TVSquad

There hasn't been a new episode of Ugly Betty since January. Can you believe it? If you're like me, and need a refresher course on all things Meade and Suarez, ABC.com has a few options available. Fashion TV's rhyming reporter, Suzuki St. Pierre, summarizes the first two seasons in a four-minute video. I had forgotten how much had happened in the last few Betty episodes.

Even more entertaining is the show's first video podcast, led by co-stars Michael Urie and Becki Newton (Marc and Amanda). In addition to recording a hilarious song about season two's storylines, the actors interviewed Jeff Beal, the show's composer. Beal discussed his professional background and told some of the stories behind fans' favorite original Betty songs. The podcast can also be downloaded for free on iTunes.

Acting is a funny business; one day, you're anonymously playing a waiter or waitress in a silly commercial, and the next day, you have a major supporting role in a new hit series. The interesting part is when the struggling and non-struggling phases of that actor's life collide on the screen, and you begin to recognize the actors in those previously-anonymous bit parts.

Many people have already noticed that Becki Newton, who plays the mean-but-vulnerable receptionist Amanda on Ugly Betty, plays a waitress on an Olive Garden commercial that's currently in pretty heavy rotation across the dial (heck, the ad was shown during a Betty episode where Newton played both Amanda and a Betty look-alike). But, did you know that Michael Urie, who plays Marc, Amanda's partner in cattiness, also played a waiter in an ad?

An explanation, and the video of Becki's Olive Garden ad, is after the jump.