Family comedy represents one of the most popular and important sub-genres of contemporary Italian small-screen fiction, being widely popular in prime time television in both commercial networks (Mediaset) and Public Service channels (Rai)...

The contemporary panorama of the television series is characterized by various operations of reversioning: production companies of foreign countries purchase concepts of TV fiction to realize some local versions. The most symbolic case is Yo soy Betty, la fea, a Colombian telenovela that has known a first international circulation as ready-made and subsequently it has become a scripted format, successfully adapted in many countries. The essay is focused on Ugly Betty, the American adaptation of the telenovela, investigating the modalities of localization of the scripted format in a perspective of textual analysis. The process of progressive differentiation from the Colombian original has mainly worked on two directions: from one side, the renegotiation of the format and genre of departure, that involved the passage from the telenovela to a prime time quality drama. From the other side, the more complex and precise diegetic universe, both in the TV episodes, and in the rich and multiform secondary textuality developed from the beginning of the series.