The locale is 55 miles too far west.
     Hollywood should be the spot for what is a ready-made soap opera. Even Cowboys owner Jerry Jones describes his roster as a "great cast of characters."

No kidding.
       This version of "Dallas" features the handsome quarterback (Tony Romo) and the starlet girlfriend (Jessica Simpson) who recently wrote a song about her squeeze called, "You're My Sunday." Terrell Owens is the flamboyant wide receiver who adores the spotlight. There's the disgruntled (wideout Terry Glenn), the delinquent (still-suspended cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones) and the "deer-in-the-headlights" (which is how Cowboys cornerback Terrence Newman has described embattled strong safety Roy Williams' reaction to some pass plays).

         The ensemble includes 14 other players with Pro Bowl pedigree and the beleaguered head coach who has to massage all these egos for team success.

     There is even the real-life embodiment of J.R. Ewing in Jones. The former oilman has doled out more than $80 million in guaranteed contracts this offseason trying to recapture the prize that has eluded him for the past 12 seasons.

       "We wouldn't have committed the money had we not had the expectations that we have a chance to be the best," Jones said at a Thursday news conference. "We all know what 'best' means — the very best."

    But unlike in previous years when predicting his team's fortune, Jones says he won't use the two words that epitomize being the NFL's best.

   "Maybe I've lost my credibility in that area about saying we're going to go to the Super Bowl," a laughing Jones said. "We all know if I could just think it and get it done, we wouldn't be sitting here as interested in what we're doing."

    This preseason drama began in earnest Thursday when the Cowboys arrived at the nearby Point Mugu naval air station. Of all the football talent on that monstrous charter, who should step out first?

    Four Cowboys cheerleaders with pom-poms shaking.

    Once deplaned, players were swarmed by media while walking to a meet-and-greet for military members and their families.

    "We didn't have anything like this in Miami," said awe-struck linebacker Zach Thomas, who spent the previous 12 seasons playing for the Dolphins.

    Thomas and his new teammates spent an hour mingling with roughly 1,000 fans inside the hangar base of the famed VR-55 "Minutemen." Hundreds waited in line for an autograph at the table where Romo and a bouncy blonde cheerleader — no, not Simpson — were stationed.

    Befitting of a team considered the trailblazers in maximizing all revenue streams, Cowboys merchandise was being sold at a small table. One fan, though, found his own way of expressing Cowboys love: A giant homemade red-and-white striped popcorn box that paid homage to Owens and his kernel-inspired touchdown celebration.

    "You've got the team, the quarterback, the receiver, the running back. This is what you want," J.J. Jiminez said. "Give me the second round of the playoffs, at least."

    That won't be good enough for Dallas, not after the Cowboys lost at home in the second round last season to a team — the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants — they had beaten twice in the regular season. Cowboys tight end Jason Witten admitted the expectations surrounding the Cowboys are "totally high, higher than they've ever been before. There's a lot of pressure with that."

    So why would Jones heap even more attention onto his club by once again giving HBO unlimited training camp access for its "Hard Knocks" show? Jones insists the ancillary benefits — particularly team exposure — far outweigh any behind-the-scenes drama that might unfold on camera.

     "I've never thought on the basis that what went on off the field relative to attention, celebrity and that type of thing had one thing to do with how somebody blocks, tackles, throws or runs with the football," Jones said.

    Romo should be relieved.

     He was publicly savaged for having taken a quick getaway with Simpson to a Mexican resort the weekend before the Giants loss. Romo became the symbol of a Cowboys squad that appeared far too laid back entering the playoffs after a 12-1 start.

Coach Wade Phillips still continues to insist that wasn't the case, telling one reporter during a Thursday news conference that he was "making something out of not a whole lot." Phillips grew increasingly irked at questions asking what lessons could be learned from his first season as Cowboys head coach and whether such a collapse was preventable, which infers he wasn't stern enough with his players.

"Everybody comes up with reasons," Phillips said. "It happened. We're going to move on. Hopefully we learn from it.

"This isn't last year's team. It's this year's team. I think that's where you go."

Or else Phillips may go, especially with the NFL's highest paid coordinator (offensive wunderkind Jason Garrett) waiting in the wings. It's yet another storyline for a franchise that Jones proudly touts as the "No. 1 television team in (U.S.) sports."

Whether that's for the right or wrong reasons will be evident soon enough.