Tales of grift and graft are often so complex that it’s almost a relief when we hear about brazen corruption. I’m not talking about the recent allegations against New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez involving gold bars and pockets stuffed with cash. Or about the looming 50th anniversary of the Oct. 10, 1973, resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew, a man known to accept bags of cash from those seeking favors.
No, we’re discussing a beauty pageant here!
The documentary series “The New York Times Presents” (10 p.m., FX, TV-MA) returns for its third season with “How to Fix a Pageant,” a stunning tale of an institution’s descent into rigged competition that sparked a rebellion.
The 2022 Miss USA pageant was not only the lowest-rated in its history, but it smelled of corruption before it even took place. Contestants and their families and entourages became hip to the fact that Miss Texas was a lock to win the proceedings. When she did, her competitors took to social media to cry foul.
Things got even stranger when she almost immediately appeared in a commercial for a sponsoring resort as Miss USA, obviously filmed long before the pageant was judged. Then people noticed the absence of the traditional accounting firm to guarantee that the tally was on the up- and-up.
And then word spread that the husband of the pageant’s owner had a habit of coming on to the contestants.
Along the way, we learn much about pageant history. While many have seen the decline of pageants due to shifting attitudes toward feminism, the earliest Miss USA contests, held in the 1920s, adapted the idea of wearing a sash from the style of the early 20th-century suffragettes who helped win women the right to vote.
We also learn that Miss USA was founded by a corporate swimwear line that was irked when Yolande Betbeze Fox, Miss America 1951, refused to spend a whole year making appearances in a bathing suit.
She was quoted as complaining, “I’m an opera singer, not a pinup!”
“Fix” interviews past directors of the Miss USA organization as well as pageant participants chagrined to see what has happened to the institution. Despite everything, many still believe in pageants and see them as a force for female empowerment.
All of this takes place on the very night that the 72nd Miss USA Pageant (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) is broadcast live.
It remains to be seen if last year’s tarnished finale will affect viewership for tonight’s contest. Or if broadcasting it only reinforces the notion that the CW, once one of the more defined networks, has become a hodgepodge of random imported series, sporting events and ephemera.
The notion of scheduling a documentary autopsy of an institutional scandal to coincide with an annual event does not stop with Miss USA.
Next Tuesday, “Frontline” will broadcast “The Astros Edge,” about the 2017 World Series cheating scandal that rocked Major League Baseball. The MLB playoffs begin on Tuesday as well!
“How to Fix a Pageant” streams on Hulu starting tomorrow.
— The second season of the animated preschool series “Interrupting Chicken” streams on Apple TV+.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— The 36th Annual Hispanic Heritage Awards (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings).
— The six-part series “Rebuilding Black Wall Street” (9 p.m., OWN, TV-PG) recalls racial violence that destroyed a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921.
— Frank’s move rattles the Reagans on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Movie palaces, projectionists and the power of celluloid loom large in the 1988 Italian drama “Cinema Paradiso” (8 p.m., TMC, TV-MA) as well as in the 2022 British drama “Empire of Light” (7 p.m., HBO Signature).
SERIES NOTES
“Secret Celebrity Renovation” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) wraps up its third season with Elle King … “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-PG) … “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) … Pizza-themed wine is pitched on the season premiere of “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
A midway accident sparks chaos on “Fire Country” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) … “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Jon Stewart and LCD Soundsystem appear on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Zac Efron, Debbie Harry and Lea Michele on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Amy Poehler, David Sedaris and SuperM drop by “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC, r).
Nathan Lane, Katie Porter, Juliet and Anup Sastry visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Lisa Alvarado, Margaret Cho, Tammy Pescatelli and Sheryl Underwood appear on “Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
