This announcement may come as a shock to fans. However, the numbers have been going down this series. At the start of the third season, the series was bringing in about 8 million viewers. Those numbers dropped to a little under four million in recent weeks. The numbers have gone back up, but they still aren’t reaching the same height they had in the past.

With this drop in numbers, ABC thinks this spot would be perfect to launch a new comedy series and give Samantha Who another chance to shine. They say they are merely trying to reduce the number of reruns aired this year. They are also putting comedies into their Wednesday night line-up, allowing them to take over the time slot once owned by Pushing Daisies.

Many have been saying Ugly Betty isn’t the same series this season. Cast changes and a move to New York City for production has changed things, but there is a promise of more big things happening. A rumored romance, and someone unexpected turning evil. What do you think of Ugly Betty?

Word also has come out of the Ugly Betty set with a new arrival. Nikki Blonsky is set to join the series as a friend of Betty who might not have the best of intentions. This one has raised a bit of a red flag to me though. Just last week, Lindsay Lohan left the series as Kimmie - a former enemy of Betty’s that turns friendly and then has less than the best intentions. Lindsay Lohan earned a kick in the rear before getting the Mode doors slammed in her face, and now we have a new person coming in with a similar role. Something is fishy there to me.

ABC has also given the boot to one of their series hopefuls, Singled With Parents. That series starred Alyssa Milano, and it had been picked up by the network in August for a mid-season entry. Since then the series has had problems behind the scenes, and the network couldn’t come to an agreement about the series with its producers. This caused ABC to pull the plug on the series on Wednesday. Is ABC now done with its changes, or is there more on the horizon?

However, there is another side to this. Some are now saying all of this about her being a problem on set is not true. Vanessa Williams and America Ferrera both even spoke up for her. ABC is now saying the series just needed to go in a different direction. So which do you believe? Was she a diva or did ABC really just want to go in a different direction?

It had surprised me to see Lindsay Lohan appear on the ABC series. She just didn’t seem to fit. At first, I thought she would be appearing as herself as Victoria Beckham had done during an episode of Ugly Betty last season. She played someone from Betty’s past instead, and she just never seemed to be a good fit with the series. I just couldn’t imagine Lindsay as the manager of a burger joint. This role was supposed to be Lindsay’s way of cleaning up her act, and it looks like she wasted that opportunity.

In other ABC news, Private Practice has been given a full season with another nine episodes order. This one took Addison from Grey’s Anatomy, and I really wish sometimes she would come back to Grey’s Anatomy. Something has been lacking from the series since she left. Her one appearance last season really showed that to me. What do you think? Should Addison stayed a part of Grey’s Anatomy? For weekly recaps of both Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy, check out Celebrity Today!

Ugly Betty also took top honors for the series as a whole. Now entering the third season for the series, many were wondering just what the series was doing. They have moved production to New York City, and they also cut back on the role of Rebecca Romijn for next season. However, this will allow the actress to give birth to the twins she is expecting with her husband. A pregnancy would be hard to explain due to the fact that her character Alexis is transexual.

Ugly Betty has fast become one of my favorite television series, and it fits perfectly in its time slot just before Grey’s Anatomy. With Lost returning in the spring, these three will make one perfect trifecta for ABC making Thursday night on ABC the one to watch. The acting on the series is top notch, and the dialogue is funny. The awards will air on September 12th on NBC. For a full list of winners, go here.

The additional hour added to each season will make up for the hours lost this season when the show was cut short during the writer’s strike. This means instead of sixteen episodes next season and the following one, we will see seventeen episodes. The story just gets more complicated each week. This week, we will more than likely see the Oceanic Six go home. What does this mean for the rest of the survivors left? I’m sure we will know all about what happens to him as the next two seasons unfold. In my opinion, this has been the best season for the series yet, even with the long hiatus before and the break in between.

In other ABC news, Boston Legal has been renewed for one more season to air next year. David E. Kelley is the man behind this one, and it looks like he has another show already waiting in the wings when Boston Legal goes off the air. Ugly Bettyis getting ready to start its next season, and it looks like they are making another drastic change. They are plans in motion to move the production of the series from Los Angeles to New York. The governor of California is trying to stop this move, but it looks like it will move forward. This is another in a long list of changes that have happened to the behind the scenes making of the series in the past six months. Too many changes are never good. We can only hope the series survives all these changes.

In other ABC news, Lindsay Lohan is joining the cast of Ugly Betty for a six episode run. The first episode being this season’s finale. She will join the cast not as herself, but as a former school mate of Betty’s, who is down on her luck. The nice person Betty is offers to help. This is one of the strangest casting moves for me. Last week, we learned that Rebecca Romijn was taking a step back from the series, and now we have Lindsay Lohan joining things. The staff changes made behind the scenes are certainly starting to raise some eyebrows. What will they do next?

In other casting news, the first four of the twelve contestants of this summer’s The Mole have been announced by ABC. The series returns on June 2nd with a ten episode run, and there have been changes made to the series. This time around the series is going more interactive with online and mobile activity. The season isn’t over yet, but ABC is already gearing up for the summer and fall season ahead. Brothers & Sisters will air its season finale this Sunday. With the rest of their line-up to follow suit in the weeks ahead.

Changes have been made with the staff this season though. Partly because of the writer’s strike, and partly because of internal staff changes unrelated to the strike. These changes have changed the look of the show behind the scenes, and Romijn is only all too glad to take a step back. She might even leave the series entirely at some point.

Ugly Betty returned with the rest of the network’s line-up last week, airing before Grey’s Anatomy and Lost. It is definitely one of my favorite shows on air, and I think it is hip and funny. The cast is full of familiar faces and new ones that all work together to make the series one of the best on television. America Ferrera as Betty Suarez shines each and every week, and the show has kept me tuning in. Alexis and Rebecca Romijn add something to the series, and I think there would be an empty hole left if she was to leave the show entirely. Her interactions with Daniel and their mother add something to the series. Seeing the character made of less importance is sad to see.

Just this week, Ugly Betty won the honor of outstanding comedy series at the 2008 Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards, while network mate Brothers & Sisters won for outstanding drama series. This is the second year these shows have won these awards. Both shows are deserving of the praise.

Here’s what the announcement said:

Wilhelmina Vivian Slater, Creative Director at MODE Magazine, will marry Bradford Emerson Meade, media mogul and chairman of Meade Publications, on Thursday, November 8 at 8pm. To prevent excessive press coverage, the location of the wedding is not being released, but it will be covered exclusively on the ABC Television Network.

Ms. Slater works in New York as the Creative Director of MODE Magazine. She is a former supermodel who started in the fashion business as the assistant to former MODE editor-in-chief Fey Sommers. Ms. Slater is the daughter of the esteemed Senator Slater. She has one daughter, 17-year old Nico Slater, who is currently attending boarding school in France. The bride will be wearing a custom-designed Vera Wang gown for the ceremony and will be attended to by close friend, global fashion icon and pop superstar Victoria Beckham.

Mr. Meade, 60, is the founder and CEO of Meade Publications. He has 2 children, eldest son-turned-daughter Alexis and New York bachelor Daniel Meade, both currently co-editors-in-chief of MODE. Mr. Meade’s previous marriage to Claire Meade, the co-founder and co-owner of MODE Magazine ended in divorce in May 2007.