Walter Tabachnik

Walter Tabachnik is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. He is played by Kevin Sussman. Originally Walter was a recurring character on the series, but became a regular after the thirteenth episode. However, although Sussman is listed in the series' first season credits as a regular cast member, his character has not appeared in the series since the fifteenth episode.

Background

Walter is Betty's on-again/off-again boyfriend. He works at Pro-Buy, a Circuit City type electronics store and is a whiz at fixing equipment.

Initially, Betty and Walter were a couple (and had been during their high school years) until he dumped Betty for Gina Gambarro, who would use him just to get a discount on a TV that Betty later breaks. After that, Betty decided not to take Walter back, even though Walter will do whatever it takes to make things right again.

Walter also suspects that Betty's boss Daniel is trying to steal Betty away from him, and is expected to have competition from a new guy that Betty has a crush on, Henry. It should also be noted that despite his infidelity Walter is well liked by Betty's family, but his constant overprotective behavior towards Betty has her questioning whether she should continue the relationship with him, now that she knows that he is jealous of any guy trying to have a relationship with her. That has resulted in Walter stalking Betty at every opportunity, as evidenced in the episode "Swag."

Walter finally ends up dumping Betty in the episode "Brothers" after he accepted a job offer as the assistant manager at a new Pro-Buy in Maryland. Knowing that he and Betty are drifting apart and wasn't meant to be a couple any longer, Walter tells her that he is taking the job, and they have their final kiss.

Comments

In early focus groups, Walter was not well-received by viewers. Many of them felt he was whiny and unlikeable. Also many liked Henry, and wanted Walter out of the picture to advance the Henry-Betty storyline. This could be a reason for why the character was written out of the show.

Also, before the character of Henry appeared, many paralleled Walter's geeky appearance to Nicholas from Betty La Fea.