The Bring It On movies will always be classic but … the sport of cheerleading is the backdrop for two new TV series starting in 2020. Interestingly, both USA Network and Netflix, the producers of the new shows, have no connection with the Bring It On franchise.
For people who don’t have direct involvement in cheerleading, they probably learned all they know about cheer from the six Bring It On movies released in 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2017.
Dare Me is a weekly series that has been placed in the mystery-thriller genre. The setting is a high school cheerleading team in Ohio. The plot and characters are based on a novel by the same name written by Megan Abbott. The series debuted on Dec. 29, 2019, and is scheduled for Sunday evenings on Netflix. Dare Me was filmed in Toronto.
Meanwhile Netflix created its own docu-series called Cheer. Cheer is apparently filmed from the fly-on-the-wall point of view as a real-life cheer team at Navarro College in Texas prepares for a competition in Daytona, Fla. The plot follows the struggles of individual cheerleaders and the roller-coaster of team dynamics as they face the challenges of competitive college cheerleading.
These two series have a clear purpose, and both portray the sport as serious athletic commitment. Both shows focus on the intense physicality of the sport and the strength, flexibility, and skill involved. And both series ultimately portray cheerleading as a metaphor for life: support from people around you is needed so life does not crumble down.
