Miss America: Realty Check - Page 6

momofpnm · #1 01-27-2008, 06:35 PM

I completely agree, SWTxBelle, and I hated her opening line about cows...cows?! Way to reinforce the stereotype...Miss Michigan was pretty but she looked most like a Barbie out of the finalists, ironic given the "new" image. I did like the shorter length and I think they should limit the time on the - er, "talent" portion even more. I wonder how their ratings came out.

PeppyGPhiB · #2 01-27-2008, 09:04 PM

My thoughts on the whole shebang:

- For once, I LOVED Miss Washington and all the attention she got. Our state never sends Barbie to these pageants, so our girls never make it through the first cut usually. I really thought she had a chance at winning, and even though she didn't, I'm happy she at least got third place.

- I didn't care for Michigan that much, but I thought she had a GREAT answer to her interview question. I do think her question was EASY (can you imagine anyone saying "No, I don't think someone with AIDS has an obligation to tell his/her spouse"?), but she gave a confident, positive, concise answer.

- I thought it was BAD that Lindsey Lohan was actually called out twice in the same question/answer for her alcoholism and recent troubles. Yes, she's a public figure, but I thought it was classless to call out someone as a specific example of who not to look up to.

- Regarding the girls doing ballet, I actually thought North Carolina had by far the best technique. Ballet isn't really about "kicks," as much as it is about control and beautiful lines. Virginia's legs appeared a little weak during her performance, and texas' jazz on pointe really didn't demonstrate ballet skill at all, although you can tell she's probably a good dancer. North Carolina was most reminiscent of a pro dancer - slow, but very controlled, graceful movements and she was more confident on her feet (surprised her shoes weren't more worked-in, though).

- I loved the intros they had all the contestants do in the opener. It showed that some of the women had great senses of humor.

- I found the whole telecast to be HORRIBLE. It was completely disorganized. The host missed cues and kept misspeaking, the teleprompter was obviously not moving fast enough, the cameras weren't doing close-ups on the contestants when they should've been (the cameras didn't seem to be in the right place at the right time), the contestants were caught prior to the talent portion beginning doing things like stretching and adjusting their costumes ON STAGE. I think TLC was way out of its league.

- I also thought it was dreadful that they kicked off girls throughout rather than announcing who would be moving on. Why turn it into something negative and give the audience reason to say, "Awwwwwwwww" or "Booooooooooooooooo" instead of applauding the ladies that were moving one step closer to the crown. They clearly wanted to copy reality shows of today with that "rub the salt in the wound" move, which is tacky and classless. This is Miss America, not Survivor!

bejazd · #3 01-27-2008, 09:20 PM

I loved Miss Washington too. She was my favorite by far!

Was it just me or did Miss California look like she was 40? And opera? Ugh. Maybe someday we'll see a Miss CA who does extreme skateboarding as her talent! THAT would be modern! CA, Michigan and Miss Texas seemed like everything they were trying NOT to perpetuate as Miss America yet they ended up in the last bunch anyway.

Michigan looked great in her bikini and the evening dress but I wasn't expecting her to win at all!

On the questions I thought the most dissapointing answer was the one on binge drinking. The part of about the importance of providing positive things for kids to do, so they are not out there doing negative things i.e. underage drinking, never made it into the answer.

ISUKappa · #4 01-27-2008, 09:11 PM

I'm glad we TiVo'ed it; I fast forwarded through most of the intros and the questions.

I thought Miss Washington did well, but was weak in talent. And I was so bored by all the singing. Blah. I was kind of bummed Miss Iowa got cut during the talent portion because I did want to see her baton act, as cheesy as it may seem. Both the husband and I were kind of WTF about Miss Michigan winning.

jen0830 · #5 01-28-2008, 04:57 AM

I agree, our group was WHAT!?!?! Where did she come from? Talk about a long shot winning. No offense to anyone, but she didn't stand out like some of the others to anyone in our group.....even the guys were into it!
Ahh, how to spend a rainy night in LA,
Jen0830

LucyKKG · #6 01-28-2008, 06:33 PM

I know people have critiqued the overall show, and I have to agree. I know it's hard to balance classic beauty pageants with the modern world, but some of the new interpretations SUCKED. Maybe it was just because TLC did it. (I like TLC...but Miss America on TLC? eh...)

The main announcer wasn't very good at all. I feel like the stage, announcer, music, etc. all lacked the classic poise and grace expected of a Miss America Pageant. Calling the names of eliminated girls was not cool (as said before). Do they always sit on stage after being eliminated? I would want to run backstage and cry my eyes out! Oh, and feeding them donuts was lame lame LAME!

Was anyone else as bothered by this stuff as I was?

OleMissGlitter · #7 01-28-2008, 06:35 PM

I just felt is was boring and the girl who won was not the best! Her gown was so tacky and so 2004! Anyway, perhaps it will improve but I think I'll skip it next year and just read about it online!

SoCalGirl · #8 01-29-2008, 03:36 AM

[rant]"We want to update Miss America's image. No more plastic beauties! And the new Miss America is a 19 year old anorexic blonde Barbie!!!!???!!!!" What's wrong with this picture?

[/rant]

SoCalGirl · #9 01-29-2008, 03:51 AM

^I don't like that the final question didn't count but I do like that the prelims held some weight. It's always bugged me that one set of judges decides the finalists and another set choses the winner.

PeppyGPhiB · #10 01-29-2008, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

^I don't like that the final question didn't count but I do like that the prelims held some weight. It's always bugged me that one set of judges decides the finalists and another set choses the winner.

I agree that prelims should count. But they flat-out lied to the audience by saying that all the contestants were starting out fresh once the 16 finalists were chosen. And then the final interview question didn't count, which I also thought was misleading. Why take up time doing something that won't be judged? How about reducing the % of the evening gown or swimsuit competition and give a little bit of % to the final question/answer?

BabyPiNK_FL · #11 01-30-2008, 01:27 AM

Why in the world would swimsuit count over her ability to answer rapid-fire questions? My goodness, if you're going to make a media star out of her she better damn well be well-spoken! It's the very least they could have done! Oh wow! So we can send her to pose for playboy but she can pretty much be dumb as a sack of walnuts!

And I still have to say it - Miss Wisconsin was ROBBED! I would have bet money on her winning and she didn't even get a runner up!

PeppyGPhiB · #12 01-30-2008, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

Why in the world would swimsuit count over her ability to answer rapid-fire questions? My goodness, if you're going to make a media star out of her she better damn well be well-spoken! It's the very least they could have done! Oh wow! So we can send her to pose for playboy but she can pretty much be dumb as a sack of walnuts!

And I still have to say it - Miss Wisconsin was ROBBED! I would have bet money on her winning and she didn't even get a runner up!

I did LOVE Wisconsin's red dress. She walked out in it and I said WOW, what a beautiful dress!