REVIEW: ‘Clean Slate’ Is The Southern Sitcom We Needed

Producer Norman Lear’s last television project, Clean Slate (2025), is a new Prime Video Original comedy series that embodies the classic sitcom. Dan Ewen, Laverne Cox, and George Wallace created Clean Slate (2025), with the latter two’s involvement showing spectacularly when they’re in scenes together.

The series follows Harry Slate (George Wallace), an old-school and outspoken Alabama car wash owner. We enter his life as he prepares for the arrival of his estranged son, ‘Bama t-shirt in hand. They’ve been separated for 17 years, and Harry is excited; only his son has returned to Mobile, Alabama, as a proud, trans woman, Desiree (Laverne Cox).

This isn’t some family drama, though; it’s a comedy, and the reality is that Harry, though he may not understand it first, is immediately accepting of his daughter. That said, the series shows Desiree and her father working to repair the fraught relationship by taking common points of struggle and adapting them into situations done in good faith. To add another layer of comedy, Clean Slate (2025) navigates their father-daughter relationship while contending with vastly different points of view as roommates.

Clean Slate (2025) also embraces the trappings of a coming-of-age story, with the Slates going through milestones they missed out on the first time. Right down to ending it on a born-again-born-again baptism. Harry just wants to watch football, has a ten-step routine to perform before turning on his car, and doesn’t want to eat anything healthy. Desiree, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with football, has a ten-step skin routine, doesn’t eat meat, and lives on matcha and vitamins. Their dynamic is funny, but as they meet each other in the middle, it’s even better.

The odd couple’s father-daughter relationship is Clean Slate’s spark. 

At the same time, Harry’s employee and right-hand man at the car wash, Mack (Jay Wilkison), takes a shine on Desiree. Their flirtation grows episode after episode as she begins to remember who she was and who she wants to be. Desiree forms a strong bond with Mack’s enterprising daughter, Opal (Norah Murphy), who dreams of one day venturing out of Alabama like Desiree did. For Opal, Mobile is too small for her dreams, and every choice she makes in the series shows that.

Desiree’s return as her authentic self turns the church on its head with a bigoted pastor who refuses to change her name on her birth certificate or even recognize her in church. But Desiree’s refusal to step down or kowtow to the paster puts a strain on her relationship with her closeted best friend and choir director, Louis (D.K. Uzoukwu). As much as Clean Slate (2025) is about Desiree coming back and finding that her people have always and will always love her, it’s also about Louis learning that, too.

Harry is more frustrated that his daughter is a vegetarian than because she’s trans. Calling her Desiree, he can handle it. Learning to use she/her pronouns is absolutely fine, but making her fake chicken wings is a step too far (but he does it anyway). While trans stories often focus on their subject’s pain, Clean Slate (2025) focuses on the joy. And in a time when there is nothing but trauma, Cox’s series offers a reprieve and hope.

In a classic sitcom style, Clean Slate tells a story about coming home. While Desiree left Alabama to feel accepted, the audience can see how much she still loves the South once she’s back home. Moving for self-preservation and to thrive can be vital for LGBTQ+ people in the South, but that doesn’t always mean that they don’t miss home. Clean Slate (2025) gets that. Desiree can find a home in Mobile, love Mobile, and have a connection, too.

Clean Slate (2025) doesn’t shy away from the parts of the South that we know are bigoted. Still, the series’ beauty is that it showcases the broad stereotype brush that people often paint the South with and how it misses a wide swath of people who live there. The depth of community, the ability to change, and ultimately, the fact that the South is more than just white Republicans. Not only that, Black trans voices are often erased from conversations, making this story important, even in its humor.

Laverne Cox highlights the South and trans stories from that perspective.

Laverne Cox and George Wallace are a stellar comedic duo. Their father-and-daughter chemistry and back-and-forths offer an excellent look at learning from your children and learning how to trust that your parents can grow. Neither Desiree nor Harry are perfect, but they care deeply about each other.

Desiree wanted her father to come after her when she left, and Harry wanted his child back. He isn’t perfect, but whether it’s stealing a chrome Jesus off a pastor’s car who was transphobic toward his daughter or putting a dollar in the pronoun jar, Harry shows that he loves Desiree in his own way.

Clean Slate (2025) hits all of the sitcom highs, and it’s refreshing to see Laverne Cox lead a series where it isn’t focused just on trauma. Instead, as Desiree, Cox gets the chance to have a romance, to bicker with her father, and to find a home. Clean Slate (2025) is hilarious, and ultimately, the only issue is that there are only eight episodes. This makes the season finale feel premature at best and, at worst, leaves the show in limbo.

Clean Slate (2025) is Laverne Cox at her finest, and it’s ultimately the Southern trans story we need right now in this dangerous time. I want to see more of the Slates. I want to know if Desiree and Mack are right for each other. I want more. As Prime Video begins to focus more on traditional network television storytelling formats as it did with its take on a Dick Wolf procedural with On Call, the accepted streaming length stands in the way of those shows becoming something you can’t forget about. Laverne Cox deserves at least 16 episodes, and this take on the classic sitcom shows.

Clean Slate (2025) is streaming now on Prime Video.