Philbin, Ripa will guest star on season premiere

One more benefit of moving production of "Ugly Betty" to New York: A fresh set of celebrities who can make cameos as themselves on the show.

First up on the guest-star train for the show's third season will be Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. The New York-based morning-show hosts will play themselves in "Ugly Betty's" season premiere on Thursday, Sept. 25.

The episode finds Mode editors Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) and Alexis Meade (Rebecca Romijn) appearing on "Live with Regis and Kelly" -- which, incidentally, is produced by another unit of Disney -- to promote Wilhelmina's first issue since taking over for Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius). Alexis quickly finds herself on the hot seat.

The New York-set "Ugly Betty" shifted its production to the Big Apple from Los Angeles for this season to take advantage of tax incentives offered by the city.

"Betty" has been a guest-star magnet in its first two seasons, with guest appearances and cameos by such famous folks as Victoria Beckham, Tim Gunn and Rita Moreno, among others. Lindsay Lohan, who made a brief appearance in the season two finale in May, will do several more episodes this season, and the show has also signed Ripa's husband, Mark Consuelos, for a guest role.