A few years ago, I wrote a performance piece called "Master of the (Miss) Universe," a show examining beauty, culture, heritage. I wrote that The Philippines is obsessed with pageants. The last two Filipino women who won the Miss Universe title were put on stamps! I also wrote that Filipinos love a good pageant, recalling Miss America 2000 when a Filipina from Hawaii won the crown, becoming the pageant's first winner of Asian descent.Recently, Miss America, an instituion in the pageant world, was in danger of going off the air. No television station wanted it due to poor ratings. Country Music Television (CMT) saved Miss America from near death. I read about it in the New York Times. I busted up laughing. True to form, look who is saving the Miss America pageant from going under.
From the NYT:
"No one within CMT lobbied more forcefully to get Miss America than Paul Villadolid, an MTV alumnus who is vice president of programming and development at CMT. Like the country channel itself, Mr. Villadolid would seem to be an unlikely suitor for Miss America: the son of Filipino immigrants...."
7 comments:
hilarious. and not surprising!
hi noel, i found your blog thru eileen tabios, and just wanted to say what's up? glad to see you in blogland.
Love the commentary... And thanks for the reminder of your wonderful show. I still remember sitting enthralled in the audience. Sure miss seeing you onstage!
I read that NYT article as well. I believe they're going to be a little more tacky this time out--I think that will help ratings. Miss America went downhill when they tried to make it a seemingly respectable scholarship contest with bathing suits thrown into the mix. Blah! Boring!
i watched that show of yours years ago, and i found it truly hilarious and amusing. it has been that long noel, when are you coming up with another one? a sequel perhaps?
you have additional material now, since another pinay won the miss international this year -- more than two decades and a half after melanie marquez won. uhm, at least that's what it said in the article that i read.
happy holidays!
Ouch! Sorry my comment was deleted. I thought your point, which I agree with, was that Villadolid, described as an "unlikely suitor" for the pageant, was mischaracterized based on an erroneous assumption of the pageant's attraction for Filipinos.
I think that kind of prejudice probably goes on a lot, and doesn't help to bridge between cultures.
LOL. Bob, I wasn't sure what you meant by your post. Thanks for clarifying.
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