Who dumped who? It is all so high school. The bottom line is that TLC has not renewed its contract with Miss America to carry the pageant in 2011. This January the pageant broadcast from Planet Hollywood, Miss America’s fifth year in Vegas, scored its highest television rating since hitting cable. But the ratings do not mean the pageant will be back in Vegas next year.

The return of Miss America to Vegas is now in doubt.

When I spoke to pageant officials in January they clearly told me that while they wanted to return to Planet Hollywood next year that was entirely dependent on TLC renewing the television contract. So, assuming that another network (a Miss America official claimed to AP to be sifting offers from broadcast and cable networks) picks up the pageant, the question would be if the new television home has a preference other than Las Vegas for the location of Miss America? The ratings would suggest that the unlikely mix of Sin City and an anachronism beauty pageant is working surprisingly well. But that did not help with TLC, and we will have to see what that means for Miss America’s Vegas future.  (Photo: Sarah Gerke)