Miss America: A Reality Television Pageant?
By Mike Ptomey, 09.23.04

In an attempt to boost sagging ratings, ABC decided to revamp the Miss America pageant this year. This network move makes Miss America look less classy.

To give Miss America more of an edge, ABC chose to put the ladies in skimpy bathing suits and turned the competition into reality television.

Big mistake ABC! The world does not need more reality television. When will this genre go away? Boy bands came and went, so did communism. But reality television keeps spreading like the plague.

It appears that ABC wants Miss America to be nothing more than the equivalent of a “trophy” girlfriend. Some of us have gone this route in dating the pretty girl—she’s not that smart, but she sure looks good. In the beginning it seemed like a good idea to date this girl.

But it wears off.

Eventually you’ll have to converse with her. Then all of a sudden, she doesn’t look as good as you thought. She is now annoying and the thought of talking to her makes you let out a Howard Dean-like scream.

If I want to see this type of girl, I can watch Jessica Simpson on “The Newlyweds.”

If anyone watches the Miss America pageant to see skin, they want to see smart skin.

Miss America is supposed to represent the girl from high school who is beautiful and smart enough to be in the National Honors Society or president of the French club.

She has style and substance—two things lacking on television lately. I am tired of the Paris Hilton’s of the world—who seem to have no talent, no character and apparently no clothes—getting all the attention.

It is time to give some props to the girl who deserves it, the girl who will use her celebrity status to help people, not for her own benefit.

Miss America should be a classy girl—the kind you’ll bring home to mom. That has always been her appeal. She is talented and ambitious. She wants to make the world a better place.

So listen up ABC, don’t dumb down Miss America. Don’t make it like the rest of the garbage you put on television. If some guy wants to watch girls bare it all, there is always the Super Bowl half-time show.