America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (TV Program)

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    ‘America’s Sweethearts’ Is a Compelling Sports Series

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    Season 2 of this docuseries about the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders is an intense look at found families and all the healing and trouble that come with them.Season 2 of the documentary series “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” on Netflix, is a bit less rah-rah than Season 1 — still full of tears, high kicks and sisterhood but also more attuned to the pain of it all, the sorrow and struggle of cobbling together one’s self-worth.One of this season’s leads is Jada, a five-year veteran of the team and among its best dancers and most thoughtful leaders. She lays out the season’s theme at the beginning: “Everyone’s going to say, ‘Well, they’re just cheerleaders,’” she says. “Well, we’re really good cheerleaders.”Her grin begins to spread. “Show us that you appreciate us,” she adds.Are the members of the team appreciated? Not with money, they’re not, and part of this season’s most invigorating arc is the cheerleaders’ quest for better pay. Season 1 brought additional fame and adulation to the team, and it also drew attention to the exploitation of the enterprise. As Kylie, another team veteran, explains: “The world was kind of telling us, ‘Girls, fight for more.’ And we’re like, ‘OK!’”As the women practice the grueling signature routine, we hear the opening strains of the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck,” over and over. But the true refrain of the season is the fretting about being in one’s own head. It’s the catchall term for all distress and self-recrimination, the explanation for any lack of confidence or lapse in perfection. Yes, performers can overthink things, especially in prolonged auditions, and rumination and anxiety are enemies to the wide smiles and sexy winks the Dallas cheerleaders’ routines require. The job is to make it look easy.But there’s an interesting tension. Your head is where the good ideas are, too — ideas like: “Hey, a lot of people are making a lot of money off my work; why doesn’t any of that go to me?” Or: “Even people who I believe have my best interests at heart can disappoint and hurt me.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘America’s Sweethearts’ Reveals 400 Percent Raise for Cowboys Cheerleaders

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      The second season of the docuseries “America’s Sweethearts” reveals the squad’s successful effort to push for greater financial stability.In what amounts to the biggest reveal of the second season of the Netflix docuseries “America’s Sweethearts,” the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will receive a pay raise of roughly 400 percent for the 2025 season.It is a huge increase in a profession known for its low wages, and one that a former cheerleader for the team, Jada McLean, described in an interview with The New York Times as “a drastic change” that could give the cheerleaders more financial security.The pay bump is announced in Episode 7 of the show’s second season, which began streaming on Wednesday. It caps a yearslong effort for higher pay that drew a great deal of attention in 2018 when the former cheerleader Erica Wilkins sued the team for unfair pay. She claimed in her lawsuit that she received roughly $7 per hour with no overtime pay and a flat rate of $200 per game, which, in total, ended up being less than the annual pay for the team’s mascot, Rowdy. Her case was settled out of court in 2019 and, since then, hourly wages for the squad remained low.Missing from the announcement of the raise in the show were any specifics of what the cheerleaders were making previously, or how much they would be paid under their new deal.But in a rare instance of a Cowboys cheerleader, past or present, discussing her compensation, Ms. McLean told The Times that in 2024, her fifth year with the squad, she had made $15 an hour and $500 for each appearance, and that compensation varies based on experience. With the increased wages, she said veteran cheerleaders could now be making more than $75 an hour. The new contract also changes the structure around pay for game day and other appearances, though Ms. McLean said it still does not provide health insurance.In an emailed statement, the franchise would not confirm the new wages or if the new rates apply to rookies on the team as well.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘We Were Liars,’ Plus 7 Things to Watch on TV This Week

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      The adaptation of E. Lockhart’s Y.A. horror novel comes to Prime Video, and “The Gilded Age” returns for a third season.Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are airing or streaming this week, June 16-22. Details and times are subject to change.Managing familial expectations.In 2014 E. Lockhart released her young adult psychological horror novel “We Were Liars.” Nearly a decade later the book, after making its rounds on #BookTok, is now coming to small screens as a series with the same name. It follows Cadence Sinclair (Emily Alyn Lind), who returns to her family’s summer home in Beechwood, a fictional island off Martha’s Vineyard, two years after a mysterious incident that left her with amnesia. Three generations of the old-money Sinclair family gather, along with some of Cadence’s childhood friends, and it seems that everyone is keeping some type of secret. Streaming Wednesday on Prime Video.Based on Edith Wharton’s posthumously released and incomplete novel, “The Buccaneers” is back for its second installment. The first season focused on five young women, part of the upper echelon of 1870s high society, who were trying to find their purpose. These new episodes, which feature Leighton Meester in a guest role, will be a little bit more serious, with a focus on motherhood, abusive husbands and will-they-won’t-they relationship arcs. Streaming Wednesday on Apple TV+.If you miss the comfy and cozy atmosphere of “Dawson’s Creek,” you are in luck because the creator Kevin Williamson is back with a new show, “The Waterfront,” which actually takes place in North Carolina (“Dawson’s Creek,” though filmed there, was set in Massachusetts). The series follows the Buckley family, who once ruled the town with their fishing and restaurant businesses but are now struggling to keep things afloat after the patriarch (Holt McCallany) had two heart attacks. Streaming Thursday on Netflix.Every so often my hometown, Troy, N.Y., gets transformed into 1880s moneyed Manhattan with temporary regal facades on every building, gravel on the roads, countless horses milling about — oh, and with the principal cast members of “The Gilded Age” taking up residence to film a new season. This week the third one, which will feature lots of twist and turns, according to one of its stars, Louisa Jacobson, comes to small screens. And, of course, the usual promises of betrothal, household chaos and marriages of opportunity will continue. Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and streaming on Max.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More