Cheer - Season 1

Cheer's hardworking, eager-to-please athletes are indeed transcendent. But Cheer doesn't let their victories shine.

The appeal of Cheer lies in the tension between pity and awe, pain and beauty, strength and vulnerability. The series holds that tension in its title, which can be read as both a plain descriptive and a more sinister imperative: Don't forget to smile!

As much as it salutes the various breakthroughs that Navarro team members make, "Cheer" is certainly not blind to the consequences that come with such a full commitment to a single pursuit.

I found the series utterly engrossing, just perhaps not in the way its marketing suggests. I did see the hard work, the dedication, and the benefits of giving people a place to belong and to work hard. But I also saw something darker.

Director Greg Whiteley crafts the narrative in a way that makes the audience feel intimately involved in their lives.

There's no competitive cheerleading beyond college level, which casts an elegiac tone over the show, and makes the team's dedication all the more striking.

Cheer is a great-looking, eye-opening and often quite moving series that taught me - incontrovertibly - that the greatest athletes in a football stadium are not always the ones running between the lines.

Has much to say about the culture of the United States. [Full review in Spanish]

Audiences are craving authentic storytelling, and Cheer gives these incredible athletes a platform to be real and raw - and gets you rooting for them.

Yes, sure, it's a documentary about cheerleaders. But it's also about moving past childhood trauma and finding salvation through sport. And it's already one of the year's best shows...

Despite this being a niche sport not a lot of people care about, the moving backstories and intricate interpersonal dynamics on Cheer make for compulsive viewing.

Winning is the hook, but friendship and belonging are a drug. Cheer does nothing to disabuse me of that understanding.