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This might be the best show you are missing.

William Banks has saved 267 people from addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex and gambling.

He’s not a cop. He’s not a superhero. He’s just a man with a calling.

This is his story.

This is how every episode of The Cleaner starts.

When The Cleaner was first announced, I was intrigued. Benjamin Bratt had some great story lines on Law and Order with Jennifer Garner, Lauren Graham and Julia Roberts. Some of the most fleshed out.

But I started thinking it was going to be cheesy like Intervention. I recorded the first episode and deleted it without watching.

I was wrong. I was flipping through some channels and I caught the last ten minutes of the third episode. It was so compelling. I had to know to know what led up to that. Thanks to On Demand, I watched the first three episodes. I thought they were well written, well acted and not at all like Intervention.

William Banks (Benjamin Bratt) is an addict that has been through multiple rehabs and prison. He works with a group of former addicts who stage extreme interventions. One is in the “freak out”, they cut off all of the clients money and sources. It is a total freak out. So bad that in third episode, the woman breaks her hand on purpose to get pain killers. What I like about it, is that they don’t always save the person. People fail, they even die. Even one of their own. 

Benjamin Bratt is trying to save his clients while also trying to recapture his family life. After years of letting his family down, they are rightfully apprehensive. His son is pissed. His wife is a woman that hoped over and over that this time would THE time that it would work only to be disappointed. He and his wife are brought in to the school to talk about their daughter who the nun thinks is too perfect. Maybe being perfect not to rock the boat.

Banks has an uneasy alliance with God. His conversations with God are some of the show’s best moments. One of the most recent episodes he has have a battle with a another interventionist played by Issiah Washington (Gray’s Anatomy) who is not comfortable to with Bank’s God angle. He asks if God is behind him, why do they both have the same 25% success rate.

Along with his family, the supporting cast makes the show. 

Swenton is a former meth addict who fits in perfectly with the underworld of the drug trade. Akani is William’s former lover and has difficult past with her rich family. Darnell is the newest member of William’s crew. Darnell has to balance his life with the 24-hour kind of work required as part of William’s team. The website says that Darnell is grateful for Banks helping his brother but the episode I watched made it sound like Darnell had the addiction—to gambling. He has an entire speech about how he bet on all sorts of sports—even ones he did not what they were.

As for the crew Darnell is the most fleshed out. He is trying to manage a new girlfriend with his new job. And it doesn’t go well.

I joke that A&E which I think still stands for Arts and Entertainment should stand for Addicted and Everything Dysfunctional. But if you are missing The Closer, you are missing out on some interesting TV.