"Making the Team" with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, CMT Channel

I have to admit that I am a junkie and what I am addicted to is any kind of film about cheerleading. This 68-year-old lady cannot get enough of watching talented cheerleading corps. I love the tournaments and those Bring It On movies? Well, they can just keep bringing them on, as far as I am concerned. I watch cheerleaders performing with the kind of fascination borne of my own spectacular lack of talent for that sort of thing. Even when I was 45 years younger and in relatively good shape, I couldn't have been even a BAD cheerleader so it follows that I am enthralled by the expert choreography, bodies soaring fearlessly into the air, and the way someone has worked so hard to make this all look so easy.

Since I am not a football fan, I have never watched a Dallas Cowboys game and didn't get a chance to see their famous cheerleaders in action. A little truth-telling here - when I did catch rare glimpses of the gals prancing around in those white boots and itsy-bitsy outfits, I oh Lord was unfair ... I thought they were bimbettes. Well, I was wrong.

Making the Team

Every year 600 young women from all over the state of Texas surrender themselves up for a chance to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. Their hearts are set on being part of the famous squad but first they have to get by Kelli Finglass, DCC Director, and Judy Trammell, DCC Choreographer. Dying may be easy but surviving the relentless weeding out gauntlet to make it onto the DCC squad is rough. Of the 600 initial applicants, only 33 will be chosen by a gradual winnowing-out process.

First, everyone gets a chance to strut their stuff and show what they are made of in a preliminary round. Some are gifted, most are good and some ... well ... but as I watch the girls perform I am reminded of what Fred Astaire said when asked if there were still wonderful young dancers out there. The great man responded simply: "All young dancers are wonderful." That's how I feel about these girls who are offering themselves up with such hope and heart. They may not all be DCC material but they are wonderful nevertheless and Kelli, Judy (and other people involved in making these decisions) realize that. It is not easy for them to weed out the also-rans and break the bad news to them.

Of course, this makes for great reality television drama. Avidly, I eat a cookie and watch DCC hopefuls getting dieting tips, fat measurements, and frank advice on how to look good in a costume which is "as unforgiving as Hell" according to one wardrobe director quoted on the show. At the end of each episode, more hopefuls are relentlessly given the heave-ho as survivors shoulder on to endure fitness training at the hands of Jay Johnson, scrupulous, demanding choreography and coaching by Kitty Carter and Robin Mack, along with getting used to dancing in those white boots and wearing costumes which ultimately they may or may not get to keep.

The Gold Standard

Not only do newcomers have to run the gauntlet but veterans as well, who have to compete to reclaim their places on the squad that they have enjoyed in the past. Great human interest subplots are interjected here and there, i.e. identical twins hoping to be selected for the squad and Judy Trammell's talented daughter struggling to make the team. A whole lot of heartbreak and crying washes under the bridge along the way but the best of them will go on to glory.

After wading through three seasons of Making the Team, I have to admit that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are not only gorgeous but intelligent as well. Oozing personality, character, charm, class and sweetness, they are possibly "The Gold Standard" when it comes to knocking the crowd dead and acting as ambassadors of good will for their famous team.

Get Out Your Kleenix

Each season's shows conclude the same way - with the triumphant new Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders strutting their stuff at a evening dress rehearsal attended only by their emotional, cheering families and friends. You might as well get out a box of Kleenix because you will shed a few tears at the very end when, at the first game of the season, these young ladies march through the dark tunnel and out into the sunlight and the cheering crowds as the announcer introduces them ... "the often imitated but never duplicated Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders."

I think that is probably true but I am sure the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will agree that there are a lot of other great cheerleading squads out there and that they are all wonderful.

Note:

We appear to be between seasons for this show on CMT (Country Music Television). Watch the schedules for this channel because occasionally they will run a "marathon" of all the Making the Team episodes for a past season. Meanwhile, you can also view the episodes for the last season now by visiting www.CMT.com.