Producers put pageant on a diet
Finding fat on Miss America isn’t easy. Finding it in the pageant telecast should be, though.
That’s what the pageant’s TV producers will be doing this summer, trimming the annual beauty contest’s live prime-time show from three hours to two in hopes of juicing up its Nielsen ratings.
“Who will be eliminated?” may be replaced by “What will be eliminated?” as the question foremost in viewers’ minds when they tune in for the Sept. 18 telecast on ABC. Will it be the parade of contestants? The talent contest? The farewell walk down the runway?
Art McMaster, chief executive officer of the Miss America Organization, isn’t telling.
McMaster, who announced the cutback to two hours Tuesday, won’t say what he will recommend to pageant producer Bob Bain and ABC executives.
Last year’s pageant drew only 10.3 million viewers, an all-time low, according to Nielsen Media Research.
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