Beauty pageant

A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, although some contests have evolved to also incorporate personality, intelligence, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria. The term almost invariably refers only to contests for women and girls such as the Big Four international beauty pageants; with similar events for men or boys being called by other names and are more likely to be bodybuilding contests.

A winner of a beauty contest is often called a beauty queen. Child beauty pageants mainly focus on beauty, gowns, sportswear modelling, talent, and personal interviews. Adult and teen pageants focus on makeup, hair and gowns, swimsuit modelling, and personal interviews. Possible awards include titles, tiaras or crowns, sashes, savings bonds, scholarships, and cash prizes. However, adult and teen pageants have been moving more towards judging speaking, and many no longer contain swimsuit or talent sections.

Beauty Pageant (Parks and Recreation)

"Beauty Pageant" is the third episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the ninth overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 1, 2009. In the episode, Leslie serves as a judge in the Miss Pawnee beauty pageant and becomes determined to prevent an attractive, but talentless and unintelligent, contestant from winning.

The episode was written by Katie Dippold and directed by Jason Woliner. It featured stand-up comedian Louis C.K. in his second guest appearance as Dave Sanderson, a Pawnee police officer who develops a romantic interest in Leslie. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 4.63 million households, a slight improvement over the previous week. "Beauty Pageant" received generally positive reviews, with several commentators claiming the season continued a trend of funnier episodes than in the first season.

Plot

At the beginning of the episode, Leslie (Amy Poehler) proudly announces to the parks and recreation staff that she will be judging the Miss Pawnee beauty pageant, a job she takes very seriously. Tom (Aziz Ansari), excited at the prospective of judging women on the basis of their looks, pulls some strings to get a spot on the judging panel along with Leslie. April (Aubrey Plaza) enters the contest in order to win the $600 prize, despite being disgusted with the concept of a beauty contest. She tries, unsuccessfully, to gain an advantage by sucking up to Leslie. Later, Pawnee police officer Dave Sanderson (Louis C.K.) visits Leslie at work to ask her out on a date. She initially accepts, but when Dave mistakes a photo of Madeleine Albright for Leslie's grandmother, Leslie becomes reluctant.