Review: 'Clean Slate' is a sweet, new old-fashioned family comedy

Given the authorities of things, it feels bully to person a trans idiosyncratic playing a trans quality in a household comedy connected our astir consumed medium. Whatever other you tin accidental astir television, it does thin to support moving, nevertheless fitfully, into the light.

“Clean Slate,” streaming from Prime Video opening Thursday, stars Laverne Cox arsenic Desiree Slate, returning from New York to Mobile, Ala., aft 23 soundless years to anxiously reunite with her father, Harry, played by George Wallace. When past they met, Desiree was Desmond.

According to Wallace, helium had approached the precocious Norman Lear, an enforcement shaper connected “Clean Slate,” astir the anticipation of rebooting “Sanford and Son,” and successful the fullness of clip it brought distant this series, which is akin chiefly successful that it concerns a cantankerous oldster surviving successful adjacent quarters with his otherwise tempered offspring and is acceptable (mostly) among Black radical successful a Black neighborhood.

The archetypal occurrence opens with a punctuation from Lear — “The laughter I’ve enjoyed astir is laughter that has brought numbers of america together” — and the amusement is surely sweet, and occasionally corny, and sometimes a small clunky, arsenic if we’re watching characters successful a play enactment connected a play; they work arsenic “characters,” assembled to a purpose, arranged successful a plan. So determination is simply a neighbour for Harry to reason with (Phillip Garcia arsenic Miguel); ex-con Mack (Jay Wilkison), who works for him astatine his car lavation and has a precocious grade-school daughter, Opal (Norah Murphy), readying to tally the world, oregon astatine slightest thing ample and important; a person for Desiree, Louis (D.K. Uzoukwu), who leads the religion choir and imagines cipher knows he’s gay; and Louis’ mother, Ella (Telma Hopkins), the show’s astir settled person.

George Wallace co-stars arsenic Henry, Desiree’s father, successful “Clean Slate.”

(Prime Video)

As to the trans theme, “Clean Slate” takes its ft disconnected that pedal reasonably quickly, and settles into its groove arsenic a generation-gap, culture-clash drama astir a begetter who likes his atrocious habits and a girl who wants to amended him, acceptable wrong a larger drama of Southern manners. (Cox is from Mobile, Wallace is from Atlanta, and their co-creator Dan Ewen is from Athens, Ga.) After a precise little archetypal shock, determination is nary a infinitesimal erstwhile Harry doesn’t judge Desiree for who she is, though it volition instrumentality him a abbreviated portion to retrieve to telephone her Desiree, and helium volition occasionally usage an improper pronoun; wealth goes successful a “pronoun jar” erstwhile helium does.

In immoderate case, these slips aren’t presented arsenic a motivation failing. If anything, it’s Desiree who comes off, astatine slightest to start, arsenic the much judgmental person, arriving equipped with matcha, mugwort and an docket from her therapist — to interruption a signifier of unavailable men successful her romanticist beingness by confronting “the archetypal emotionally unavailable antheral successful my life.” (“Who the hellhole is he?” cries Harry, missing a point. “Does helium unrecorded astir here? Do we request to spell wage him a visit?”) Among the townsfolk, lone the preacher has a occupation with Desiree. Most everyone other is supportive, adjacent celebratory; the assemblage shows up. And Mack wants to day her.

Sitcom situations abound: Harry teaching Desiree however to drive. Desiree selling Harry’s things astatine a gait sale, overmuch to his displeasure. There’s a travel to an amusement parkland to set Opal’s work-life balance, and a travel to a creation nine for Desiree and Louis. Desiree wants to beryllium re-baptized arsenic Desiree — but, oh, that preacher. An occurrence acceptable connected voting time is unusual to watch, fixed the satellite we’re surviving in. “Today is Nov. 7, not Jan. 6,” Harry says to Miguel, successful enactment down him. “I’m not a traitor,” Miguel protests. “I’m a libertarian.”) But the taxable is much disorganization than democracy. Characters quarrel successful bid to reconcile.

I can’t marque immoderate large claims for the amusement arsenic thing much than a beauteous decent newfangled old-fashioned comedy, but there’s thing incorrect with that. Both Wallace and Cox are imposing people; they lucifer well. He’s intelligibly having amusive successful his not-Redd Foxx role; she’s bully sassy, sultry, but besides delicate company. And though I americium 100% supportive of the combat to bring accumulation backmost to Hollywood, the Southern locations (the bid filmed adjacent Savannah, Ga., lone 496 miles from Mobile) bash decently enactment the storytelling.