Kate Shindle must be appalled
Kate Shindle must be appalled
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/25/04
Kate Shindle must be appalled#0
Posted: 7/30/04 at 4:14pm
Miss America Axes Talent Competition
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The Miss America pageant is pulling the plug on its talent competition, eliminating the amateurish two-minute routines that have come to feature cheesy stunts such as tractor driving and trampoline jumping.
Instead, this year's crowning Sept. 18 will showcase some of the women performing in a videotaped montage culled from talent routines staged in preliminary competition.
Just one contestant chosen by the pageant's producers will perform live, after the selection of the five finalists for Miss America 2005. ABC-TV is trimming the telecast to two hours this year.
"It's the cornerstone of our organization. It's what sets us apart," said Miss America CEO Art McMaster. "If it were up to me, I'd show all 52 talents on TV. But when you're in a collaborative effort, as we are with ABC, there had to be a compromise somewhere."
Last year, an all-time low 10.3 million viewers tuned in, marking a steady decline over the last few years.
The talent routines, introduced in 1935 to help make Miss America something more than a beauty contest, became mandatory in 1938 and have been ever since. But the routines -- sometimes spectacular, more often not -- have generally turned off viewers.
Most typical were the baton twirlers, opera singers and piano players. But through the years, contestants have ridden horses on stage, stomped on broken glass, jumped on trampolines or driven tractors.
The talent routines once accounted for 40 percent of a contestant's score; they were 20 percent by last year. The routines will still be included in the three nights of preliminary competition leading up to the televised Saturday night crowning.
The casual wear, swimsuit and evening wear elements of the contest, which last year counted for 10 percent of a contestant's score, will each count for 20 percent this year, McMaster said.
Pageant loyalists don't like the changes.
"They're eliminating one of the core values of the Miss America competition," said former CEO Leonard Horn.
Heather French Henry, Miss America 2000, was also critical. "It's a tragedy," she said. "That's what separates us from the type of contestant that goes to Miss USA. Our young ladies get into it for the scholarships and the talent."
re: Kate Shindle must be appalled#1
Posted: 7/30/04 at 4:19pmMan, I never saw trampoline jumping when I watched.
re: kate shindle must be appalled#2
Posted: 7/30/04 at 4:22pmjp, i was thinking the exact same thing!
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/14/04
re: kate shindle must be appalled#3
Posted: 7/30/04 at 4:24pm
Personally I always think the Miss USA pagent is much more entertaining b/c of the lack of talent. I mean its a total t*ts and a*s compitition. The kind I dreamed of being in when I was a little girl......
Not to Mention the girl who won this year went to my high school!
re: kate shindle must be appalled#4
Posted: 7/30/04 at 5:00pm
No!!!!!!!!
The talent competition is the only good part!!!!!
My family just sits around and critiques all the performances.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/25/04
re: kate shindle must be appalled#5
Posted: 7/30/04 at 5:06pm
CRITIQUE??
That is NOT the Miss America way.
re: kate shindle must be appalled#6
Posted: 7/30/04 at 5:14pm
That's outrageous!
I've only seen Kate perform once, but my jaw was on the floor at the end of it (at LaChiusa's Lincoln Center concert).
No talent? That really does make it a beauty pageant. How sad
re: kate shindle must be appalled#7
Posted: 7/30/04 at 5:18pm
I didn't say I was in the competition, now did I?
My father loves to rip apart the performances of every pianist.
He'll be very disappointed about this, indeed.
re: kate shindle must be appalled#8
Posted: 7/30/04 at 6:39pmSo how cool is that that you have a gay dad?!
re: kate shindle must be appalled#9
Posted: 7/30/04 at 6:53pmI hate that the talent has been eliminated!!! That's why I watch Miss America instead of Miss USA. It just seems un-right. No one watches it anyway except the people who like it. It's not like if they take out the talent, then their ratings will sky rocket.
re: kate shindle must be appalled#10
Posted: 7/30/04 at 6:59pm
::sigh::
im gonna miss that tractor driving...
re: kate shindle must be appalled#11
Posted: 7/30/04 at 7:06pmHey! Tractor driving is a hard learned skill! Have you ever tried keeping the rows straight when you are discing or planting? That's no easy feat let me tell you! Especially in the big fields that have a hill in the middle and you can't watch something on the other side of the field to help you keep the tractor going straight. All the while bouncing around in the tractor in these fields, (unlike cars tractors don't have shocks) and all the while keeping an eye out for stones that can damage the machinery! It's no easy task let me tell you!!!
re: kate shindle must be appalled#12
Posted: 7/30/04 at 7:08pm
Oh Namo.
