CMT Premieres ‘Kellie Pickler,’ ‘Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders’ Aug. 25

New seasons of I Love Kellie Pickler and Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team start up on CMT Aug. 25. “Docu-comedy” Kellie Pickler, about the country music singer and her husband Kyle, was CMT’s highest rated premiere among women 18-49 last year. This season, Kellie and Kyle venture to Japan and prepare for Celebrity Family Feud

CMT’s longest running original non-music series, Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders returns for its eleventh season just before Kellie Pickler. The series follows a new group of cheerleaders who compete to land a spot on the famed squad. Melissa Rycroft returns to mentor the new recruits, while Pickler makes a surprise visit to training camp.

“CMT’s unscripted series mirror the optimism and passion of our fans,” said Jayson Dinsmore, executive VP of development at CMT. “Our shows are smart, spirited and play an important role in attracting new audiences.”

CMT also announced that competition series Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge has been picked up for a new season and will premiere later this year. The series attracted more than 4 million weekly viewers last season, according to CMT. In professional wrestling circles, Austin is known as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.