All American, a CW TV show inspired by the life of NFL New York Giants linebacker, Spencer Paysinger, premiered its 5th season on Oct. 10th continuing to enchant viewers with the conflicting worlds of Beverly Hills and South Central LA.
Though the backdrop of the show is the competitive world of high school football, the show addresses a myriad of other issues including classism, rivalries, racism, and acceptance. Redditors who follow this popular TV drama have important questions, though unpopular, on the premise of the show, the controversial decisions of its main characters, and complicated relationships on the show, to name a few which are worth taking a closer look at.
10 Jordan Would Never Realistically Date Simone
All American is a show shaped and heavily influenced by the charismatic Jordan Baker, quarterback of Beverly High and son of Coach Billy Baker. The on-off relationship of Jordan with Simone Hicks, his love interest and an aspiring tennis athlete at Bringston University, sparked a lot of debate and differing opinions on Reddit. Several Redditors felt that his romantic preference would be towards white women as his mother was white, and his track recorded pointed in that direction.
As Redditor rayebans noted: "Every single girl he’s hooked up with on this show prior to these 2 girls have been white girls. Simone was the exception not the rule and that’s clear since literally 1 episode after they breakup, he immediately hooks up with white girls who looked like his mother 💀". Redditor wraththegawd noted the lack of chemistry between Jordan and Simone underlined by another Redditor panashechd who pointed out the bias some have with black men dating women of other races being simply "annoying".
9 Spencer Returning To Crenshaw Makes No Sense
The plot line in All American of Spencer making the big move from South Crenshaw High School to Beverly High and then returning in his senior year back to South Crenshaw to play against Beverly High in the championship was questioned. While Redditor FultzRevolt humorously attributed it to "Writers throwin sh** at the wall ", other s felt the move from South Crenshaw to Beverly Hills did not make much sense in the plot and was wrongly attributed to putting a spotlight on Spencer's career.
Per JalalKarimov, it was purely about behavior and did not give more attention as a sportsman: "If Crenshaw won the chip when Spencer was a junior (I mean if he stayed there) he would've gotten mad attention. The only reason they moved Spencer to Beverly was apparently so he would stop fighting".
8 April Blair Should Have Remained Show Runner of All American
In 2018, due to personal reasons, April Blair the writer, creator, and showrunner of All American stepped down to be replaced by Nkechi Okoro Carroll per Deadline. While some Redditors felt Carroll's vision was on target, others including All_Lightning879 felt that: "... April Blair should have stayed on as a consultant/co-showrunner. That’s not to diminish NK’s direction, but I think that April had an eye for direction in Season 1".
Redditors felt that as the creator, Blair shaped this successful series and that Carroll lacked the judgment, for example, in keeping certain characters on the series longer than needed. This criticism illustrates the importance of creators and how Redditors felt the need to keep the integrity of their vision for the show.
7 Spencer is Becoming Less Likeable
Redditors shared their growing dislike of the main protagonist of the show, Spencer James, complaining per Cunch5 that he had: "that damn hero complex of wanting to be that rock for everyone. Dude is weird af too." As the entire show is inspired by the life of football player Spencer Paysinger, this is a heavy allegation.
Redditors expressed their growing dislike of Spencer's character saying that it was annoying how he tried to save everyone and was intolerant of people's imperfections. This illustrates the importance of integrity in a leading character in a regular series like All American.
6 Activist Olivia Baker Is Annoying
Redditors engaged in a lively debate on the activist side of the All American character Olivia Baker, questioning her integrity on releasing her mother's bodycam video of the police shooting and doing investigative journalism to boost her own podcast.
The overwhelming sentiment expressed by Redditors was that her actions were not warranted or thoughtful of the impact they could have on Spencer or her mother (as District Attorney) in her act of stealing police footage. Per fangirll1996: "Liv literally cost Laura her JOB! All for her selfish reasons. She’s left a bad taste in my mouth ever since. " Redditors felt undue attention to his character and per Thecurlgirl17: "Girl everything is not a story."
5 Olivia's Journalism Ambition Is Selfish
The character of Olivia continued to dominate Redditor discussions especially pertaining to her attempt to spotlight problems with athlete sponsorships as a way to catapult her writing career. Per Redditor, Agreeable-Pace-9506: "When you know the article is going to directly affect two of the people who you care most about in the world. Makes 0 sense."
Several Redditors expressed their concern that the main protagonists, Spencer and Jordan could be potentially harmed by her desire to tell all, underlining the complexity of her actions and questionable likeability as a character on the show.
4 Olivia + Spencer Was Boring
Redditors commented on the mundaneness of Spencer's romantic interest for Olivia and how it actually made Jordan and Layla's romantic interests seem more interesting. Up through season 3 Spencer and Olivia seemed to have potential but as Redditor No-Shape1020 observed: "Personally I think that Olivia and Spencer storyline in this last season was repetitive af. Like it seemed like the same argument happened every episode. Very boring."
An interesting analysis by All American veered from its focus on football to Spencer and Olivia, making it a flop which was not the case of telling the story of Jordan and Layla.
3 Best Characters on All American Are Not Jordan or Spencer
Redditors seemed very vocal about the characters they liked and the ones they felt were overrated or lacked substance. Surprisingly the ing characters on All American like Laura, Grace, Dillon, Billy or Asher figured higher than the main protagonists of the series.
As Redditor All American as well as relationships seeming contrived and unnatural.
2 Billy & Grace Should Reunite
Enthusiasm for the characters Billy Baker and Grace James was apparent in comments on Reddit with the Reddit Thecurlgirl17 saying: "I’m secretly voting for billy and grace to get back together lol". Interestingly, the main romances in All American seem less well-received than the ones that did not happen such as Olivia and Spencer.
Grace is seen as a steady, positive influence always keeping in mind the well-being of her son Dillon and the community at large, so it is easy to see why Redditors would want to unite these two favorite characters on All American.
1 Corey James Was Not A Good Father
The biological father of Spencer James, Corey appeared in seasons 1 and 2 of All American and left many questions for fans and Redditors with his abrupt departure from his family in season 2. His death from lymphoma and identity as the father of Dillon triggered mixed reservations from Redditor 5891CFAE: "Writers gave him a because he was sick. But in reality, he ruined 3 lives. If Spence wasn't a football prospect he would be a regular kid without a father in his life for the majority of his childhood all because of his mom and Corey's relationship issues". His tragic end did not appear to compensate for his actions towards his family and the overall feeling of injustice to the loved characters on All American.