mtilley-05420 This is the first year this series has been available to me. At this point I have watched 6 or 7 shows. I have been totally enjoying the show until the last one I saw. the addict got help but it then showed the Cleaner and his wife having sex on the screen. In my opinion it was completely out of context, unexpected (I could have been watching it with family), it did nothing for the story of that episode. Things left to the imagination would be more suitable. Anyone who needs a porn fix - they have shows for that. That way we are given a choice as to exactly what we wan to watch. I believe it took away from the show. The Cleaner will be taken off my viewing list.

sevenof9fl This show will not appeal to all audiences and in fact it has taken me the entire first season and 3 episodes of the 2nd season for me to truly appreciate how good this show really is. I would call it a Thinking Person's Drama, because it's not your typical run of the mill procedural or action show.By this time, most people probably know what the show is about: the superior Benjamin Bratt portrays a recovering addict William Banks, who is trying to save other addicts, with varying degrees of success, while trying to deal with the wreckage his addiction caused in his own family, also with varying degrees of success. Doesn't sound very appealing, does it? I first became interested in the show because I had a close relative who died from her addiction at a young age, so you'd think this not be a show I'd watch, right? Wrong. Turns out, even if sometimes watching this show is like pulling the scab off an unhealed wound, it really is enjoyable for the viewer who wants a viewing experience that leaves you really thinking deeply about the human condition, whether afflicted with addiction or not.I like that the show is accurate about the actions of addicts and the effects of addiction on the addict's family and friends. I also enjoy the fact that not every story is a success. A complex relationship exists between Banks and his family, who learn that the cure they wished to happen does not guarantee that the family will survive as a unit. Banks himself is still struggling with his addiction and wonders if his commitment to saving other addicts has just replaced one addiction with another - a position held by his wife and family.There's obviously a lot to see here and the production qualities, cast and writing are first-rate. I think the show works for any viewer who enjoys a good story and believable characters with complex relationships to themselves and each other. You don't have to be a recovering addict or someone coping with a family or friend with addiction to appreciate the show and in fact it's a great teaching tool for those who don't know much about the topic.This is a unique show with a unique view that delves into a topic that is the unspoken curse of many people: the monster of addiction. It drags into the light a topic that most families wrongfully will not discuss and admit: the addiction issues of a loved one.After long consideration (and jettisoning of my own personal garbage), I give it a 10/10. Give it a chance.

MemphisChik I loved the show at first, but watching the "in your face" drug use does make me uncomfortable. Especially with Arnie's relapse so graphically portrayed. With a husband struggling with addiction, it's difficult to see the drug use, so vivid in HD, in our living room. I have to give the show's creators big applause for the realistic portrayal of drugs in all walks of society. Unfortunately, sometimes it's just too realistic for me. I tend to watch television for an escape and, living with addiction, this show doesn't provide an escape. William Banks is a lifesaver for many and his story can provide hope for families struggling with addiction. I just would like to see more innuendo towards drugs and less blatant drug use. That may be unrealistic in a show of this nature, I admit. So perhaps I just need to change the channel.

Moviefile This makes for uneasy viewing as one must ask should psychological or chemical addiction be turned into entertainment? This series skates close to trite clichés, but overall it does succeed in concentrating on the sufferers' problems. William Banks is 'The Cleaner'; himself a past drug addict, he now works as an interventionalist, trying to help others whose addictions have reached a point where they are no longer in control of their own lives. Banks is no paragon either as he is a very controlling individual and has swapped his chemical addiction for a spiritual relationship with God whom he talks to about his problems, and a career which gives him power over others. He is also trying to win back his family who mistrust him after fifteen years of hell, and while he has moved back in with them, he sleeps apart from his wife at the start of the series. Banks has three employees who have all had their own addictions in the past and work for him for their own reasons, he also runs a residential clinic where clients are detoxed. Background plot isn't too soapy as, if it were it, would detract from the message. Banks has teenage children who want to see him reunited with them and their mother. Problem is the job which means that he takes off at short notice day or night and so manages to alienate his family as they come a poor second when there is a client who needs help.William Banks is a hard man to like though, and he has demons of his own. You cannot fault what he does, but he is abrasive and pushy and talks to his family and employees as if he is the only one who is capable of knowing what is right. Is he in fact a messianic megalomaniac or just an ordinary man trying to save his own soul? Just a man with a calling? There are those would would equate his conversations with the almighty as evidence that the men in white coats will not be far away. However if this helps him to keep on the straight and narrow then as therapy maybe he has found his own personal answer.The ensemble cast is good, Benjamin Bratt has one of those voices you could listen to all day, and fills the William Banks role very well. His employees (played by the talented Grace Park, Esteban Powell, and Kevin Richardson) all bring depth to their parts, but, and this is a big but, the writing does not endear the characters to us. Hopefully if and when there is a season two there will be more character development, and we will come to understand and empathise with the characters. To date the series has failed spectacularly in that respect and the writers are to blame as there is real potential here.My view is that this is a worthy effort to portray the nature and effect of addiction, on the addicts themselves and their family and friends, and goes some way to showing the physical spiritual and moral degradation that people fall into. Many, it is true, are beyond help and in spite of attempts to help will eventually succumb, only a quarter of clients are cleaned which is a sobering statistic.