All American (TV series)
All American is an American sports drama television series, created by April Blair that premiered on The CW on October 10, 2018. The series is inspired by the life of professional American football player Spencer Paysinger with Daniel Ezra in the lead role. In January 2020, The CW renewed the series for a third season which premiered on January 18, 2021. In February 2021, the series was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on October 25, 2021. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a fifth season. Premise. "When a rising high school American  football player from South L.A. is recruited to play for Beverly Hills High, the wins, losses and struggles of two families from vastly different worlds—Crenshaw and Beverly Hills—begin to collide. Inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger." Production. Development. In September 2017, it was announced that The CW veteran Greg Berlanti had two pilots in development for the network, one of them inspired by the life of NFL football player Spencer Paysinger. It was also revealed that April Blair would write and executive produce the untitled project, with Berlanti and Sarah Schechter executive producing. A  pilot for the potential series, then called "Spencer", was ordered in January 2018. The pilot was ordered to series on May 11, 2018. On October 2, 2018, it was reported that Blair had stepped down as showrunner due to "personal reasons" and was subsequently replaced with co-executive producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll, who was also made an executive producer. On October 8, 2018, The CW ordered five additional scripts for the series. On November 8, 2018, it was announced that The CW had ordered an additional three episodes of the series, bringing the first season total up to 16 episodes . On April 24, 2019, it was reported that The CW renewed the series for a second season. The second season premiered on October 7, 2019. On October 8, 2019, The CW ordered three more episodes for the show's second season. On January 7, 2020, the series was renewed for a third season which is set to premiere on January 18, 2021. On February 3, 2021, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season which premiered on October 25, 2021. On March 22, 2022, The CW renewed the series for a fifth season. Casting. On February 22, 2018, Taye  Diggs was cast as Billy Baker, followed a week later with Samantha Logan cast as Olivia Baker, his daughter. The rest of the cast was filled out through mid-March with Bre-Z and Greta Onieogou cast on March 15, 2018 as characters Tamia Cooper and Layla Keating, respectively, with Monet Mazur, Michael Evans Behling, and Cody Christian cast the next day, to play Laura Fine-Baker, Olivia's mother; Jordan Baker, Olivia's brother; and Asher, respectively. Karimah Westbrook was cast as Grace James on March 19, 2018 and British actor Daniel Ezra was cast in the lead role  of Spencer James on March 21, 2018. On May 31, 2018, Jalyn Hall was promoted to a series regular as Dillon, Spencer's little brother. On October 1, 2020, Chelsea Tavares was promoted to series regular for the third season. On October 4, 2021, Hunter Clowdus was promoted to series regular for the fourth season. Filming. Filming for the series takes place in Los Angeles, California. The pilot was filmed during the first quarter of 2018. Filming for season one began the following July. Filming took place in Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles known as South  Crenshaw High School in the series. Reception. Critical response. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 92%, based on 25 reviews, and an average rating of 6.92/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""All American"'s ambitious attempts to tackle class struggles and classroom drama largely play thanks to its winning cast—an auspicious start to a promising new series". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second season has a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 8.75/10. Release. In New Zealand, "All American" is aired as a web-only series on TVNZ OnDemand. It released the same episode as the US at 8pm Thursdays (NZDT), 5 hours after it is aired in the US, during season one. Season two was released on the same day as the US at 7pm Tuesdays (NZDT), 4 hours after it is aired in the USA. Season three was released on the same day as the US at 8pm Tuesdays (NZDT), 4 hours after it is aired in the  USA. Spin-off. On December 18, 2020, it was announced that The CW is in early development of a backdoor pilot for a spin-off of Geffri Maya's character Simone Hicks reprising her role from "All American". On February 1, 2021, The CW gave the spin-off a pilot order and titled it as "". On March 29, 2021, Peyton Alex Smith, Cory Hardrict, Kelly Jenrette, Sylverser Powell, Netta Walker, and Camille Hyde were cast to star in the pilot. On May 24, 2021, "All American: Homecoming" was picked up to series. The backdoor pilot aired on July 5, 2021  as part of the third season of "All American". The series is scheduled to premiere on February 21, 2022. On December 16, 2021, Mitchell Edwards who recurs as Cam Watkins on "All American" is set to reprise his role on this series as a series regular.