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'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'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, who we love and adore, and Freddy, who is wonderful and so great on our show, are not gone . You'll never know when they'll pop in or pop out, but they'll be around."
Read more about this topic: Ugly Betty (season 3)
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