'Ugly Betty' returns but faces challenges

Arriving fashionably late this fall, "Ugly Betty" returns for a fourth season on ABC with a two-hour debut at 8 tonight.

The challenge for this romantic fantasy/comedy is to survive on a night when many of the young adults who might like it are out and about.

"UB" also needs to get back some of the freshness that it had during the first two seasons. In 2007, it won a slew of awards including an Emmy, a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild honors for its plucky star, America Ferrera.

The series also won a Golden Globe for best comedy and a Peabody Award for examining issues of class, beauty and race with wit and intelligence.

Last season, the series wandered off course and became just a loopy soap opera.

One problem was having the Latina heroine Betty Suarez (Ferrera) remain an ugly duckling for too long. Good-natured Betty returns without the frizzy big hair and frumpy outfits. But she's still got the world's largest set of braces.

Another problem is the crush on her former boss, Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius). It went off course. He married someone else. But now she's dead. Tonight he is back after spreading her ashes in Tibet. But Daniel is such a needy wimp that you wonder why Betty would ever want to rekindle a romance.

The opening episode finds Betty promoted to associate editor at Mode magazine where a lot of people are making her life miserable.

Her new boss is ex-boyfriend Matt Hartley (Daniel Eric Gold) and he's got a grudge. A new nemesis at work, Megan (Smith Cho), openly resents her. And the flamboyant Marc St. James (Mark Urie) undermines her because he was passed over for the job.

The opening episode also highlights a real cause, Nothing But Nets, a global, grass-roots campaign to prevent malaria in Africa. Filmed at the United Nations headquarters in New York, part of the story will follow Betty's idea for Mode to feature efforts to send long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed netting to Africa.

And a bevy of guest stars show up tonight including Kristen Johnston, Lynn Redgrave, Rob Bartlett, David Rasche and Ralph Macchio.

If you miss "Ugly Betty" on Fridays, episodes will be repeated on TV Guide Network on Thursdays at 7 p.m. beginning Oct. 22.

CAYLEE ANTHONY CASE: CBS News and "48 Hours" will take another look at the Orlando homicide case of toddler Caylee Anthony at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, 23, faces a murder trial for the death of her daughter. Caylee disappeared in the summer of 2008. Her skeletal remains were found six months later stuffed in plastic bags. Casey Anthony has denied any involvement.

What's new? CBS "Early Show" anchor Maggie Rodriguez interviews three members of Casey Anthony's defense team.

HORROR HOUSE: Now that Marge is in Playboy, there might be more interest in "The Simpsons 20th Tree House of Horror XX" at 8 p.m. Sunday on Fox. There will be zombies and Moe will try to seduce Marge with a batch of very bad beer.