The CW’s ‘All American’ dreams big with one foot in South L.A., one in Beverly Hills
A teenage soap opera with sports, the CW’s “All American” is a sort of “Friday Night Lights” meets “Beverly Hills, 90210” — you can practically hear the pitch — with a largely African American cast. That it is “inspired by a true story,” with much of it set (unusually for a broadcast network teen drama) in South L.A., does not make it any less a work of glossy fictional television. There are ways you can look at that as progress.
Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) is a football phenom playing for the mythical South Crenshaw High and an excellent if occasionally distracted student with a supportive mother, Grace (Karimah Westbrook), and a little brother, Dillon (Jalyn Hall), living on the margins in a well-kept house. His father is absent, having gone years before “to coach college ball in Nevada,” never to have been heard from again. That is Spencer’s Big Issue.
One night, post-game, Spencer is approached by Billy Baker (Taye Diggs), the coach of Beverly (as in Hills) High, who wants Spencer to come play for his struggling team, though recruiting is technically against the rules. That Spencer’s game-winning touchdown coincided with a driveby shooting just outside the stadium is a selling point. Plus, as a former pro himself — also from the neighborhood — with a career ended early by injury, Baker promises access to people who can provide Spencer access to the NFL. Also: a rich kid’s education.
Spencer has taken the coach up on his offer and arrived at Beverly High; made friends with Olivia (Samantha Logan), who turns out to be the coach’s daughter, the self-described “social pariah of Beverly High” (because she is sober after rehab); flirted with Layla (Greta Onieogou), described by Olivia as “Beverly High’s resident sweetheart,” first glimpsed in slow motion; made an enemy of Layla’s boyfriend, Asher (Cody Christian); and tentatively connected with Jordan (Michael Evans Behling), the coach’s son, who also happens to be the team starting quarterback and captain.
Modeled on the experiences of NFL linebacker Spencer Paysinger (New York Giants, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers) and created by April Blair (“Jane By Design”), the show wastes no time in setting up the rivalries, feuds and friendships. The players are all pretty, the better for the target demographic to dream upon. But for the moment, despite the ample drama in which they’re involved, most represent only a strategic position in the narrative flow chart, placeholders for the better developed characters that might come, eventually.
“All American” airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on The CW.