No Tiara for This TV Garbage

I turned on the television Saturday, and my TiVo was capturing a “TiVo Suggestion.” It was tuned to MTV, something that doesn’t happen very often in my part of the house. The show being recorded was set somewhere in Louisiana, which was unfortunate for the entire state. This humiliation in the form of cable programming was called “Tiara Girls.”
I hope for your sake that you have never seen this show. This particular episode embarrassed me for my home state and for the families involved. This is a reality show which features some weekly pseudo-documentary chronicling of young women involved in beauty pageants.
I know some beauty pageant people. In my younger days, I knew some of them rather well. The good ones are great. They’re smart, beautiful and successful. The bad ones are just pathetic.
The Louisiana girls featured in this particular episode appear to be lovely young women. I fear the people who produced and edited this show did so in such a way that they (and we) come across like a bunch of bumpkins. I felt so strongly about this that I actually spent some time researching the topic and I found an episode synopsis on-line:

Nancy describes herself as obsessed with pageants and calls the stage her red carpet. With four crowns under her belt already, she is ready to win more--starting with the Louisiana Hope Pageant. There's just one problem: her biggest competition in the pageant will be her best friend Justine. To improve her chances, Nancy hires pageant coach Brandy, Miss LSUA 2005. Nancy and Justine decide to go to the gym for the first time in preparation for the big event. When Justine outdoes her in every exercise Nancy gets discourage, saying that Justine's naturally dark, tall and thin looks make her "genetically more beautiful." With 38 days left before showtime, the girls go out to purchase dresses. Nancy finds the perfect blue dress, but tensions arise when Justine tries on the same dress and says that's her favorite dress too. Justine storms out of the store and threatens to drop out of the competition because everyone seems to be supporting Nancy. On the day of the competition Nancy admits to telling the judges a little lie. She explains that she doesn't know why it happened but it just came out. In the end, Nancy is awarded 2nd Alternate, and her sad expression says it all. Off stage she cries to her father, saying she feels bad for letting him down. He reassures her that he is still proud of her. When everything is said and done with the girls make up, telling each other that having good friends is more important than winning the crown. Besides, there are plenty more pageants to come.

The pageant was held, interestingly, in my father’s hometown of Marksville, Louisiana. There’s a large casino complex there, which provided a nice setting for this new competition, which is set up to benefit the American Cancer Society. The motives of the organizers obviously are pure: benefit a great organization, give the young women something to build confidence, and no doubt make a little cash. Watching the show, though, made my skin crawl.
The girls came across as self-aggrandizing, empty-headed and mean-spirited. The parents didn’t fare much better, although certainly I sympathize with their drive to support their daughters’ activities.
I know it was TV, and the producers want to emphasize the prurient and the low-brow allure of such seemingly superficial pursuits. I’m guessing Nancy’s family regrets allowing MTV’s cameras to follow them around. The Louisiana Queen of Hope Pageant can’t be happy with the way it came across. There’s more bad news. As the show synopsis points out, there are plenty more pageants to come.

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