page_title: Beauty Pageant (Parks and Recreation)
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Beauty Pageant (Parks and Recreation) / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Louis C. K. at the 2012 Time 100 gala.
context_page_description: "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.
  It is the only episode of the series in which Nick Offerman does not appear as Ron Swanson.
context_section_description: "Beauty Pageant" was written by Katie Dippold and directed by Jason Woliner. Woliner directed and co-created the MTV sketch comedy show Human Giant, which also featured Parks co-star Aziz Ansari. "Beauty Pageant" featured stand-up comedian Louis C.K. in his second guest performance as Dave Sanderson, a Pawnee police officer romantically interested in Leslie. The Miss Pawnee Pageant is modeled after the long-standing Miss America competition, which awards scholarships to young women from all 50 states. Several commentators compared Trish, who is attractive but unintelligent and untalented, to Caitlin Upton, the 2007 Miss South Carolina Teen USA who made an incoherent response during the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant. Series co-creator Michael Schur also indicated the episode was inspired partially by Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California USA who received nationwide attention over her answer to a question about same-sex marriage during the Miss USA 2009 contest. Immediately after "Beauty Pageant" was originally broadcast, NBC set up an official Miss Pawnee Beauty Pageant website at misspawnee.com. It included biographies for the judges and competitors, as well as a downloadable PDF of Leslie's custom scorecard from the episode, ringtones, band posters, songs for download and photos.
  Within a week of the episode's original broadcast, three deleted scenes from "Beauty Pageant" were made available on the official Parks and Recreation website. In the first 90-second clip, April seeks beauty contestant advice from Leslie, who tells her to act differently from her usual behavior. While awaiting the talent contest, April lists a number of her unusual talents, including inventing emoticons, convincing her mother she is adopted, instantly making security guards suspicious and determining if someone is fat or pregnant "with 60 percent accuracy". In the second 1-minute and 15 second clip, Ann tries to explain to Mark she is not hinting at sex when she asks him to "fix her shower", and Sanderson talks about his insecurities, including that Leslie might be too smart for him. In the final 90-second clip, Tom expresses anger that the swimsuit competition has been removed from the contest, and tries to convince the judges to reinstate it during their deliberations.
caption: Stand-up comedian Louis C.K. guest starred as Officer Dave Sanderson in "Beauty Pageant".
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1414", "Image ImageLength": "1880", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[]", "Image DateTime": "2012:04:24 19:40:17", "Image Make": "PENTAX", "Image Model": "PENTAX K-x", "Image Software": "PaintShop Pro 17.00", "Image Artist": "", "Image Copyright": "", "Image InterColorProfile": "[]", "Image IPTC/NAA": "[28, 2, 55, 0, 8, 50, 48, 49, 50, 48, 52, 50, 52, 28, 2, 80, 0, 0, 28, 2, 116, 0, 0]", "Image ExifOffset": "194", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3985", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4542", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1414", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1880", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:04:24 19:40:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:04:24 19:40:17", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/180", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Action", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-3/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "55", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "82", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2"}