Miss America: Just a Regular Gal?

I have to say, I get an overwhelming feeling of dread whenever I see an advertisement for a new reality show. In my opinion, these television shows are trashy, over the top and do not earn the "reality" moniker in any shape or form (at least no reality I've ever experienced). However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued when I saw the commercials for the TLC show "Miss America: Reality Check". Not only was it to be hosted by Michael Urie, who is hilarious on "Ugly Betty", but the commercials were funny and the show claimed to give the traditional Miss America pageant...well, a reality check. Considering how entertaining Urie is, and my belief that tall, tanned "barbie dolls" (as most pageant participants usually are) could do with a reality check (or at least a swift kick in the shapely knee), I decided to tune in.

The basic premise of this new look at Miss America is to reinvent the pageant and to "bridge the gap" between the contestants and the public. The first episode shows interviews with some members of the public expressing their opinion of Miss America and what they believe she represents. Most people used words like " manufactured", "robots", "fake", and "outdated". Armchair feminist that I am, I was thinking that this was going to be my kind of show.

In true reality show fashion, the 52 girls (representing each of the United States) were thrown together, and were given makeovers - on the inside as well as the outside. They were exposed to a fashion intervention by "What Not to Wear"s Stacey & Clinton, divided into teams, pushed into relay-like physical challenges, quizzed on United States history, and forced to flex their fashion muscle in a re-design and runway walking challenge. All of these challenges claimed to take the girls out of their beauty pageant comfort zones, re-train them, and to make them seem more human to the general public.

As TLC/Miss America press release states: "“We wanted to re-energize the Miss America brand in a way that made it more relatable to today's young women,” said Angela Shapiro-Mathes, president and general manager, TLC. “We worked closely with Sam Haskell and the Miss America Organization to give the pageant a new sensibility that was more reflective of our audience and that (resonates) with the viewers.”

For me overall, it was sort of like watching the love-child of Survivor, America's Next Top Model, The Apprentice, and Project Runway but in this reality show, no one was kicked off (which, let's face it, takes away half of the entertainment value). Instead, each week the judges (all of whom were supposed to be "celebrities" of sorts, and none of whom I had heard of) chose the girls who were Top 3 and the Bottom 3. It was clear that some of the girls immediately stood out and got the attention of the judges (Miss Alaska, anyone?) and some you just didn't even know were there (most of the other contestants). Possibly the part that most intrigued me was the fact that, at the end of the "reality check" series, the Miss America pageant aired as usual, but the new Miss America was chosen by the American people - for the first time in 87 years! Ah, the wonder of the Internet. The lucky girl turned out to be Miss Michigan, Kirsten Haglund (one of those ones, funnily enough, that I didn't even realize was there on "Reality Check").

Well, this certainly wasn't the most riveting television show I've ever seen, but I have to be honest and say that, despite this, I found the premise to be quite interesting and timely. In an age where we seem to be increasingly bombarded by manufactured role models and fake...well, everything, it is refreshing to see an effort being made to make particular role models more accessible, relatable, and real. With the hairspray, make-up and sequins stripped away, it was easy to see many of the girls had insecurities and past traumas to deal with, just like me. Beauty queens have feelings, too (and brains as well, apparently...well...most). And it seems I'm not alone in my opinion, considering 19 million viewers tuned into the final show on January 26th.

However, my high hopes for the final show were quickly brought down to earth, once I actually tuned in (briefly). There was the big hair and big gowns, the sequins and cake makeup, the swimsuits and the spray tans, the glued on smiles, and the rehearsed answers. Granted, I didn't watch the whole thing (Miss Washington's singing "talent" hurt my eardrums so much I had to switch the channel), but what I did see I was disappointed with. Did these girls learn nothing on "Reality Check"? What was the point of reinventing the image of Miss America and humanizing the contestants if they were just going to appear as lacquered barbies on the televised pageant anyway? I expected something more original, hip and new and wanted to see the fun, fashionable girls I saw on tv, being less than perfect. Evidently, those girls got lost on the way to pageant land.

It seems the idea behind reinventing Miss America was a good one in theory, but in practice it didn't really translate. I know deep down that all of the girls competing to be Miss America are smart, talented, caring, and open-minded. I know that they have goals in life, heartbreaks, bad hair days, and stressful episodes just like me. I know that there is more to them than just dazzling smiles and high heels. However, as Michael Urie says in the commercials advertising the show, "your sequins are burning my retinas!", and the metaphorical sequins on these girls burned my retinas so much I found it hard to see past them to the important things. As it says on another commercial for the show, "before there were singing idols, top models, or dancing stars there was a competition to be the best at everything" - I mean, do you know anyone (or want to) that wants to be the best at everything?? It takes more than a reality show to relate to someone, especially when you only know them as "Miss Florida" or "Miss New York" instead of as Kylie or Elisabeth, and the only girls you seem to see on the screen anyway are the ones with the biggest mouths and not the most integrity or intelligence.

Perhaps Miss America isn't quite ready for the kind of full-scale reality check it really needs.