“We have put together the most disciplined teams to ever take the mat,” plucky coach Courteney Potter (Jenn Lyon, Justified) declares to the camera in Stumble‘s series premiere. On cue, her current squad’s pyramid formation collapses.
Courteney’s fallen much further in the high-stakes world of competitive cheerleading. In the opener, she loses her job at the well-funded Sammy Davis Senior Junior College in Texas after a racy video from a victory party surfaces. Her new gig is 80 miles away—in Oklahoma at Heådltston State Junior College (the pronunciation is a running joke), where the quirky small-town pride centers on a candy button factory. Courteney, whose mantra is “I can, I will, I must,” assembles a misfit squad, the Buttons. Her goal: victory at the College Nationals in Daytona Beach so that she can be the winningest cheer coach in junior college history, a position for which she’s currently tied.
“When you’re a competitive person, being tied for anything is just a fate worse than death. She’s got to make her life count for something,” says Lyon, who was on her high school JV cheer squad as a “base,” tossing teammates skyward. “It’s fast-paced. She’s driven, hits the ground running, and she’s got a team [that woeful collapsing pyramid] by the end of Episode 1.” Check out a bit of that in the above-embedded exclusive clip of the quirky coach in action.
If this story seems familiar but delightfully askew, it is. It was inspired by the popular Netflix documentary Cheer, an obsession of creators Liz Astrof (2 Broke Girls) and her brother Jeff (Shining Vale). The doc’s demanding mama bear coach, Monica Aldama, is an executive producer and even appears briefly in the premiere as a tracksuit-clad assistant. Lyon dons Aldama’s signature look of silky button-ups, jeans, and boots, and adopts the coach’s mannerisms and vibe, saying, “It’s very rare that a person can be absolutely terrifying and very warm at the same time. Once you get to know Monica, she’s also extraordinarily maternal and kind.”
STUMBLE — “Pilot” Episode 101 — Pictured: (l-r) Kristin Chenoweth as Tammy Istiny, Monica Aldama as Monica — (Photo by: Matt Miller/NBC)
Matt Miller / NBC
The Astrof siblings got Aldama’s buy-in by promising the comedy would be grounded. “Monica’s very invested in the reality. This has to be accepted by the cheer world. This can’t be a spoof. She’s like, ‘Y’all are not doing Bring It On,’” says executive producer Jeff Astrof, referring to the teen comedy movie franchise. To that end, each episode features thrilling routines designed by Aldama along with Cheer choreographer Dahlston Delgado. It’s a pleasure watching the Buttons and their rival squads leap, lift, spin, tumble, and let the sequins fly. You’ll be just as invested in seeing them stick the landing on their personal struggles and dreams.
Operatic drama comes from Courteney’s bestie, her Sammy Davis assistant coach Tammy Istiny (the 4-foot-11 Broadway and Glee star Kristin Chenoweth). When Courteney’s fired, she passes the poms to Tammy, who sobs and clings to her leg. Lyon says, “She’s Courteney’s best friend and would never betray her—or would she?”
Courteney’s safe space is her loyal, supportive husband and high school sweetheart, football coach Boon E. Potter (Taran Killam, High Potential), a former quarterback who has memory loss due to a hard tackle in high school that ended his collegiate dreams. “His is a one-in-a-bajillion freak accident that made his memory shrink and his heart grow in healthy ways,” says Killam, a self-declared huge football fan. “I’m pulling a little bit from Coach Taylor and Tami from Friday Night Lights. This is a story of underdogs. Life is long, and you have to start over at every age.”
STUMBLE — “Pilot” Episode 101 — Pictured: (l-r) Jenn Lyon as Courteney Potter, Taran Killam as Boon E. Potter — (Photo by: Matt Miller/NBC)
Matt Miller / NBC
The Potters have no children, but they end up parenting Courteney’s wonderfully imperfect Buttons. That roster includes the sole Heådltston cheer-team vet, narcoleptic Madonna (Arianna Davis); criminal Peaches (Taylor Dunbar); and sunny Sally (Georgie Murphy), who’s just aged out of the foster system. Courteney poaches her hubs’ troublesome player, DiMarcus (Jarrett Austin Brown), and reminds him that there is no I in team. He quietly tells the camera, “There’s a he in cheer.”
She also recruits former star student Steven (Ryan Pinkston), who’s gone to pot working at a car rental agency but still turns cartwheels; and her star flyer Krystal (Anissa Borrego), who needs convincing to trade the spiffy Texas gym for one with mold and dead possums.
The kids on the squad “don’t trust anyone. They have never been trusted,” says Liz Astrof. Rivalries heat up on the way to nationals. “Part of cheer is that you have to trust someone to catch you. That’s what they learn throughout the season.”
Stumble, Series Premiere, November 7, 8:30/7:30c, NBC
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