If you haven’t heard (and quite frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t), Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund, was crowned Miss America 2008 over the weekend. I know I missed it. In fact, I didn’t even know it was on for me to miss. After years of declining ratings the pageant was dropped from network TV in 2004, and then spent a couple of years on CMT before TLC picked it up last year. In an effort to reinvigorate the Miss America Pageant, TLC has decided to try an make the pageant “hipper” to appeal to a younger audience. TLC added a four-week reality show about the girls preparing for the pageant. While I think this is a great idea, most of the changes were in fact pretty lame unless by younger they mean people in their 40’s instead of people in their 60’s. Here are some of lamer the changes that were made this year:

- A DJ played dance music on stage
- Adding some humor to the opening number
- Clinton Kelly of TLC’s What Not to Wear helped host and gave the girls tips on how to update their look
- Contestants wearing blue jeans

How scandalous! Blue jean, indeed! And a DJ, how 20th century. While I like Clinton Kelly, I’m not sure that today’s teens and twenty-somethings are watching What Not To Wear. This is a show primarily aimed at house-wives in their 30’s and up. The term ’sassy’ has been bantered about quite frequently in terms of the updated pageant. I suspect their definition of sassy isn’t quite the bad attitude most of the young’uns are thinking of. While some of these changes have been spectacularly weak, there are a number of changes that were made that I think take the pageant in the right direction. These are the improvements which TLC should expand upon in the future:

- Pre-pageant reality show, Miss America: Reality Check
- Holding the pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas
- Interview questions from real people
- Racier swimsuit competition

Its very easy to criticize but if TLC really wants to find a new younger audience here are some suggestions for them:

The efforts that I applaud are the ones which make the pageant more relevant and the contestants more real to us. For example, having people on the street ask the questions of the contestants. This resulted in questions revolving around binge drinking, HIV, and Jamie Lynn Spear’s pregnancy. There is a reason that World Peace has been the joke about pageant questions for decades. These questions are much more real. This is an area where i think they could take it even farther. Add in some questions on politics and other controversial topics of the day.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Miss America pageant has always been how fake it is and how fake the contestants are. In the age of social networking, camera phones, blogging, and MySpace, people want to meet and know the real you. I like the idea of making the Miss America pageant a reality show but TLC in my opinion didn’t take it far enough. Turn it into a real reality show where they have the cameras on the girls around the clock living together. They would probably make a ton off the live feeds like CBS does with the Big Brother live feeds. More importantly the audience can learn about the real girls not just their performance on stage. We could find out which ones are real and which ones are fake (and by that I mean personalities of course!), which one’s are bitches or prima donas, which ones are actual intelligent versus which ones are just posers and dumb blondes, we may find an actual nice girl or two on the way as well.

The updated swimsuit competition is another of the changes I like. These girls have great bodies and that is part of the competition. These girls should be able to show that they have a healthy and attractive physiques. You’ll definitely attract a younger male crowd this way. Racier I like, just so long as it doesn’t turn into a wet t-shirt contest. Those are great, I’m a big fan, and they have their place, but this isn’t it.

Expand the talent competition to sports and talents that can be performed off the stage. How about snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, horseback riding, Call of Duty 4 on XBox 360, these are the types of activities that young women are participating in today, not singing Broadway show tunes and baton twirling. That might get their interest and cause them to actually respect these women more. Lets see Miss Vermont throw down a 1080 on the Superpipe or Miss Texas rope a calf.

TLC took a step in the right direction this year but, I think they have a long way to go before the Miss America pageant once again becomes a mainstream part of the American consciousness again.

Check out our Miss America Kirsten Haglund Photo Gallery