The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are headed to Netflix! The new series, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, will chronicle the squad, led by director Kelli Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell, from the start of the season to the very end.
Fans will recall the beloved series, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, which ran from 2006 to 2021 on CMT and chronicled the DCC audition process. TV Insider spoke with Finglass, Trammell, and current cheerleaders about how the Netflix series differs from the CMT one.
“There are big differences,” Finglass said. “It’s mainly access. The show has access to the personal lives of the cheerleaders. It’s not scripted when they’re following Reece [Weaver], Kelcey [Wetterberg], and Victoria [Kalina], and we’re not involved. Maybe the girls are more comfortable talking about their personal lives, their personal victories, personal struggles, and it doesn’t just stop at the auditions.”
She added, “We’re so proud that people get to see all of football season, our holiday season, our Christmas show, some of our special concert performances. You see it all the way through the end of people saying goodbye to each other at the end of the season. It’s a full story instead of just a preview.”
Finglass also teased that the show will feature a “huge behind-the-scenes look at our Thanksgiving Day halftime with Dolly Parton.” The longtime director admitted she was left “almost speechless” watching some of the squad’s personal stories in the series. “I’ve laughed a lot, and I’ve cried a lot,” she noted.
Since the early years of Making the Team, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have opened up new avenues for hopefuls to audition. “We have online auditions for our first two rounds, so that gives an opportunity for more women to be able to come try out because it’s expensive to travel back and forth to Dallas,” Trammell said. “We have ladies all over the world this year that are auditioning. One from Australia, Japan, Mexico, so it gives them a more affordable option to try out for the team.”
Having such unfiltered access to the team will allow viewers to get to know these dazzling performers who take to the field at AT&T Stadium during football season.
Kalina pointed out that viewers are going to see that she and her teammates do more than just “shake our poms poms and do a kick line. Outside of that, we all have our special, unique technique dance qualities that we have and that’s really gonna show and be displayed in our new series.”
Watch our full interview above.
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Series Premiere, June 20, Netflix