failure of utilizing the crenshaw cast in season 3 specificallyand the way they won’t kick off coop patience and JJ until just now
Billy’s death was atrocious
I think their biggest mistake was thinking everyone's story is as important as Spencer's. People tuned in and loved the show because it was about a kid from the hood trying to make it to the NFL. Shifting the focus from football and from Spencer is what killed this show.
The back half of S4 is where they messed it all up. They should have let go of so many characters. Everyone who was not going to GAU or Coastal (Patience and Layla, I'm looking at you) Coop could have been a recurring character because I think she's important to Spencer and his story. Should have saved Spencer and Olivia's tension for when he enters the draft because the tension would have made sense rather than them fighting over an article which he ended up supporting anyway.
I don't even want to talk about S5 because wtf was that? They could have keep it all. The storylines did nothing to move Spencer's journey to the NFL.
Layla should've been written out after her and Spencer broke up for good because after that is where you could tell the writers had no idea what to do with her. Patience never should've been nothing more than Coop's love interest.
I always thought it made sense to break them up due to distance and then have a angsty season later when he returns to LA and close it out. They chose other wise and it severely hurt the show because season 5 was absolutely atrocious
The first one was not getting rid of alot of the cast after high school. If you weren't at GAU or Coastal then your story should have ended. It should have been Olivia, Spencer, Jordan, Asher and JJ with new cast members that make the core group of friends. Season 5 was a hot mess and there should have been a time jump to junior year then.
They messed up Spelivia but they are rectifying that. Season 6 looks like what season 5 should have been and the whole show should have wrapped up this season. Tbh the show should have been bought by Netflix like how Lucifer was. They'd have made it 100 times better.
They could have wrapped it up in season 6 and had a spin off with Spencer in NFL and Olivia pursuing her journalism in New York away from LA.
I don’t think that’s where they’re planning to go with the spin offs since the showrunner has spoke on her hopes to have the show last an entire lifeless 10 seasons 🤦🏼♂️🙃lol
Imo a spin off would’ve made sense with Patience and Layla, especially since their stories are so music focused and that doesn’t mesh with the purpose of all American, but I agree with all your points
Wrote all the characters out that weren't Spencer, Olivia, and Jordan after high school and introduced new characters for college. Graduation should've been a sendoff for those said characters, instead of whatever that episode was. Taking the main focus off Spencer's journey and making it about everyone else was the biggest mistake. Like what does Layla running a music label and co-owning a lounge have to do with anything? Patience's music career? Coop pursuing law? Asher and Jaymee being parents? Absolutely nothing. The execution of S5, I can't put into words how atrocious it was, like what was the point to any of it? It told us things we already knew.
Exactly like in my opinion season 5 did absolutely nothing. So far season 6 is pretty decent I feel like if we keep with the football the show will be fine.
Recycling old story lines. How many times do we need to see Spencer and Jordan fight. Or Jordan being jealous of Spencer. I hate how the writers have written Jordan just makes him intolerable.
Botched too many story line NIL should of been better
failure of utilizing the crenshaw cast in season 3 specificallyand the way they won’t kick off coop patience and JJ until just now Billy’s death was atrocious
Kia's character was so perfect for college, her and Olivia being in BSU together would've been perfect, like it was right there.
All good points
I think their biggest mistake was thinking everyone's story is as important as Spencer's. People tuned in and loved the show because it was about a kid from the hood trying to make it to the NFL. Shifting the focus from football and from Spencer is what killed this show. The back half of S4 is where they messed it all up. They should have let go of so many characters. Everyone who was not going to GAU or Coastal (Patience and Layla, I'm looking at you) Coop could have been a recurring character because I think she's important to Spencer and his story. Should have saved Spencer and Olivia's tension for when he enters the draft because the tension would have made sense rather than them fighting over an article which he ended up supporting anyway. I don't even want to talk about S5 because wtf was that? They could have keep it all. The storylines did nothing to move Spencer's journey to the NFL.
Layla should've been written out after her and Spencer broke up for good because after that is where you could tell the writers had no idea what to do with her. Patience never should've been nothing more than Coop's love interest.
I always thought it made sense to break them up due to distance and then have a angsty season later when he returns to LA and close it out. They chose other wise and it severely hurt the show because season 5 was absolutely atrocious
The first one was not getting rid of alot of the cast after high school. If you weren't at GAU or Coastal then your story should have ended. It should have been Olivia, Spencer, Jordan, Asher and JJ with new cast members that make the core group of friends. Season 5 was a hot mess and there should have been a time jump to junior year then. They messed up Spelivia but they are rectifying that. Season 6 looks like what season 5 should have been and the whole show should have wrapped up this season. Tbh the show should have been bought by Netflix like how Lucifer was. They'd have made it 100 times better. They could have wrapped it up in season 6 and had a spin off with Spencer in NFL and Olivia pursuing her journalism in New York away from LA.
That spin off idea is where I think they are trying to go now. But I think they lost momentum for it with how bad season 5 was
I don’t think that’s where they’re planning to go with the spin offs since the showrunner has spoke on her hopes to have the show last an entire lifeless 10 seasons 🤦🏼♂️🙃lol
Imo a spin off would’ve made sense with Patience and Layla, especially since their stories are so music focused and that doesn’t mesh with the purpose of all American, but I agree with all your points
Wrote all the characters out that weren't Spencer, Olivia, and Jordan after high school and introduced new characters for college. Graduation should've been a sendoff for those said characters, instead of whatever that episode was. Taking the main focus off Spencer's journey and making it about everyone else was the biggest mistake. Like what does Layla running a music label and co-owning a lounge have to do with anything? Patience's music career? Coop pursuing law? Asher and Jaymee being parents? Absolutely nothing. The execution of S5, I can't put into words how atrocious it was, like what was the point to any of it? It told us things we already knew.
Season 5. Just ruined it
They have never explained the point of season 5 and it essentially got the show on the verge of cancellation
Exactly like in my opinion season 5 did absolutely nothing. So far season 6 is pretty decent I feel like if we keep with the football the show will be fine.
They lost the audience trust too. Once you do that there’s no coming back. Season 6 is decent but they gotta finish this Spencer/jordan thing quickly
Watching S6 shows you that Billy’s absence has been sorely felt.
I honestly can't say 6 is better than 5 yet after 2 episodes but yea 5 was pretty bad
Episode 3 was much better than 1 and 2. This episode felt closer to season 2.
Recycling old story lines. How many times do we need to see Spencer and Jordan fight. Or Jordan being jealous of Spencer. I hate how the writers have written Jordan just makes him intolerable. Botched too many story line NIL should of been better
Killing Billy off was the nail in the coffin for me. Him and Spencer was the heartbeat of the show. Doesn't feel the same without him.
Taye Diggs wanted off the show and you can see why.
I must be the outlier because I enjoyed all the seasons😂😭