It has been 15 years-more?- since I've watched Miss America, then I got hooked into the TLC show "Miss America: Reality Check." With declining interest/ratings, the TLC show promised to "modernize" the image of Miss America, get rid of the helmet hair, robot walk, to update her and make her into more of a contemporary role model for today's girls/women. The show mostly focused on red-carpet makeovers/looks and not as much on substance. Yet there did appear to be some role-model worthy contestants (e.g. Miss Utah, Miss Illinois, etc.) so I was interested to see if they actually had a shot at the Miss America title.

Talk about bait and switch! The winner, Miss Michigan, looked like a carbon copy of the previous year's winner. Her sparkled evening gown looked like an ice dancing costume, (I'm sure pageant co-host Clinton from TLC's "What Not to Wear" was itching to critique that look!)

Most importantly, I don't remember hearing a thing about her...e.g. what she dreamed for herself should she win the scholarship monies, etc. While I'm glad they dropped announcing a contestant's height/weight/measurements-What happened to learning about her goals and education, the issues she wanted to bring visibility to as part of her platform, etc.?

I have always found it insulting and anti-woman to maintain that beauty pageants are primarily a scholarship program when in the final analysis they judge the women first in their swimsuits.

Kudos to TLC for getting folks like me even talking about Miss America again, but I certainly won't bother to follow it again.

Did anyone else watch?

Dawn