The only thing harder than leaving home to protect yourself is coming back broke and heartbroken. Laverne Cox and George Wallace explore those family gymnastics in their new Prime Video series, Clean Slate. The series follows Desiree (Cox), a not-quite-healed NYC artist and an out (to everyone except her father) trans woman, who returns to her small Alabama hometown to live with her estranged father, Harry (Wallace), an old-school car wash owner who’s too quick to judge and too “slick” with his mouth—as the elders would say. As the daughter of a Southern Harry, I can relate.
Produced with Norman Lear, in his final project, and co-created by Cox, Wallace, and Dan Ewen, Clean Slate feels like a throwback to the early days of Fox, UPN, and WB sitcoms, though the series takes its location shooting and visual cues from the dramas of that era. In blending social issues with accessible humor, it handles the trials of being queer in the South with a true insider perspective—even though there’s an overall vibe of your good-natured aunties and uncles cracking jokes and telling stories on the back porch.
The show works particularly well in its relationships: Desiree and Harry, Harry and his best-boy employee and former felon, Mack (Jay Wilkison), Desiree and her gay bestie Louis (D.K. Uzoukwu), Harry and Louis’ mom, Ella (Telma Hopkins), Mack and his future madame president daughter, Opal (Norah Murphy)…and Desiree and Mack, who orbit each other with a maybe-might-be romance all season. The premise is solid, but the first season doesn’t dig in enough—offering breezy one-episode arcs and big reactions without the backstories needed to truly understand the emotions.
Still, Clean Slate has charm, the cast is infinitely likable, and Laverne Cox glows with warmth, wit, and complexity. Meanwhile, George Wallace is everybody’s grumpy daddy or granddaddy who says the wrong thing but eventually gets it right. Their dynamic, alongside the other one-on-one relationships, carry the show, offering relatable goofiness and tender moments with occasional romantic heat sightings! In the end, Clean Slate is cozy n’ sweet with a pinch of snark—making it worth the watch when you’re in the mood to relax.
