Families are complicated, which gives TV writers plenty of fodder to draw from. But what if the results are neither high stakes nor funny, so much as warm and pleasant? Well, you take what you can get these days, when the definition of “comedy” has become so expansive as to also mean “light drama,” including Amazon’s “Clean Slate” starring Laverne Cox and George Wallace.
Cox plays Desiree, a native of Mobile, Alabama, who returns home when her glamorous life in New York falls apart. It’s been decades since she’s been back, and now she’s on her father’s doorstep looking for a soft place to land. The only catch is that she hasn’t talked to Dad (Wallace) in all this time, and he doesn’t know she’s transgender. But he quickly acclimates and they work to rebuild their relationship as Desiree creates a new life for herself.
Considering the rapid and alarming threats directed toward the trans community in the first weeks of the new presidential administration, “Clean Slate” arrives as an elegant and defiant pushback: A show built around a talented Black trans actress whose charisma is reason enough to watch.
If only the series had a little more comedic bite. Occasionally a line will land. “It’s like Black to the future,” Desiree says of her father’s house, which has remained unchanged in the 23 years she’s been gone. When she offers him chia seed pudding for breakfast, he tells her, “Chia seeds need to make up their mind: Ya either be a pudding or a pet, but you can not be both.”
But their first fight, fueled by mutual lingering resentments, lacks depth or even much emotion. It’s too perfunctory, too muted, too nice, as if the scene were a placeholder for something rawer to be written later. Just because the show is fundamentally gentle and kind doesn’t mean it can’t take those kinds of risks.
Instead, it settles for sweet and touching. Co-created by Cox (who is from Mobile herself), Wallace and Dan Ewen, there’s another name that stands out. Norman Lear, who died in 2023, is credited as an executive producer, and if his most popular shows became famous for their willingness to tackle — and then pointedly skewer — retrograde ideas, “Clean Slate” is aiming for something much safer.
The show’s little corner of Mobile includes a rakish single father who works at Dad’s car wash (Jay Wilkison) and there is considerable chemistry and sexual tension between him and Desiree. He has a precociously smart preteen daughter (Norah Murphy) whom Desiree befriends. There’s also Desiree’s best friend in town, the choir director who is in the closet (D.K. Uzoukwu), and his loyal mother (Telma Hopkins) who also has a long history with Desiree’s father. Together, they form a found family of sorts and rally around each other.
I’m not sure the series benefits from cameos by Padma Lakshmi and Nene Leakes; the ensemble is good enough that it doesn’t need those kinds of stunts. The episodes tend to center around a loose theme, but they’re primarily about people just living their lives. I think that’s the right choice, and I appreciate the way “Clean Slate” tackles Desiree’s complicated feelings about wanting to return to the church where she grew up, despite its bigoted pastor. He might be the only person who doesn’t accept Desiree with open arms, and if that feels idealized, who cares? Why should her character be subjected to hate when there’s another story to tell?
“Clean Slate” — 2.5 stars (out of 4)
Where to watch: Amazon
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
