READY, OKAY! Stumble, a single-camera mockumentary comedy, premieres on NBC Friday, November 7 with a few backflips and a split. Starring Jenn Lyon as Courtney Potter, Stumble follows an elite cheer coach at Sammy Davis Senior Junior College (SDSJC) who aims to end her coaching career as the most “winningest” cheer coach in college history. However, a video of her crossing professional boundaries with her cheer captains lands her in the hot seat with her current institution, leading to her firing. This setback forces her to take a job coaching at a struggling junior college in a town no one can pronounce in Oklahoma.
Stumble was created by the brother-sister writing team Jeff and Liz Astrof. This series was inspired by the 2020-2022 Netflix docuseries Cheer, however, the sibling duo wanted to take a lighter approach to the grueling world of competitive cheer while maintaining the heart and passion of the sport. Jeff stated
“It’s an underdog story. What we loved about the documentary Cheer was that these kids had really rough lives. We love that part of it.”
This combination of humor and heart are the highlight of Stumble’s identity—delivering the truth of one of the most dangerous sports in existence. Stumble cast includes Jenn Lyon, Taran Killam, Jarret Austin Brown, Ryan Pinkston, Anissa Borrego, Arianna Davis, Taylor Dunbar, and Georgie Murphy. It also starts Kristin Chenoweth as a recurring guest star.
New Dog, Old Tricks
Courteney has a short window to assemble a brand new team and get them ready for State competition. However, her reputation as an elite cheer coach hits many roadblocks in Oklahoma. Her new team presents her with an humbling lesson that you are never elite enough to ignore going back to the basics to build a team from the ground up. Courteney’s husband and high school sweetheart, Boone E. (Taran Killam), reminds her of this fact. She finds that in order to get her team to believe in their own grit, she must tap into her own and provide the space for them to teach her as much as she teaches them.
On the surface, this motley crew looks the exact opposite of a team that will make Courteney the most “winningest” coach in history but, to her shock, their diverse lifestyles and unique abilities make these underdogs the perfect group to rehab her reputation. They consist of a football player, a narcoleptic, a 37 year-old manager, a felon, and TikTok dancers. In a new town with a new team, Courteney must call on all of her creative resources to take this team from the gravel to the mat, one stumble at a time.
Second Chances Don’t Come Easy
Within this hilarious telling of cheer culture lies something pure. One of key themes of Stumble that attributes to the purity of the storytelling is the foundation of trust that must be there in a sport where your life is literally in the hands of the people around you. A team this diverse—a team of individuals who maybe never had anyone they could fully trust—must rely on one another for safety and for collective success. Success for them all, including Courteney, is rooted in redemption and the opportunity for second chances—to make new choices that create better outcomes for the future.
This balance of humor and grit makes this mockumentary fill fresher than its predecessors. The commentary is natural, the comedic timing is perfect, and the environment of cheer feels authentic making Stumble a show that everyone in the home can enjoy.
Stumble premieres Friday, November 7 at 8:30/7:30p on NBC. Check out the trailer below.