Volume III. No. 12
 10-25-04
 ABC Closes The Door On Miss America
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2004
 

 ABC wants no more to do with the Miss America Pageant. So, they've
 dropped the broadcast.

 The reason? Declining ratings.

 What a changed world it is that this announcement is not startling news.
 This is the first time in half-a-century that the pageant does not have a 
 television commitment! Once upon a time, the idea of becoming Miss America 
 was every school girl's dream. And a sneaked glimpse of Miss America in 
 her bathing suit was every teen-aged boy's fantasy. Er...not to mention a 
 lot of older fella's as well. So the decline of the pageant into television 
 mediocrity is a recent phenomenon. In the decade of the 90's the pageant's 
 ratings were decent. Certainly not the equal of what they were in the glory 
 years of the 50s and 60s when the pageant was a broadcast that viewers
 of all ages did not want to miss. 

 Perhaps the pageant has survived as long as it has on reputation, and the 
 viewing habits of an audience that has been aging each year. The shocking
 Vanessa Williams scandal of 1984 did not destroy the pageant. Neither did 
 Bert Park's replacement as master of ceremonies a couple of years earlier. 
 Could any man ever equal his rendition of  "There She Is Miss America?" 

 Park's signature song in the event.

 Vanessa Williams, notwithstanding, what has apparently done in Miss 
 America is SEX. The easy accessibility of tawdry entertainment not only 
 on broadcast television, but via cable, vcr tapes, cds, and downloadable 
 product from the internet. The once risque Miss America pageant has been
 rendered into irrelevancy. Adult beauty pageants are no longer particulary 
 cool or hip, and as they remain on the broadcast channels are now an easy 
 target for ever zealous right-wingers who dislike women parading around
 half-naked on television. Zealots who knew they were overmatched during
 the pageant's popular heyday.

 The Miss America Pageant is out-of-touch with the America of the 2000's.
 Just as the variety show format is long-dead, these type of pageants have
 been on struggling for years. They are like something that belonged to
 an old aunt. Too precious to throw away. But not really worth the trouble 
 to bring down from the attic for a new appraisal.

 Network television today is reality show mad. Actresses willingly appear 
 on the repugnant "Fear Factor" to perform repugnant feats. Would Miss 
 American do that! 

 Probably not.

 Reality television is full of racy reparte between nubile singles. The focus 
 of the shows are frequently about what couple will pair off. Certainly not 
 on camera. -- But that is about as far from Miss America as you can get.

 The emphasis in reality television is for spontaneity. Even if some events 
 are staged, the contestants reactions to them are not.People cry. People 
 fight. People plot against one another. People reveal their innermost 
 emotions.In comparison, the Miss America beauty "contest" seems from 
 another century.

 And speaking of Vanessa Williams. Her "artful" photographs did not 
 prevent her from becoming a successful recording artist. But her reputation
 remained tarnished for years. Unlike Vanessa, scandal has actually
 helped reality star Paris Hilton of internet sex-tape fame. { was that 
 whole deal a publicity stunt? } Paris and her equally bubble-brained 
 co-star,  Nichole Richie, give the viewer everything that the haughty 
 Miss America pageant cannot.

 That is, strikingly beautiful young babes just being themselves, and not 
 afraid to be seen as less than perfect { or anywhere near... } in front of the 
 entire nation. Racy photographs and sex tapes on the internet are just part 
 of the new landscape. Such intimacies in the public domain might discourage
 certain potential viewers from tuning in. But they won't stop the show, 
 so to speak. This is a wholesale change in culture. Just as slap-stick 
 comedy passed into television history with Lucille Ball. Quaint beauty pageants 
 just don't connect with the modern audience, as they once did. 

 Does anybody care any more about elegant, well-spoken young women 
 in bathing suits? Have we lost regard for their commendable aspirations 
 to become the next generation of doctors, lawyers, school teachers, 
 industrialists, and other contributing members of society?

 The rating numbers do not lie.

 Miss America may not be dead. But she's certainly on life support.
 

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