America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders | |
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Genre | Docuseries |
Created by | Greg Whiteley |
Starring |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 7 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Andrew Fried |
Running time | 52–60 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | June 20, 2024 |
Related | |
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team |
America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is an American sport television docuseries which was released on Netflix on June 20, 2024. [1] The seven-episode series follows the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the official cheer squad of the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys. The series follows the 2023–24 team's selection and digs into the thirty-six-person squad's daily life. [2] It is considered to be the successor series for Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team which aired on CMT from 2006 to 2021.
While the documentary has been considered a success, many viewers expressed shock at the demands on the cheerleaders, and the comparatively low wages they are paid, often requiring them to work multiple jobs. [3]
In a mixed review, Judy Berman from Time stated the following: "A feminist-minded viewer could tie herself in knots trying to untangle the show's—and the squad's—gender politics, and [Greg] Whiteley deserves credit for doing justice to that complexity. Everyone who makes the team is shown to be a consummate athlete, possessing remarkable skill, strength, and discipline. The line separating physical fitness, a basic job requirement, from aesthetics can be thin. And contrary to what you might expect of beautiful women competing for the male gaze of a nation, the hopefuls come off as extraordinarily kind to and supportive of one another. Yet there isn't much institutional support for cheerleaders whose mental health or food issues are exacerbated by the stressful atmosphere of training camp." [2]
Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
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1 | 7 | June 20, 2024 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date | |
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1 | 1 | "Auditions Part 1" | June 20, 2024 | |
Rookie candidates and returning veteran candidates compete for a spot in the 2023 training camp. Several auditions succeed by capturing the attention of the judges, while others fail to meet the standards. | ||||
2 | 2 | "Auditions Part 2" | June 20, 2024 | |
The 2023 training camp roster is announced, which includes the tearful cuts of three veteran candidates in order to make room for other candidates who exceeded the judges' expectations. | ||||
3 | 3 | "Yes Ma'am" | June 20, 2024 | |
After the rookie candidates receive makeovers, the girls hit the turf to learn the iconic pregame routine under the watchful eye of NFL hall-of-famer, Emmitt Smith. | ||||
4 | 4 | "God Loves Dallas" | June 20, 2024 | |
Candidates dance in the cowboy boots for the first time. With long deliberation, the final cuts are made and the 2023 squad is announced. | ||||
5 | 5 | "Sparkle" | June 20, 2024 | |
The newly announced squad makes final preparations ahead of their first preseason game. When group leaders are announced, one returning veteran struggles with her confidence. | ||||
6 | 6 | "9 to 5" | June 20, 2024 | |
Cheerleaders interact with fans and take the field for thanksgiving with special halftime guest Dolly Parton. | ||||
7 | 7 | "Sisters for Life" | June 20, 2024 | |
In the face of challenges, the sisterhood brings the cheerleaders together and alumni return for an emotional season finale. |
Returning Veterans | Rookies | Training Camp Candidates | Retired / Cut / Resigned | ||||
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Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to entertain the audience, or for competition. Cheerleading routines typically range anywhere from one to three minutes, and contain components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting. Cheerleading originated in the United States, where it has become a tradition. It is less prevalent in the rest of the world, except via its association with American sports or organized cheerleading contests.
Debbie Does Dallas is a 1978 American pornographic film produced and directed by Jim Clark, and starring Bambi Woods. The plot focuses on a team of cheerleaders attempting to earn enough money to send the title character to Dallas, Texas to try out for the famous "Texas Cowgirls" cheerleading squad. The fictional name "Texas Cowgirls" was seen as an allusion to the real-life Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Woods had previously tried out for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in real life, but was cut during auditions.
The term "America's Team" is a nickname that refers to the National Football League (NFL)'s Dallas Cowboys. The nickname originated with the team's 1978 highlight film, where the narrator opens with the following introduction:
They appear on television so often that their faces are as familiar to the public as presidents and movie stars. They are the Dallas Cowboys, "America's Team".
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are the National Football League cheerleading squad representing the Dallas Cowboys team.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team is an American reality television series that aired on CMT from September 29, 2006, to November 27, 2021. The series follows the auditioning process and the forming of the Dallas Cowboys' annual Cheerleading squad. The series features director Kelli McGonagill Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell.
