‘All American’ entered the scene as yet another trailblazing coming-of-age story on a network with a history and a 2018 fall slate full of them. The series ends its eight-season run Monday night as the lone symbol of a bygone era at The CW, along the way surviving disruptions including the Covid pandemic, a historically long writers and actors strike, and an exodus of series regulars after Season 6. Through more than a dozen conversations with the cast and writers, Deadline’s Katie Campione weaved together an oral history of the series from nerve-wracking early days to the bittersweet end of production in December 2025.