The Miss America pageant is one institution that can't accurately be called a microcosm of American society. But the insular, cornball clunkiness that defines it has proved much of the event's charm during 80 years of history. It's a view shared by this superb two hour edition of PBS' "The American Experience," which effortlessly mines perspective, poignancy and cultural significance from an exercise that has embodied the essence of kitsch and tacky (and no doubt always will).

In point of fact, Miss America as an institution has seemed bizarrely antiquated for at least the past quarter-century. But as this documentary makes clear, only since the 1980s has the pageant represented something more than a backward, lily-white view of American beauty. It has taken most of its eight decades to drag Miss America kicking and screaming into the 20th century (and now, the 21st), moving in baby steps....