OT America’s Sweethearts

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Netflix has seemed to go all in on the cheerleading front with the America’s Sweethearts doc and I’m excited.



Hopefully after this they’ll get paid a liveable wage. It’s insulting that the program demands so much of their time, energy, and money and gives them minimum wage in return. Because “opportunities” or whatever.

I think the Cowboys franchise thought this would be a good piece of fluff for people to enjoy. Like in the “oh look how hard these girls work aren’t they adorable” kind of way. “Look how much they’re willing to do because they love the Cowboys so much.” But instead they only managed to piss people off.

 

[morganontheweekends]

I'm very excited to watch this! I loooooooved DCC: Making the Team and I was so upset when CMT cancelled it. The style looks quite different, less "reality TV". The last few seasons of MTT almost seemed scripted imo with the super dramatic cuts and random country singer guest stars. I've been waiting until my day off (this Saturday!!) to watch it so I can binge it in one day. Apparently, the show goes all the way until the end of the season. MTT usually ended with the preseason. There was one season that went into regular season and showed the behind the scenes of their Thanksgiving halftime practice, that was always one of my favorite seasons. Also, a handful of SOT and CA alumni have been on MTT, it was always fun seeing former all-star cheerleaders.

The wage thing was always a hot topic on the primetimer forums. I agree they should get paid more, but I don't have my hopes up. IIRC, there was a girl who sued and got them to increase their pay a few years ago (it was Erica, she was on the team for a few years) but it's still not a livable wage.

 

[WinstonsGirl]

I'm a die hard MTT watcher, so I loved that this came out. But I wasn't as big of a fan. I get that it was following the entire season, but all the episodes seemed kind of disjointed, and there didn't seem to be an 'end goal'. MTT was making the team. Cheer was who will win Daytona, and following athletes on how they got there and pushed through. This one seems to skip around a lot more, and jump from people to people with only some consistent characters. But maybe I wanted more of some people and less of others?

On a side note, I've been a Victoria fan since her second season/comeback (she was way too young and immature her first season) and I almost cried over her in this series. Poor girl really broke my heart with all she has been through and she needs to move on and find her true happy self. She deserves better than how she's been treated for sure

 

[Keep_Believing]

Directed by the same guy who directed the netflix "cheer" series. I enjoyed watching it. I am afraid if I share my feedback I'll give away spoilers. LOL

 

[catlady]

Guilty pleasure was MTT, so I was looking forward to A'sS. I enjoyed seeing the auditions and the elimination process of MTT, but also, could see how it could take a toll on mental health. I truly appreciated seeing sisterhood instead of female drama in A'sS. @WinstonsGirl, I agree, I couldn't help but be sad for Victoria throughout the series, she seemed lost and lonely, and her relationship with her mom, very co-dependent.

The lightbulb...I never really thought much about the business side of NFL cheerleaders, but as soon as they said the DCC Org runs as its own profit center, everything fell into place. The Cowboy Org can "charge" the DCC Org for their facility usage, utility percentage, dollar per sq ft for dressing rooms, office space, sports med, media personel, transportation, etc. Bottom line, things the Cowboy Org would still have to pay for when not in use, they can "charge" the DCC Org for their usage. The DCC Org risk and liability wouldn't fall directly under the NFL team brand, and by calling the DCC's brand embassadors, they don't fall under wage laws. While DCC can make additional money via personal appearances, the DCC Org being its own profit center can also profit or lose (tax write offs) from those appearances, but more importantly from the NFL Team Org perspective, they can charge the DCC Org for any of their staff/transportation being used for those personal appearances (again, they would have to pay them anyhow). If all NFL teams are running their cheerleading orgs as their own profit center, the day they are required to pay them as staff will be the day they will no longer exist. These cheerleaders are not just working like dogs for their measly wage, but they are helping to pay the facility/utility/bus/staff bills for these NFL teams.

 

[morganontheweekends]

My brain is too jumbled to write a cohesive paragraph, so I'm going to make bullet points.

- I like that they still do the first and second round virtually. I always felt bad for the girls on MTT who missed their proms and graduations to travel all the way to Dallas and then not make it past the first round.

- I'm nosey and I wish they gave us some actual numbers for what they get paid. It sucks that they get paid so little, but I think most of these girls see DCC as an experience akin to being in a sorority and less as a job.

- I found an article from women's health that says they make about $10,000/season. I'm sure all of that goes back into keeping up their DCC appearance.

- I sympathize with Kat and Caroline feeling stuck after DCC. So many of them get engaged, married, start having babies, move on to dance/coaching jobs or other careers right after retiring. I totally get what it's like seeing all of your friends move on to the next chapter in their personal and professional lives, and you're just not there yet.

- I liked orthodontist.

- It always drives me nuts when they bring girls into training camp and cut them after a few days for kicks. They kick at auditions! Surely they should have been able to tell that those two girls didn't have kicks up to DCC standards at finals.

- I feel bad for Victoria. That was sad about how her dad and brothers never went to a recital. She's had so much pressure to become a DCC, I wonder if she even enjoyed her time on the team. I think she gets a lot of internet hate because people don't like her mother and they take it out on her. I hope she moves away from DCCland and her mom for a while.

- They've had the same practice wear for a few years now. For a while they had different practice wear every year. I wonder if they reuse practice wear from the cut TCCs and retiring vets.

- I liked seeing them go into regular season, and I liked seeing the banquet, but I think I miss when the focus was heavily on training camp, dancing, and performances. I loved Cheer, but I'm not sure if I'm feeling this same documentary style for DCC.

- It was great seeing Kristy and Shelly. I just really like both of them.

- It was nice hearing them talk about Suezanne Mitchell. There's a really good documentary called Daughters of the Sexual Revolution about her and the early days of DCC, I highly recommend it.

- I had no idea about Madeline's dad, that's awful.

- I don't understand why they have decided that having more than 36 means one has to be an alternate. There was a season of MTT where 39 made the team and everybody danced. Whatever the reason is, I'm glad they didn't have an alternate. One of the last seasons of MTT, they did 36 + 1 as an alternate and I thought it must suck to have to fight for your spot on the field each week and then one person is just in the locker room the whole game.