Stream It Or Skip It?

Before his 2023 death, Norman Lear had a number of shows in various stages of development; in other words, the legendary sitcom producer was pretty busy right up until he left us. One of those shows was Clean Slate, which was picked up by Amazon in 2022 and was originally slated to be on their Freevee service. Two and a half years later, it’s finally streaming on Prime Video.

CLEAN SLATE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After we see a quote from the late Norman Lear, we then cut to a vintage car driving down a highway in Alabama. “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder plays.

The Gist: Harry Slate (George Wallace) regularly cruises around his town in the car; it has the number of Slate Car Wash on the side and he constantly hands out his card to people whose cars need washing. He gets to his car wash, where his employee Mack (Jay Wilkison) and Mack’s daughter Opal (Norah Murphy) are washing cars (he calls Opal working there an “internship”). He sees an email that shocks him: It’s from his daughter Desiree (Laverne Cox).

One thing, though: He hasn’t seen Desiree in 23 years, and the last time he saw her, she was still Desmond. In fact, Harry has no idea that Desiree transitioned shortly after moving to New York. So, of course, when she shows up at Harry’s door, he doesn’t even recognize her at first, thinking she’s a “fancy lady” salesperson. But when she calls him “Dad, I’m your daughter, Desiree”, he’s understandably shocked. “It’s always been Desiree,” she tells him.

Harry is more upset that she didn’t give him a “head’s up” on this before her arrival. She thought it would be awkward. “More awkward than this?” he asks. In fact, the change in Desiree he’s probably most upset about is that she’s a vegetarian, which makes it hard for them to sit down and have wings together. Even though she was going to stay with her friend Louis (D.K. Uzoukwu), Harry invites her to stay in her old bedroom, which has changed since she left: He installed a ceiling fan.

Desiree tries to get Harry to “unpack” their emotional baggage, with her therapist (Alexandra Billings) encouraging her to have her dad write a letter to her 10-year-old self. Harry doesn’t take it seriously, and that’s when the tension starts. She is still upset that he didn’t fight for her when she was a lonely, scared high school student because, “I wasn’t the son you wanted me to be.” She decides to go back to New York, but after some advice from both Mack and Louis’ mother Ella (Telma Hopkins), Harry decides to tell her to stay.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Clean Slate, created by Cox, Wallace and Dan Ewen, was one of the last projects produced by Norman Lear; Prime announced the show’s pickup on his 100th birthday in 2022. It certainly has the feel of another recent Lear production, the remake of One Day At A Time, though this series is single camera rather than ODAAT‘s multicamera format.

Our Take: Clean Slate definitely has its issues. Given that Cox and Wallace are both pretty damn funny, and they are both among the series’ writers. There show feels like it’s going to be a gentle comedy about a father and daughter trying to reconnect after a more than two decades and lots of changes in her life. We’re also pretty sure there will be stories that involve how a trans woman like Desiree has to deal with being back in her small hometown in Alabama, with people who still may address her by her previous identity or just not understand her transition.

But the first episode wasn’t nearly as funny as we’d hope it would be. It certainly was warm, but it felt like Wallace’s character Harry seemed to be just fine with the changes in Desiree pretty quickly. Perhaps it’s a function of Cox, Wallace and their writers giving the audience a more nuanced view of how Harry might react to seeing that his estranged son is now his daughter. There are a lot of changes that he needs to get used to, but as Ella told him, the fact that Desiree back and opened up to him is huge. “Louis doesn’t say anything to me and we live together,” she says.

So perhaps the show will explore Harry getting used to this new relationship with Desiree as the series goes along, instead of having him blustering about losing his son right off the bat. It also feels like Desiree is also going to have to make some adjustments, as she tried to get him to open up way too fast in the first episode, which is what actually created conflict.

Given who is involved in the show and the fact that it’s trying to take a more nuanced view of this new relationship, we’ll give it a chance. At the very least, it’ll be fun to see how Desiree makes an impact on her hometown.

Sex and Skin: Nothing. Except for some occasional s-bombs, Clean Slate is certainly a show you could watch with the whole family.

Parting Shot: Harry and Desiree get in Harry’s car after they visit the grave of her mother/his wife. Harry tells her he’ll “do anything” to have her back in his life. “For Once In My Life” plays again.

Sleeper Star: Whenever we see Telma Hopkins, we marvel at how long she’s been on our screens, starting with the Tony Orlando & Dawn variety show in the mid 1970s (she was one of the members of Dawn). The first sitcom we remember her on is Bosom Buddies, starring a young actor named Tom Hanks.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Oprah? I’m gunning for Bezos,” says Opal in response to Harry mentioning Ms. Winfrey. Is there a line that’s more blatantly saying, “We’re on Prime Video” than mentioning Jeff Bezos?

Our Call: STREAM IT. While we wish Clean Slate was funnier and took a bit longer to have Harry accept that Desiree is now a woman, it feels like it’s going to be a warm show about rebuilding relationships and Southern small town life. Given the presence of Cox, Wallace and Hopkins, we’re on board for this one.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.