Need I remind you that "musician" does not mean "gay"?
re: kate shindle must be appalled#13
Posted: 7/30/04 at 7:12pmOh, I'm sorry, you wrote PIANIST.
re: kate shindle must be appalled#14
Posted: 7/30/04 at 7:14pm
I did write "pianist".
That doesn't mean "gay", either.
When you were sounding it out, did you forget to pronounce the 't' and get confused?
I know you've been stuggling with dipthongs.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/14/04
re: kate shindle must be appalled#15
Posted: 7/30/04 at 7:27pmNot to offend you FF b/c I'm sure your dad is a doll, but Namo that was one of the funniest things I've read in ages. I'm trying not to pee in my pants here!
re: kate shindle must be appalled#16
Posted: 7/30/04 at 7:36pm
son_of_a_gunn, i am so sorry for being so... ignorant... about tractor driving. i never realized how difficult it truly is until now! wow... now all i wanna do is get out on one and try it! i mean, i'm sure i have a lot to learn, but with alot of patience and motivation, i hope one day i can master this skill!
:P
re: kate shindle must be appalled#17
Posted: 7/30/04 at 8:21pm
Its ok Zepka. Anymore with the new tractors it seems like everything is computer controlled. The new combines have their own built in minifridges! My grandpa's tractors are mostly 70's models with his newest being and 82. It (the 82) actually has airconditioning that works! 
re: kate shindle must be appalled#18
Posted: 7/30/04 at 8:26pmWell, there goes the illusion. This is the part where I'm supposed to wipe away a tear because of my lost dreams, right?
re: kate shindle must be appalled#19
Posted: 7/30/04 at 9:27pm
that's right, son. what with the new gps stuff, all ya have to do is turn the sucker around at the end of the row and it drives itself to within a 4" tolerance. i met a man a last month who's worked on farms his whole life and he was marvelling at the wonder of being at wheel of one of the newer models and reading the paper and sipping coffee as he headed down the row all in air conditioned comfort. he did say it took him a bit to get used to it and that he still sometimes has to pinch himself to remind himself he's working.
plumsy, don't cry. these newer tractors make life that much easier for farmers, that's a good thing.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
re: kate shindle must be appalled#20
Posted: 7/30/04 at 9:29pmawwwww.... papalovesmambo, i wanna see that on the miss america stage!!!
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/25/04
re: kate shindle must be appalled#21
Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:31am
Remember Erika Harold, that little liar who became Miss America by saying she wanted to stop hate crimes, then as soon as she was crowned, she changed her focus to anti-gay and abstinence programs? Well, her royal creepiness is coming to NYC with the GOP.
She's a reason to have that thing focus MORE on talent not less.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Miss America will be Prez-ent
National Republicans hope Miss America can give Mr. President a boost. Bombshell Erika Harold, last year's Miss America, was on the latest roster of speakers announced by the Republican National Convention for next month's GOP gala, officials said yesterday. Harold, who is black, hit the stump for President Bush earlier this year.
The rest of the roster features some of the GOP's more conservative members, including Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a leading advocate for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Also making the cut are Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Some conservatives had criticized Team Bush, saying the prime-time speakers' roster was too loaded with moderates, such as New York Republicans former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Pataki.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/25/04
more on Erika Harold#22
Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:45am
Thank God for the internet. Here's that little creepy Paula Jones-look-a-like getting an award with Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), the author of the gay marriage ban, along with Senator Jesse Helms and Senator Rick Santorum.
She's a gem. Kate was a great AIDS advocate -- this must make her seethe.
Radical Conservative Group honors Erika Harold with other right wing nut-jobs
crabs#23
Posted: 8/1/04 at 10:58am
"cause I hit the stage batons ablaze
while belting Aida and preparing cheese souflees
but that triple somersault
was how I clinched Miss Balt...imore Crabs!!!"
now it really is a period piece, perserving a historic time that has been put out to pasture 
I'm taking to my bed in protest
Updated On: 8/1/04 at 10:58 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/25/04
crabs#24
Posted: 8/1/04 at 11:02am
Are there often protests in your bed?
Mine, too...
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