Miss America is not Miss USA. Sometimes people get confused, and it's easy to understand how that can happen. There are only a few times outside of prom where one sees that many ladies in flashy evening gowns.
There are subtle differences, but at 86 years and counting, Miss America has 30 years of seniority and not to mention Bernie Wayne's trademark song, "There She Is, Miss America." Although the The Nixons wrote a catchy song titled, "Miss USA" 10 years ago, but it never became the official jingle.
Recently, Miss USA has been setting itself apart in the controversy department. The reigning queen, Tara Conner, is getting out of rehab after underage boozing around Manhattan. While she' got a second chance to hold onto her crown, Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, was dethroned for 'Girls Gone Wild'-style photos in her native Florida and Miss New Jersey USA resigned for being preggers.
I'm sure the Miss America organization was a little nervous last year about packing up the pageant and moving from Atlantic City to Sin City. However, with the 2007 Miss America pageant on Monday, this year is the second straight in Vegas so the new formula seems to be working. The glitz and glamour of Vegas, plus well-behaved beauties equal success. And don't forget this year's host, Mario Lopez.
It's also the second year of a two-year deal of the pageant being aired on CMT. ABC dumped the show in 2004 after "bad ratings" but even as ratings were dropping year over year, they were still in the double-digit millions on a Saturday night so it is more of a case of a network not knowing how to drive viewers for long-term success than their excuse of irrelevancy of beauty pageants. Whereas, the pageant has been around since the 1920s, recent history demonstrates ABC's ability to find it a hit and then bleed it dry until it can be syndicated. But I digress.
CMT has an option to broadcast the pageant through 2011 and since Miss America was CMT's most watched telecast ever and made CMT the most watched basic cable channel of the week, it just proves that Miss America is still relevant. I'm one of the 12-million people that watched the pageant on CMT, but unfortunately, without reigning queens in rehab, it's going to take more distribution or even a Live 8-style broadcast on the Web for deprecating critics to allow the public to enjoy and celebrate this history of America.
It would also help if the Miss America pageant would make the permanent move to Vegas and take advantage of the brand association. After all, the pageant started as the "Fall Frolic" to help keep tourists in Atlantic City after Labor Day and Vegas is still in the top 5 brands behind Google and iPod. It's like history repeating itself, but this time the location benefits the pageant.
For an inside look at Pageant Week, be sure to check Robin Leach's coverage in Luxe Life. He has the enviable job (job is a strong word here) of hanging out with the ladies and sharing the experience with you. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Check back on Monday night right after the crowning for Robin's first Q & A with the winner.
In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out how I get to become a judge.
TKPN
PageantCast Home
Frappr Map
Podcast Pickle Page
Our Feed
One Click Subscribe in Juice
One Click Subscribe in iTunes
No comments:
Post a Comment