Miss America 2017: Show returns to N.J. with a pageant first
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on September 10, 2016 at 10:00 AM, updated September 11, 2016 at 12:24 AM
There she is — just like last year, the year before, and the year before that.
Three years on, Miss America's return to New Jersey from Las Vegas is no longer news, but now, the pageant — broadcasting live on ABC from Atlantic City Sunday — is here to stay.
A contract inked in February with the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority granting the pageant $12.5 million in subsidies assures Miss America will be a presence on the boardwalk for the next three years, through the 2019 pageant.
Since returning to Atlantic City in 2013, Miss America has reaped the benefits of a partnership with Dick Clark Productions, which saw Miss America become a red carpet fixture and presenter at other televised events, like the Billboard Awards.
Erin O'Flaherty is the first openly gay contestant in the pageant's long history
The idea was to boost the pop culture profile of the titleholder, and in so doing, pump up the fading relevance of what many young viewers likely see as a dusty, sequined relic of network TV — an anachronistic parade of bathing suits and heels that has more in common with bygone traditions (like having three channels on your television set) than a flashy Victoria's Secret fashion show.
Yet the pageant, which in 2014 weathered a revelatory report from HBO's John Oliver undercutting its scholarship claims — has maintained its efforts to showcase celebrity judges who have some clout with young audiences, including Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas and the singer Ciara. (Last year, Zendaya, the actress and singer tapped to play Mary Jane in the new Spider-Man movie, was a judge.)
For Miss America 2016 last September, the pageant celebrated its 95th anniversary with the return of Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America — and, arguably, the most famous winner in recent memory — who resigned shortly before the end of her 1984 reign because of a nude photo scandal. In a moment that seemed to drive more interest than the night's winner (Betty Cantrell, Miss Georgia, she of the operatic pipes), Miss America CEO Sam Haskell issued Williams and her mother an on-stage apology.
The Williams appearance did not in itself make the pageant must-watch TV, but did help Miss America hold its own in the ratings against a season-opening football game, allowing the competition to retain its approximately 7 million viewers from the year before.
Then, after one of the runner-ups, Miss Colorado, Kelley Johnson, had her nurse monologue (and scrubs and stethoscope) criticized on "The View," nurses of America came to her defense on social media. Given the fact that most Americans probably could not name a current Miss America (not to mention one from the last five to 10 years), the pageant, born on the boardwalk in 1921, couldn't have hoped for a better outcome.
Even if the 2017 show does not have any big surprises in store for the audience this Sunday, when it comes to the contestants, there is one notable first.
Miss Missouri, Erin O'Flaherty, is the first openly gay contestant in the pageant's history. O'Flaherty, 23, who grew up in South Carolina, owns a women's boutique in Missouri and has suicide prevention as her pageant platform. Her presence at the pageant has claimed a lion's share of headlines, but she's looking to use the attention to her advantage.
"I have embraced it because I feel a responsibility to the LGBT community to represent them well," she told NJ Advance Media in the run-up to the pageant final.
Another contestant, Miss Michigan, Arianna Quan, put critics who called her "ugly" on social media in their place when she won a main pageant award Thursday night during preliminaries, for her rousing piano performance. If she wins the pageant, Quan, 23, who was born in Beijing and has dedicates her pageant platform to immigration, would become the first Chinese-American woman to wear the crown.
Contestants have been competing in a preliminary round — baton-twirling, tap-dancing and singing — all week in Atlantic City, but we won't find out if O'Flaherty, Quan, or Miss New Jersey, Brenna Weick, made the pageant final until the beginning of the Sunday broadcast.
The 2017 Miss America pageant airs at 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11 on ABC. Follow our live updates from Boardwalk Hall at nj.com/entertainment.
Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/09/miss_america_2017_preview.html
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