National Football League Cheerleading or simply NFL Cheerleading, is a group of professional cheerleading organizations in the United States. 24 of the 32 NFL teams include a cheerleading squad in their franchise. In 1954, the Baltimore Colts became the first NFL team to have cheerleaders. They were part of Baltimore's Marching Colts.
Cheer Athletics is one of the largest All-Star cheerleading programs in the United States, with thousands of athletes competing on 80+ teams from Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Frisco, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Pensacola, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Plano, Texas; Rochester, New York; Rockwall, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Telford, England. Cheer Athletics has won 24 World Championships at The Cheerleading Worlds sponsored by the USASF.
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Spirit Squads comprise the cheerleading organization at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Being the first program ever to form worldwide, the University of Minnesota is consequently considered the "Birthplace of Cheerleading". Today, the Gopher Spirit Squads consist of four separate squads: a cheer squad, a dance team, a hockey cheer squad, and the school's mascot, Goldy Gopher. The squads consistently perform well at national competitions including 21 national championships in dance since 2003, a 2nd-place finish for All-Girl in 2013, a fifth-place finish in 2017, and four-time national champion Goldy Gopher in 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2018. The current head coach is Sam Owens.
Kelli McGonagill Finglass is the current director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She is also a former member of the squad. She appears in and is an executive producer of the CMT former reality series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
Melissa Katherine Rycroft-Strickland is an American television personality, host, and dancer. She is a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader and television personality. She has participated as a bachelorette on the thirteenth season of ABC's The Bachelor, on the CMT reality TV series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, and on the eighth and fifteenth seasons of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Rycroft went on to host reality competition shows such as Bachelor Pad and Redneck Island.
The US National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) was established as a way to bring cheerleaders together to learn new skills. Since 1951, the NCA has held summer camps, and is credited with the invention of the herkie jump, the pom-pom, the spirit stick and being the first uniform manufacturer.
The Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders is the professional cheerleading squad of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. The squad performs a variety of dance moves at the Hard Rock Stadium, the home stadium of the Dolphins. The Dolphins Cheerleaders released an annual swimsuit calendar every year. The squad hosts auditions every May. Like most other squads in the league, the MDC also has a youth cheer squad and help mentor young girls in the Miami area. The squad also makes USO trips. Every year, the MDC sends a cheerleader to the Pro Bowl. The MDC also sends a number of alumni to the Indian Premier League every year.
Laura Lynette Vikmanis is an American dietitian, personal trainer, and dancer who was a professional cheerleader for the Cincinnati Ben–Gals, the cheerleading squad of the Cincinnati Bengals. She was the oldest cheerleader in National Football League history, at 40 years of age when she joined in 2009. She is also a co-author of the book It's Not About the Pom-Poms.
Charlotte Jones Anderson is the Dallas Cowboys' executive vice president and chief brand officer. Jones was appointed chairman of the Salvation Army's National Advisory Board in 2010 and is the first woman to ever serve in that role. In 2012, Jones was named chairperson of the NFL Foundation and is responsible for leading philanthropic efforts in player care, youth football, and medical research. Jones is the first woman to serve in this capacity for an NFL charitable institution, and the first woman to represent club ownership as leader of a major professional sports league foundation. In 2024, Jones and the Dallas Cowboys were criticized for exploiting the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
Judy Tharp Trammell is the current head choreographer of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She is also a former member of the squad. She appears in the CMT reality series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
Greg Beck Whiteley is the creator, executive producer, and director of the Netflix documentary series Wrestlers (2023), Cheer (2020–2022) and Last Chance U (2016–2020). His films include New York Doll (2005), Resolved (2007), Mitt (2014), and Most Likely to Succeed (2015).
Alan Rashaan Evans is an American professional football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and was selected by the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. Evans has also played for the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys.
Cheer is an American sport television docuseries airing on Netflix starting in January 2020. The six-part series follows the nationally ranked forty-member Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team from Corsicana, Texas, under the direction of coach Monica Aldama, as they prepare to compete in the National Cheerleading Championship held annually in Daytona Beach, Florida. The episodes focus especially on five individual Cheer Team members and include elements of the history of cheerleading, including the formation of the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA).
Suzanne Mitchell was an American artistic director and public relations professional who served as the director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders from 1976 to 1989. She was responsible for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders rise in popularity and their status as sex symbols. Mitchell was also responsible for creating the role of goodwill ambassadors for the cheerleaders, requiring them to volunteer in orphanages, hospitals, and at telethons to boost public image and organized their involvement in touring with United Service Organizations.