Pilot (Ugly Betty episode)

"Pilot"
Ugly Betty episode
Betty Suarez before her interview for fashion magazine MODE.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Richard Shepard
Written by	Silvio Horta
Production code	101
Original air date	September 28, 2006
Guest appearance(s)
15 Michael Urie as Marc St. James William Abadie as Phillippe Michel Kevin Sussman as Walter Gina Gershon as Fabia Lupita Ferrer as Rich Latina Abigail Forman as Charmaine Ava Gaudet as Gina Gambarro David Jenkins as HR Guy Elizabeth Payne as Masked Lady Cicily Daniels as Zelda Christine Jones as Fey Sommers Scott Porter as Guy Stelio Savante as Steve Kristen Schaal as Nancy Eric Jordan Young as Neal Delongpre
Episode chronology
← Previous — Next → "The Box and the Bunny"
List of Ugly Betty episodes

"Pilot" (also known as "I Am Not Going to Sell Herbalux") is the debut episode for the dramedy series Ugly Betty. It is the first episode in the series, which debuted on September 28, 2006. This is also the most watched episode of the season and the series with more than 16 million viewers.

In this episode we are introduced to Betty Suarez, an unglamorous woman in her 20s who starts work for a fashion magazine called MODE, and in the process introduced to the harsh treatment she'll have to deal with from her more beautiful co-workers. She also meets with her boss, Daniel Meade, who was just named the new editor in chief by his father, Bradford Meade. Daniel succeeds the revered Fey Sommers, who was killed in a one-car accident that reeks of foul play. The announcement of Daniel being named editor-in-chief does not sit well with Wilhelmina Slater, the magazine's creative editor who has been vying for the position herself.

Daniel isn't so keen about having Betty working with him because she is homely, so he plots to have her quit by giving her difficult and outrageous tasks. When Betty gets wind of this from the company seamstress, Christina, she is badly hurt and says that perhaps that is the way she was supposed to land a job. After Daniel makes her stand in for an embarrassing modeling shoot, he has a change of heart after realising what he is putting her through and halts the shoot as Betty walks out in anger and tears, leaving a regretful Daniel behind.

Daniel later learns that he is in danger of losing the Fabia cosmetics account, unaware that he is being sabotaged by Wilhelmina and his best friend, a photographer who has been known to plagiarize other people's work (after Betty mentions a layout he did) and is responsible for the aforementioned shoot that Betty was in. Sensing this and after seeing a new cosmetics layout proposal created by Betty, Daniel decides that he needs her. Betty eventually returns and in the process not only saves the campaign, but also his job.

In her personal life, Betty has to deal with her sister Hilda, a single mother who thinks that her college-educated sister isn't cut out for work in the fashion world, and wants Betty to join her in selling Herbalux. Betty takes responsibility for her father by phoning his HMO to get treatment for his health condition.