`ALL AMERICAN’ KID,
Kid from inner city recruited for Beverly Hills football team in ‘All American’
With a story about a teen from the wrong side of the tracks going to live with a rich family in Los Angeles, “All American” bears more than a passing resemblance to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
But in just a few episodes, the CW drama from executive producer Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “Supergirl”) is actually more like “Beverly Hills, 90210” than its own sequel series “90210” ever came close to, with a splash of “Friday Night Lights” tossed in.
Spencer James (Daniel Ezra, “Prime Suspect 1973”) is a star football player at South Crenshaw High and a guy good at running interference with the gangs who rule his neighborhood, especially to protect his best friend Coop (Bre-Z, “Empire”), his mother, Grace (Karimah Westbrook), and his little brother Dillon (Jalyn Hall, “The House with a Clock in its Walls”). The memory of his father walking out on the family fuels Spencer's simmering anger.
When high school football coach Billy Baker (Taye Diggs, “Empire”) wants Spencer to play for him on his Beverly Hills team, Spencer turns him down, then reconsiders when his mother reminds him he has an opportunity that could lead to the NFL.
A bus ride to a foreign world later, “All American” establishes an intriguing romantic quadrangle between Spencer, Olivia (Boston native Samantha Logan, “13 Reasons Why”), the coach's compassionate but troubled daughter Leila (Greta Onieogou, “Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters”), the It Girl on campus, and her easily riled boyfriend Asher (Cody Christian, “Teen Wolf”). Spencer also makes a fast enemy of the team's star quarterback, Jordan (Michael Evans Behling), who just happens to be the coach's son. Jordan's scheming backfires mightily and leads to Spencer becoming the Bakers' newest houseguest.
Spencer has a lot to deal with, including racist boosters for the team, hazing from his teammates and his fears that the gangs in Compton are making inroads on the people he cares about, especially Coop, a lesbian who is not out to her parents.
As if that weren't enough, “All American” drops a twist that suggests Billy has an ulterior motive for adding Spencer to his team.
According to CW, the series is inspired by the life story of NFL player Spencer Paysinger, and boy, after this show, you are going to have questions.
“All” gathers a charismatic cast, even if some look like they belong in high school about as much as I do. Logan is especially strong as a young woman searching for her own redemption.
But having established some prickly relationships in its first two outings, “All” fumbles some story continuity in its third episode (airing Oct. 24) with a seeming revision in the fractured friendship between Olivia and Leila.
“I gotta fight for every damn step I gotta take,” Spencer tells Billy. “All American” presents a journey everyone can invest in.