''The Cleaner'' is an A&E television series starring

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in '' Blood in Blood Out''. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994) and '' ...

. It debuted on July 15, 2008 and the last episode aired on September 15, 2009, when the show was officially cancelled. It was produced by Once a Frog Productions and CBS Productions.

Synopsis

William Banks is a recovering drug addict who lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. When his daughter Lula was born, Banks "made a deal with God", pledging that if he is given a second chance, he will end his drug abuse and help others end their addictions to drugs and alcohol. Banks and his small team of recovering addicts begin to work to help others in recovering from their addictions. They will resort to unethical and illegal tactics in order to end their clients' addictions. His success at cleaning people's addictions has gained him the respect of the

LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

and other officials, who almost always turn a blind eye to the vigilante's methods. In fact, the LAPD and other law officials will frequently refer clients to Banks. Banks appears to believe that his work is a calling and will therefore work

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

if a client is too poor to afford his services. Banks has a busy life; besides his addiction fighting capers, he runs a shop that primarily sells

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

equipment. His shop is connected to a garage where his business repairs automobiles and surfboards. Besides that he also works at a drug rehabilitation center called Transitions. Each episode typically begins with Banks having a one-way conversation with God (or "talking", as he refers to it), usually asking for guidance and clarity on his mission, the meaning of life and human nature, among other things. Other times Banks will air his grievances to God, asking why He allows bad things to happen. William's one-way communications with God are somewhat of a theme during the series, implying that his faith plays an important role in his sobriety. However, whether all the scenes where Banks is shown praying out loud to God are real or whether they are simply illustrations of what is going on in his mind, are left ambiguous to the viewers. The show's intro states that Banks also helps people overcome addictions to sex and gambling, however, neither one was the focus of an episode.

Production

''The Cleaner'', whose protagonist, according to A&E, helps others defeat their habits "by any means necessary", is the first original drama for this cable network in over six years. The show is loosely based on the life of Warren Boyd who, as an addictions counselor, has helped such people as

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...

, Courtney Love, and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

. On October 27, 2008, A&E declared they would pick up a second season of ''The Cleaner''. It went into production of thirteen all-new episodes, and premiered on June 23, 2009. A&E opted not to renew the series for a third season on September 25, 2009.

Cast

as William Banks * Grace Park as Akani Cuesta * Esteban Powell as Arnie Swenton *

Kevin Michael Richardson Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...

as Darnell McDowell (season 1) * Amy Price-Francis as Melissa Banks, William's wife *

Liliana Mumy Liliana Berry Davis Mumy (; born April 16, 1994) is an American actress. Between 2002 and 2006, she appeared as Jessica Baker in ''Cheaper by the Dozen (2003 film), Cheaper by the Dozen'' and its Cheaper by the Dozen 2, sequel, as well as Lucy ...

as Lula Banks, William's daughter *Brett DelBuono as Ben Banks, William's son

Main crew

* Steve Boyum * Félix Enríquez Alcalá (2 episodes, 2008) * Leon Ichaso (2 episodes, 2008) * Robert Munic (13 episodes, 2008) * Jonathan Prince (

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio ...

)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1: 2008

Season two

Home media

The first season of ''The Cleaner'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on June 9, 2009, and the second and final season was released on

on June 1, 2010.

Ratings

2008 first-run ratings for ''The Cleaner'' were 1.1 million in the 18-49 demographic. The series finale averaged 1.528 million viewers in live+7.

International airings

* The series was broadcast in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

through the A&E Latinamerica channel. Series one premiered on Sunday, October 5, 2008. The second season premiered on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. * The first season premiered in Bulgaria in 2009 on AXN and the Second premiered in January 2010. In 2010 also the first season started on PRO.BG with different dub. * The first season of the series premiered in Italy on Thursday September 10, 2009, on pay-TV channel Joi, ( Mediaset Premium). * The first season premiered in Ireland in January 2010, on

RTÉ Two (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, television, RT� ...

. * The first season premiered in Kenya in January 2011, on nation tv. * The first season premiered in Greece in April 2011, on

Skai TV Skai TV is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus, operating under Skai Group. It has been broadcasting since 2006 and is available via digital terrestrial transmission, as well as subscription-based services such as Nova and ...

. * The first and second season have been broadcast in Finland on nelonen.

References

External links

Official A&E site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleaner (American TV series), The 2000s American drama television series 2008 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings A&E (TV network) original programming American action television series Television series by CBS Studios American religious television series American English-language television shows Television shows set in Los Angeles Television series about dysfunctional families