All American: The Absence Of Billy Baker Will Be Felt Forever
From the start, All American set out to do something special regarding TV drama for African Americans. While it can be placed in the same bubble as One Tree Hill and Beverley Hills 90210, All American was in a league of its own because of its cast. In 4.5 seasons, it has provided a feeling of family and friendships. However, with the death of one of its leading characters, Billy Baker, the direction of the show has changed dramatically.
What Billy brought to the show was a figure that most black shows were missing, a strong male lead. What would The Cosby Show be without Heathcliff Huxtable? What would One Tree Hill be without Dan Scott? The father figure is essential to these teen dramas just as much as the kids are.
Billy Baker meant something to everyone on All American. While Spencer James is the main character, Billy was main character 1B. He was the guiding force for the kids and the adults. He was the one they leaned on for guidance as we saw in his final episode with his final talk with Asher regarding fatherhood. He will be missed.
While the show took hits early on from some viewers in regards to Billy being married to a white woman after growing up in Crenshaw, that small gesture made more sense as the show progressed. Mixed kids trying to find their way and a coach fighting to prove he is who he says he is, fit well with the All American vision.
But what made Billy so special was that on All American, there were not enough black senior characters. Spencer’s dad was not around. Asher’s dad is not a main character. We’ve never seen JJ’s father. The same can be said for Coop, Patience, and any of the football players from Crenshaw.
Layla’s dad has popped in and out of the storyline and even then, he’s often abandoned Layla to be raised alone. Billy was the one male adult. Not just the main adult but the main black adult.
All America is a great show but it does lack the true sense of family. While the vortex is a family in itself, these kids are still kids and with one stroke of the pen, the writers just removed a central character who cannot be replaced. Looking over the cast, which adult could take on the role vacated by Billy?
Next Role Model On All American
We understand that the kids are in college and moving on as they get older but it seems that every family in the show is broken. The Bakers were the anomaly in All American. They were the family who had it all. Laura was fighting for the little guys. Olivia was trying to set the world right. Jordan was making waves as a college QB, and Billy was changing lives. And now, that world is shattered.
It’s almost as if these networks have this view of black households and that it’s okay to be broken. Not having a father figure in the house is not a thing we should be celebrating. Look at it this way. Grace raised Spencer and Dillon as a single mother but the moment she finds love with a guy both kids respected, they moved Grace not just out of the house but out of the city altogether, leaving Spencer alone.
Another case is as soon as Spencer’s dad returns, he’s also killed off. Why is it so hard to show a strong black family unit? As I stated before, there was no need to kill Billy Baker. If Taye Diggs wanted to walk away from the show, the writers could have had him take a job somewhere else but still keep him alive. Killing him was such a terrible move.
The knock that we face in the world is that mother’s are too busy doing the jobs of absentee father’s and here was a show still along those lines but Billy was the one who made us forget that most of these kids came from broken homes. He was the glue that held All American together. But here we are, losing another strong black male voice on a show where one or more is clearly needed.
How many more Teen Dramas must we watch where teenagers are raising themselves? All American was not perfect, there were flaws in the scripts but it was a show many of us could relate to. It’s just a shame to see another black TV Drama lose such a strong black male voice.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
