ABC Will Re-Work Strangest. Telenovela. Ever.

That would be Betty la Fea, the oddball Colombian sensation that partied like it was 1999. (It was.) ABC's version, which will begin airing this fall, will be called Ugly Betty.

In Betty la Fea we found our heroine -- hyper-ugly, dorky, smartypants economist cum secretary Betty -- hard at work among a cadre of mean, stupid models and the handsome, aloof boss she loves.

Will she find love? Will she have to change for the man she loves, or will he see her for who she really is? And could a hottie possibly lie somewhere under those braces and, um, supersized bobby pins? Tune in every night.

Betty was a sensation throughout Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking U.S. It aired nightly on Telemundo, one of about 45 Spanish-language networks in Miami, where I was living at the time. Though entirely in Spanish, the show scored reviews in places like Salon.

The American version will be produced by Salma Hayek -- which means it will probably be obnoxious and self-important. The role of Betty will be played by America Ferrera, best known as either the fat one in the feel-good Real Women Have Curves or the fat one in last year's feel-good teen chick flick The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. (I forgot to see the latter movie -- the former, too -- but I always wondered how Ferrera could fit into the same pants as, say, Gilmore Girls' daughter Alexis Bledel or Amber Tamblin. Did she?)

Ugly Betty will also feature Vanessa L. Williams and the great Ashley Jensen (of Ricky Gervais's brilliant Extras), who will play Betty's best friend.

More press here, here and here. Bit-parter Gina Gershon's on-set shoe hissy fit here.

Series spoiler prediction alert: Ferrera is not at all pretty, while Betty la Fea star Ana Maria Orozco most certainly is. So I'm guessing that while the Colombian version prettied up Betty (by simply revealing Orozco under all that la Fea) in order to make her look appealing to her love, the American version will focus less on the lessening hideousity of Ferrera -- there's only so much to be done with her looks -- and more on the transformation of the jefe who will come to love her just as she is.