TCA 2018: Portraits of 'Riverdale,' 'Legacies' & More The CW Stars in Our Studio (PHOTOS)

Spencer (Daniel Ezra) gets the chance to leave his South Central life for Beverly Hills, where he could be taking the first steps to a pro football career. “Spencer’s main trajectory is trying to rationalize his survivor’s guilt,” says Ezra. “Getting out of this environment and not being able to take all your loved ones with you is a difficult thing to put on a 17 year old’s shoulders. For me, Spencer’s story is about how he deals with that, how he comes to terms with that, and ultimately how he transcends it.”

Executive Producer Greg Berlanti assures us that All American is about more than who won the football game of the episode. “For any show in this day and age to make it on any network, it has to have something to say,” he says. “The people behind it have to have something to say and then you have to be lucky enough to get cast like this that really can just take you to the next level.” (The cast of All American: Karimah Westbrook, Greta Onieogou, Daniel Ezra, Cody Christian, Jalyn Hall, Bre-Z, Samantha Logan, Michael Evans Behling, Monet Mazur and Taye Diggs.)

Taye Diggs says Coach Baker may not be as sincere and upstanding as Kyle Chandler’s Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights, but he’s certainly not a villain. “The characters and the writing are very nuanced,” he says, adding that the relationships on the show aren’t black and white either. “In one scene, it’s coach-player. In another scene, it’s father-son. In another, it’s friend-friend. Adversaries. Teammates. We delve into all those different dynamics.”

As Olivia Baker, Samantha Logan plays part of what could be a love triangle between Spencer and seemingly perfect-girl Leila (Greta Onieogou). But Olivia is more than the coach’s daughter and has her own demons she’s fighting.

The cast of Charmed: Melonie Diaz, Ellen Tamaki, Ser’Darius Blain, Madeleine Mantock, Rupert Evans and Sarah Jeffery

The Power of Three: Melonie Diaz, Madeleine Mantock and Sarah Jeffery from Charmed

The cast of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Scott Michael Foster, Vella Lovell, Rachel Bloom, Gabrielle Ruiz, Donna Lynne Champlin and Pete Gardner

Rachel Bloom from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Matthew Davis and Danielle Rose Russell from Legacies

Mädchen Amick from Riverdale

The cast of Riverdale: Mark Consuelos, Lochlyn Munro, Luke Perry, Marisol Nichols, Mädchen Amick, Robin Givens, Martin Cummins, Nathalie Boltt and Skeet Ulrich

Luke Perry from Riverdale