Does almost every form of “no-scripted” or “variety” or “reality” TV entertainment have to have some aspect of cruelty to it? I just flipped through the Hi-Def channels to see if anything caught my eye, and Miss America was being rebroadcast. now pageants are stressful and somewhat heart wrenching affairs for the girls under any circumstances, at least those girls who take it very seriously. I know this from both sides of the limelight as both a contestant and a pageant director. But really, the latest twist is completely beyond the pale.

They are at the point in the pageant where they have twelve finalists, and these twelve are about to do the talent portion of the competition. Well, they are going to eliminate two girls, leaving them with ten finalists. So what do they do? They have all twelve girls come out on stage, ready to do their talent show, and they all sit on a big semi-circular couch. Then they call out a girl’s name, and she proceeds to perform her talent piece. Therefore, there are going to be two girls who are sitting on stage through the whole thing, ready to jump up and perform, waiting for their names to be called … and their names aren’t going to be called, because they are being eliminated. How mean and cruel can you get?!

This is such hogwash. I’m actually annoyed enough, I think I’ll be writing the pageant headquarters to give them a piece of my mind. Really … is the added drama and tears necessary?!

Gods, I hate normal TV programming. I should know better than to ever watch anything that isn’t educational or a movie (or at least fictional and not on network TV).