Stream It Or Skip It: ‘America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ On Netflix, A Docuseries About The Famous Squad’s 2023-24 Season

For 16 years, we got to see the grueling audition process for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders through the CMT reality series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team. For the 2023 squad, though, the action has moved to Netflix, and instead of just showing auditions and training camp, cameras follow the squad for the entire season.

AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS: DALLAS COWBOYS CHEERLEADERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A group of cheerleaders in sparkly two-piece suits are being directed to a rehearsal on the field of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.

The Gist: America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is a 7-episode docuseries that takes a look at the 2023-24 season of the famous cheerleading squad for the Dallas Cowboys, which is referred to throughout by its initials, “DCC.”

We start at the beginning of the process, where director Kelli Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell, both DCC alumni, start looking at videos of the 2023 rookie candidates for the 35-person squad. Everyone has to audition for the squad every year, whether they’re rookies or veterans, and both Finglass and Trammell know that they’re going to have to make tough choices, as the overall talent of both veterans and rookies is higher than ever.

This means that the veterans have to hand in their uniforms — yes, the vest, the boots, the whole shebang — in hopes that they get them back if they make the team. And not everyone treats them well.

Finglass and Trammell are looking not just for technical dancing skills while sorting through the hopefuls’ audition videos; they’re looking for a presence that will “pop” when they’re out on the field, along with an ability to well-represent the Cowboys’ brand.

We follow a few hopefuls, both veterans and rookies. Victoria will be auditioning for her fourth year on the squad; her mother is an ’80s alumnus of DCC, and helps coach her through her audition dance; her mother and Finglass are close friends, which makes Finglass’ job tougher, given how long she’s known Victoria.

Kelcey is fifth year candidate who juggles a full-time job as a nurse with being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. In fact, the pay inequity the cheerleaders get compared to the players on the Cowboys is a big topic of the first episode, with Charlotte Jones, daughter of team owner Jerry Jones and the team’s chief brand officer, says that to many of the squad members, the privilege of being on the squad outweighs the relatively paltry pay.

Reece, a rookie candidate, credits the pageant system and Jesus for getting her this far. Anisha, another rookie candidate, is one of the first people of Indian descent to try out for the squad.

We see the auditions, which take place in the atrium of the team’s Frisco, TX headquarters, followed by an on-field routine at AT&T Stadium. Out of the 70 hopefuls, only 45 will be chosen for training camp, and then the group will be whittled down to 35 for the season.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is more or less a follow-up to the long-running CMT reality series Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, but made by different producers in more of a docuseries format than the original show’s reality format. In essence, it’s Hard Knocks, except focusing on the cheerleaders instead of the players.

Our Take: The Hard Knocks reference seems apt to us, because America’s Sweethearts is trying to show just how hard it is to be a cheerleader for an NFL squad. Because of the iconic nature of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, the high standards and hard work any NFL cheerleading squad operates under is amplified. And this docuseries gives viewers a good look at just how, despite being a dream gig, being a DCC member can be as stressful as being a player, and for a lot less money.

What we do hope to see is more people like Kelcey, who has to juggle and put in a lot of long days in order to maintain her dream of being on the DCC. We hope that the pay discrepancy is addressed more during the series, even if it isn’t directly. We’re pretty sure the squad has a lot of people like Kelcey on it, who have careers outside of cheerleading or dance, because they not only have ambitions beyond the five or so years they have on DCC but, well, because they need to make ends meet.

The pay discrepancy issue was dealt with a little too perfunctorily in the first episode, with Charlotte Jones’ viewpoint being one that sounded pretty retrograde to us. It’s a surprise, given the fact that Jones is one of the few female owners of an American sports team (she has the title of “owner”, even though her father Jerry is more visible even in his 80s). We’re not expecting the cheerleaders to get the same millions that the players get, but given that many of the squad members properly treat being on the squad as a job, they should be paid a livable wage to do that job.

It was fun to watch the auditions, despite some of the superficial remarks by Jones, Finglass, Trammell and some of the other judges. These women don’t mess around; they’re all fantastic dancers. Whether we could tell that they “popped” or not is another matter. We also want to see more snippets of history about DCC, which we saw some of in the first episode, especially with regards to how the squad has diversified over the past 50 years.

Sex and Skin: Beyond skimpy cheerleading outfits, there’s none.

Parting Shot: Jones and Finglass start to announce the 45 women who will make the squad for training camp.

Sleeper Star: Victoria is under so much pressure, given her mother is an alumnus, and it shows on her face as she talks to the producers about making the squad again in 2023.

Most Pilot-y Line: Finglass and Trammell keep saying that one of the hopefuls needs a makeover. We didn’t see anything wrong with her, and we wonder how this hopeful is going to feel if they watch the show and see that.

Our Call: STREAM IT. While America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders isn’t going to get too dark or delve too deeply into real issues, it’s still a good behind the scenes look at how one of the most famous cheerleading squads in the world gets ready for being in the spotlight.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.