“‘Miss America’…weaves newsreel footage, period music and thoughtful analysis into a lively two-hour meditation on beauty, symbolism and 20th century American women. Refreshingly evenhanded ‘Miss America’ tackles the pageant’s intersection with race, sex and women’s liberation—among other things—without sinking into gratuitous pageant-bashing. ” Associated Press
“PBS delivers a winning look at Miss America…The wonder of the program is that it manages to be respectful and critical, funny and poignant about the 80-year pageant and its place in American life.” Orlando Sentinel
“‘Miss America’ [is] a film that may be the definitive documentary of the pageant. Surprisingly evenhanded, ‘Miss America’ manages to both sketch the event’s history and put the pageant in a social context over its two hour running time.” San Jose Mercury News
“Superb… effortlessly mines perspective, poignancy and cultural significance for an exercise that has embodied the essence of kitsch and tacky.” The Hollywood Reporter
“PBS’ ‘Miss America’ is the model of brevity, covering 80 years and the changing role of women in under two hours. The superb American Experience series provides the fast paced stroll down the runway of history… made with affection, humor and insight.” Orlando Sentinel
[“Miss America”] “turned out to be not just a history of the Miss America Pageant, but also a study of the evolution of women in America in the 20th century,… a complete and beautifully edited birth-to-the present history of an American institution.” Knight Ridder Newspapers
“‘Miss America,’… Lisa Ades’ outstanding documentary.” Toronto Star
“As watchable as a bevy of beauties… this critical but balanced American Experience documentary acknowledges the pageant’s status as a national institution.” People Magazine
“Documentarian Lisa Ades… has created a striking history of the pageant…. It will delight and inform those who have glued themselves to a TV set on the second Saturday after each Labor Day and declared, ‘How could they pick that bow-wow?’… There is never a dull visual moment in ‘Miss America.’” Los Angeles Daily News
“Perfect fodder for PBS’ ever-eclectic ‘American Experience’ series…Capping a month that included a terrific two-part Woodrow Wilson biography and a look at the building of Mount Rushmore, ‘American Experience’ takes the crown with producer Lisa Ades’ masterful ‘Miss America’…. Brilliantly anecdotal and pungently opinionated.” TV Guide
“Filmmaker Lisa Ades has managed to capture 80 years of social and cultural history; laced it up with trenchant commentary from historians, critics and la Gloria Steinem herself; and delivers in such a way that even Rush Limbaugh might have his consciousness… raised. Enjoy.” Toronto Star
