‘Ugly Betty,’ 8 p.m. ABC

Well, it seems like nothing got lost in the translation.

This sweet fish-out-of-water comedy is based on the internationally popular Colombian telenovela “Yo Soy Betty Le Fea.” Telenovelas, over-the-top soap operas, are staples of Latin American TV that are now making their way onto American airwaves to attract the burgeoning number of Latino viewers.

“Ugly Betty” tells the story of Betty Suarez (played by America Ferrera), a slightly plump but intelligent and hard-working young woman who wants to work on a magazine.

Through a series of improbable circumstances, Betty ends up as the assistant to the new editor of fashion magazine Mode. She gets hired by media mogul Bradley Meade (Alan Dale) to help out his horndog son Daniel (Eric Mabius), whom he names as editor of Mode, despite his total lack of qualification, after the death of the flamboyant former editor. Bradley’s logic is that in Betty he has found an assistant that his son won’t want to sleep with.

Loudly dressed Betty from Queens doesn’t fit in at Mode, and at first Daniel tries to make her quit. But he soon realizes that he doesn’t fit either, and that many would like to see him fail, led by Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams), the assistant editor passed over in favor of him. So Daniel and Betty form a tentative alliance of outsiders.

At home, Betty gets support from her feisty older sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz), her dad Ignatio (Tony Plana) and her effeminate nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato).

Ferrera’s plain-spoken Betty is unappreciated at Mode, a world where style is everything and substance is a luxury. Still, the plucky heroine soldiers on, unwillingly to be driven out.

“Ugly Betty” casts a cutting eye at the lies which support the worlds of fashion and celebrity. ABC executives thought enough of it to move it from Friday to Thursday, the networks’ most important night, to serve as a lead-in for the red-hot “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Still, they may not have done the show any favors, throwing it up against “Survivor” and two strong comedies, “My Name is Earl” and “The Office.” Maybe there’s still enough viewers left that won’t find “Betty Ugly” unattractive.