Late in the second episode of NBC ’s college cheerleading mockumentary, Stumble , elite coach Courteney ( Jenn Lyon ) addresses her squad. “Now, when I look at this team, I see grit, determination, heart,” she says. “That’s what people are going to want to be here to be part of.”

As pep talks go, it’s boilerplate — nothing you haven’t heard already in a million other underdog sports stories, often in more creative or stirring language. But it feels off in this one, like the setup for a joke you only belatedly realize isn’t a joke at all.

Late in the second episode of NBC ’s college cheerleading mockumentary, Stumble , elite coach Courteney ( Jenn Lyon ) addresses her squad. “Now, when I look at this team, I see grit, determination, heart,” she says. “That’s what people ar

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