All American

American works because the writers often push its predictable plot lines further than you'd expect. ... The casting is excellent, and Ezra is a brilliant find as a relatively unknown British actor (not that you'd know: his American accent is impeccable).

All American is an interesting mix of the California-as-utopia teen drama--so many shirtless boys!--and a more nuanced exploration of the intersection between race and class. [5 Oct 2018, p.36]

It's got some good, likable performances and a truly promising lead in Daniel Ezra, and that's enough for a conditional recommendation, though through three episodes I'm not sure All American is settling into its own identity with any real authority.

As pilots go, the show feels inordinately polished, from the casting to the little twists that emerge along the way.

Yes, you've seen All American before, but despite its cliches, the first three episodes The CW sent to us in advance deem All American an engrossing, timely and relevant high school drama with loads of potential.

All American tends to have more ideas, and sharper ways of expressing them, in Crenshaw than in Beverly Hills — particularly a subplot about Spencer’s dearest friend from home, a butch young lesbian (“Empire” standout Bre-Z) whose religious mother can’t accept her daughter’s truth. But since so much of the action takes place in Beverly Hills, this is a bit of a stumbling block; the show needs to decide what about that milieu is worth our attention.

All-American has overtones of NBC’s exemplary Friday Night Lights, but so far is not in its class.

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.

It’s a well-made teen drama pilot that traffics (mildly) in some social issues and ends with a welcome, soapy wallop.

All American is not a revelation on the TV landscape, but maybe it’s a step forward in reviving a genre that could use some refreshing. The series isn’t yet as good or groundbreaking as some of its teen drama forebears, but it’s interesting and entertaining enough to deserve the chance to get there.

The players are all very pretty, the better for the target demographic to dream upon, and there are swimming pools and oceanside workouts to make that crystal clear. 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. One exception is Bre-Z, who is interesting out of the box as Coop, Spencer's not completely out gay best friend.

All American really fails to engage above the Barbie Dream House level. The cast is more than decent—Ezra will doubtless be the Next Big Thing among the post-Bieber generation—but the writing is pretty mundane. I found myself longing for the luscious Summer Roberts of The O.C., who once defended wistfully insisted, "I'm not that dumb, I'm just shallow." We'll see if All American viewers will settle for half a loaf.

It’s all pretty schematic in the premiere, but I’m hoping more subtlety will creep in going forward.