In recent years, A&E has served up their own unique brand of original programming. There's no doubt that the execs at A&E have been making a number of great decisions to set the cable network apart from the rest of the TV pack. Whether it's Dog the Bounty Hunter or Intervention, there's a rewarding and relatable human heartbeat inside of A&E's most successful shows. While similar programming on other networks might be more exploitive when it comes to reflecting reality as entertainment, you can't say that A&E's shows don't try to give viewers inspiration, hope, and something positive to take away. That's what separates A&E from the pack.

On Tuesday, July 15, the network is looking to add another series with positive messages to its line-up with The Cleaner, starring Benjamin Bratt as extreme interventionist William Banks (aka The Cleaner), a former drug addict who helps people flee their addictions through a whatever it takes approach. At the annual TCA event in Los Angeles, we were on-hand as The Cleaner executive producer Jonathan Prince joined actor Benjamin Bratt and William Boyd, the real life interventionist the series is based on, to talk about how Bratt settled into his new role, how Boyd saved people in real life, casting Grace Park, what they hope the series will accomplish, and some of the other addictions the series will tackle beyond the drug world.

Benjamin Bratt on his character’s pact with God:

"Part of the back-story we created for William Banks is that he more than likely didn’t grow up a particularly religious guy at all. In fact, probably quite the opposite. And so when he finally makes this pact with God, it’s definitively out of desperation. So on some level his on-going serialized relationship with God as it unfolds over the course of this series is going to be contingent on how well he’s doing and how successful he is, not only in his chosen vocation now but with his family. His faith will be continually questioned. Not any deep faith, because it doesn’t exist, but this newfound pact he has with whoever might be listening."

Warren Boyd on his real life work of saving people:

"This sets my life back about twelve to thirteen years ago. So at that time there were a small group of four to five people and I didn’t have as many devices - didn’t have as many methods to be able to get things done as I do now. However, now there’s probably about seventeen permanents and thirty to forty on-calls."

Boyd on whether forced rehab works:

"My feeling on that is that I don’t think that, I, myself, have learned that [by] asking somebody who is stark raving out-of-their-mind on crack cocaine or some other drug if they’re ready. What they’re pretty much ready for is to get some more drugs. So getting past that is, I think, where we need to go to get this person in a position where they can think straight and answer a question like that with a logical mind instead of a lot of frontal lobe spiking."

Boyd on seeing his life become a TV show and the impact it will have on his work:

"I’ve been at it for quite awhile now. In my profession, for almost two decades now, and I just continuously lean into what a Senator told me a few years back. He said, ‘If we can figure out how to do this on a grander scale, we might be able to help a lot of people.’ And that always rings in my head when we’re doing things like what I’m sitting up here doing right now. My hope is that we can reach a vast amount of people. Even if it’s a small enough message to get someone to start thinking about that there is some sort of an idea that there is hope. It’s okay to - The bottom line for me is it’s okay to get help and it’s also okay to help somebody. That’s what I hope comes out of all of this."

Jonathan Prince on casting Grace Park:

"Oh, my God. Grace put herself on tape, Ben was a part of the process, and these other actors, again their work is so good on the show. I haven’t worked with a cast like this. They’re just so good. There’s something so great about them but they went through the process. You come in, your agent calls, and you go in. Grace was up in Vancouver and she read the script and put herself on tape in this grainy not so well shot, and the tape just lit up, and we showed it to Ben and we were also like, ‘That’s the girl.’ Then afterwards we learned, 'Oh, there’s a conflict. She’s on Battlestar!'... Our other actors who are used to shooting on a certain schedule, we have like Grace Day and she comes down for eighteen hours, twenty-six hours, and sort of flies away again like some angel. She’s done now. I guess they’re doing their finale... When she’s done with that, we’ll get her back. But she’s got a soft landing. She gets to work with these guys every day and it’s a very soft landing for her. She’s cool though, in the part. The cool factor is high."

Benjamin Bratt on what drew him to the role and what type of research he did:

"First answer is the writing - the writing, the writing. Like every actor, always on the lookout for good work, for good material. And at the point I read this, it didn’t matter to me if it was a film or a television project. I just loved the complexity of the lead character, I thought, and I told J.P. this. I thought his ace was Robert Munic [writer/co-creator]. I thought he had a unique ear. I’m somewhat familiar with the world it unravels in, unfolds in, and I thought it was an interesting construct for a television series, an interesting premise. However, a little unbelievable and I said as much when I first sat down with them. I said, ‘I actually really dig this character and I think it could be a really good series. My only concern is how believable will it be that there is such a guy as an extreme interventionist, and what the hell is that?’ And they just chuckled and they said, ‘Oh, you didn’t know that it’s actually based on a real guy who happens to be one of the co-producers on the show.’ After they said that I played coy and set about surreptitiously campaigning for the role."

Cleaning TV with Benjamin Bratt, Jon Prince, Warren Boyd Page 2