Bring it On.

So according to a survey that came out today ranking the "meanest airlines," my good buddies over at Delta Airlines "won." Hard to believe, I know, but I had to mention it.

Unrelated to Delta, at my friend Diana's prompting, I checked out the new Sherlock series on PBS, and within a matter of minutes, I was hooked. If you didn't see it, go to the website and watch it immediately. It's seriously the best thing I've seen on TV since Friday Night Lights premiered, even though of course it's completely different. If you're interested, go to pbs.org.

And unrelated to that, today I discovered that I'm behind on the new season of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders show, one of my many reality TV guilty pleasures, but I breathed a sigh of relief to learn that the episodes are being re-aired this weekend, so all was not lost. If you don't know me well, you're probably shocked that I would stoop so low. If you know me well, however, you're probably not that surprised that I would watch the DCC show because, let's face it--my standards for TV are not that high.

I should say that I'm not a Dallas Cowboys fan, nor am I a cheerleading fan, but OMG, the show is so good! The director of the DCC organization is this woman named Kelli Finglass, a former DCC herself who's always immaculately groomed and REALLY intimidating. Kelli plays bad cop to choreographer Judy Trammell's good cop while they weed out the undesirables from the hundreds of girls who audition and then take the final 45 hopefuls into training camp and then cut 9 more for the final squad. The fact that I know all this without having to wikipedia anything, I realize, is kind of sad...and yet kind of awesome.

What's even sadder and much less awesome is that I will eagerly watch marathons of this show without batting an eyelash even though the show goes against everything I stand for. To wit, one of the highlights of the season is the make-over episode; another highlight is the very public body fat test; yet another highlight is the uniform-fitting. To become Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, the girls have to fit into the uniforms which Kelli likes to say are "unforgiving." No kidding. The girls are forced to squeeze into the uniforms and are then personally scrutinized by Kelli. She even pokes and prods them. The girls who don't look good in the uniform get the ol' raised eyebrow and then have to have a meeting with Kelli in her office in which she says things like, "You're thick around the middle; you need to lose 8 pounds by next week" or "Why are you so flabby?" The funny thing is that I find myself totally agreeing with her assessment of these 115-lb girls, thinking, "Yeah, that girl is so fat. She's got to go."

Anyhoo, if you're like me and secretly like to watch certain 2nd-rate reality shows like Tough Love or The Next Coyote Ugly, check your TV listings for the DCC show--you won't be sorry. Well, actually, you might be sorry afterward when you realize you've wasted several hours of your life, but while you're watching it, you won't notice. You'll be too busy realizing that cheerleading really is a sport and wondering why you never knew that before. And like any true American, you'll find yourself picking favorites and rooting for Kelli to select the underdog cheerleaders, the girls who've overcome obstacles to perfect their high kicks and to live out their dreams of cheering in front of millions in short shorts and cowboy boots. But here's a word of advice from a veteran watcher of the show--don't hitch your wagon to the oh-so-fat cheerleaders. They never make it, and you'd just be setting yourself up for disappointment.