Las Vegas Weekly

January 21, 2009 · 1:15 PM

Behind-the-scenes secrets of this year’s Miss America Pageant telecast

By Robin Leach

From left, Miss America Organization President and CEO Art McMaster, TLC's Brent Zacky and Miss America Organization Chairman Sam Haskell III.

Photo: TVT

Saturday night’s live telecast of the 2009 Miss America Pageant from Planet Hollywood will make it the fourth-longest-running live event in TV history! It all began in 1954 with the very first telecast and at the time broke viewer records.

TV host and actor Mario Lopez will host the pageant for a second time, although this is his first for TLC. “I’m thrilled to return and am looking forward to joining the contestants,” Mario said. Vegas Deluxe will have our one-on-one with the Extra hunk when he arrives here tomorrow for rehearsals. Special correspondent Clinton Kelly will join Mario onstage.

Art McMaster, president and CEO of the Miss America Organization, sat down yesterday with my new friend Valerie Hayes of Pageant Talk Radio to spill some secrets about this year’s TV special.

“We’re obviously known for the Miss America Pageant broadcast, but what most people don’t realize is that this is just our end product. It’s a once-a-year event that’s televised, but, quite honestly, our small national staff interacts with all of our 52 organizations, the 50 states, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and below that there’s 1,200 local organizations.

“So, during the year, we’re actually quite busy working with our states because all of the state pageants are held between May and July each year. So, there’s constant work going on during the year, helping the states with their pageants, and then before we know it, it’s time for the national pageant here in Las Vegas.”

“I was here during the days when we were on network television, and, quite honestly, although being on a network is a good thing, there are some disadvantages to being on a network because the Miss America Pageant was only on for one night a year, and then we were off and you didn’t hear about us anymore here. Moving over into cable television has afforded us as an organization, the opportunity to expand the brand.

“We’ve had more viewers just watching our television show because it has been replayed several times. So, people that generally missed it can catch it on another night, even if it’s a week later or two weeks later. And in addition, there is the four weeks of reality shows that lead up to the pageant. We never had those types of opportunities on network television. So, it’s good news, bad news being on a network, but again the good news is that there are people from a branding standpoint that get to see our product a lot better now and a lot more often.”

“Probably the biggest change in this year’s show is we are back to a Top 10 talent format. Last year we showcased eight talents, but this year we’re showcasing the full 10 talents. The show is going to be starting with the Top 15 in swimwear, and then it’s going to drop down to Top 12 in eveningwear. From there, it’s going to drop down into talent, so 10 young ladies are going to be able to showcase their special skills. It’s really quite exciting for them individually.”

“This year the public gets to play a real part in selecting the Top 15. We started showing our reality show Miss America: Countdown to the Crown on Jan. 2, and there’s one more final show to be seen this Friday night. Immediately after that show, America will get to vote on several of the contestants that you’ll find out about on Friday night. So that is exciting because we’re really going to see a connection this year. So that’s been exciting to work with our TV partner, TLC, to tie the two television shows together.”

Fifteen finalists will be revealed on Friday’s finale, and then voting begins online at www.tlc.com/missamerica and also via text messaging. The four contestants with the most viewer votes puts them alongside the final 11 selected by the judges for a total of 15 finalists!

Brent Zacky of TLC added: “For the first time ever, America has the chance to be a judge and select four of the contestants they think deserve to make it into the show. By giving viewers the chance to get to know the girls during the Countdown to the Crown, we are confident that four great contestants will take the stage to compete for the title.”

Friday’s finale features guest consultant 1981 Miss America Susan Powell, and the 52 ladies face two challenges: a team challenge where they get to show off their talents as they perfect routines to compete against one another, and the Rock the Runway individual challenge, with its last minute opportunity to win a coveted gold sash!

Art also expressed the pageant’s interest in continuing to hold the Miss America star-attraction event in Las Vegas: “This is our fourth year here, and we see it as a home right now. We’re already committed to showcasing the Miss America Pageant 2010 in Las Vegas, so we know that we’re going to be here for another year. I certainly like everything that Planet Hollywood has done for our pageant and for our organization, and we hope that we can stay here for another five years after this. Our Miss America family, including all of the state delegations, enjoy coming to Las Vegas. And, as long as the city enjoys it, we hope we can stay here.”

Valerie also chatted with Tony Eaton of Tall Pony Productions, the producer of the Miss America Pageant broadcast: “We’re going to do a major production number to feed into the parade of states that the girls are rehearsing right now. Hopefully our host Mario Lopez is going to be a part of that, too. Then we’ve changed the way eliminations will work, which I won’t go into too much detail about, but we think the change will make people happy.

“And we’ve brought back a sort of running segment of the show that will appear four or five times with a round table of some of the former Miss Americas talking about their experience when they were Miss America. All in all, we’ve made some changes that should enhance the viewers’ experience while remaining true to the Miss America image. It’s going to be a great show!”

Right after Saturday’s competition, Vegas DeLuxe will post the first exclusive interview with the new 2009 Miss America -- before she jumps on a jet to speed to New York for her first national TV interviews!

Share This