesn't find out about Renee's "secret." As they walk away, Christina quietly observes the exchange before she closes the door to her room.

Production

"A Thousand Words Before Friday" would be the last episode that was written before the 2007 writers' strike, which resulted in the series being shut down until the strike is over. In a show of solidarity the series' cast joined the writers on the picket lines during the shutdown, which ended in February 2008.

As for the future of the recurring regulars, Freddie Rodriguez had been signed to do 12 shows but is not sure about what will happen with Gio even though he has become a fan favorite [ [http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-bettytracker17jan17,0,7549257.story?coll=cl-tv-features From The Los Angeles Times (January 17, 2008)] ] , while Gabrielle Union, who began her first stint in this episode as Renee, was uncertain about whether she will be a semi-regular [ [http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Todays-News/Strike-Postpones-Ugly/800027119 From TV Guide (November 12, 2007)] ] and prior to the strike was suppose to make more appearances during the second season [ [http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Ugly-Betty/800027541 From TV Guide (November 16, 2007)] ] . It should also be noted that her character was supposed to be named "Dominique" but was changed at the last minute. Since the episode's airing and the interviews were made both Rodriguez and Union's characters were written out of the series, with Rodriguez wrapping up his stint in the third season and Union leaving after "Burning Questions."

The song "Gene Simmons is My Daddy" was written by Becki Newton (who portrays Amanda) and Jeff Beal, the composer of "Ugly Betty".

Reception

There were some mixed responses from this episode, whom some thought that despite a great storyline, it lacked the edge that the characters have on the show, as noted in this review from Kristin Dos Santos [ [http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/korbi/detail/index.jsp?uuid=c4b66dd6-4e1e-4d4d-9eec-89efafd3741c From E!Online.com (January 25, 2008)] ] , and from Entertainment Weekly's Tanner Stransky [ [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20173833,00.html From EW.com (January 25, 2008)] ]

Ratings

The episode pulled in a 6.2/10, but like the previous two episodes, this one also placed second behind FOX's "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" [ [http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-ratings012408,0,746118.story From Zap2it (January 25, 2008)] ] and came in 23rd in the January 21st-27th, 2008 Nielsens [ [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.tv/browse_thread/thread/a8d67d32069b5cba/951e37da5dd1e967#951e37da5dd1e967 From rec.arts.tv (January 30, 2008)] ] .

References

Also starring

*Freddy Rodriguez as Giovanni "Gio" Rossi
*Gabrielle Union as Renee Slater

Guest stars

*Paul Hipp as Phil Roth
*Gene Simmons as himself