TORONTO - Jennifer Love Hewitt was not opposed to taking on a character who dabbles in "happy endings," knowing TV viewers would recognize that that's not what the show, "The Client List," is really about.
The 34-year-old actress plays Riley Parks, a single mom who finds work in a Texas day spa after being abandoned by her husband. Faced with paying off a mortgage and with two young children to raise, she resorts to boosting her income by providing illegal "extras" to some of the spa regulars.
The titillating premise of the show — back for a second season Sunday on Lifetime — gained some notoriety when it first launched. A nationwide campaign by licensed massage therapists even tried to have the series shut down.
All of this helped massage the show's ratings, and the U.S. Lifetime cable channel quickly ordered a second season.
"Initially, there were some massage therapists who were upset that we were saying bad things about the massage industry," says Hewitt from the Los Angeles set of the series. "Now, not so much. Now I get tweets saying, 'I wish I could be a massage therapist.'"
The series "definitely has some perks," says Hewitt, frequently seen rubbing oil over the bare chest of a handsome young hunk on the series.
"The Client List," however, is no soft porn programmer. The focus is on Parks's struggles as a single mom.
"We definitely set out to make a show that was fun for people to get into and enjoy," says Hewitt, "but obviously it has a female empowerment angle in that she's trying to take care of her kids and she does the best that she can for her family."
Hewitt, who starred for five seasons on "The Ghost Whisperer" and before that, on "Party of Five," feels North American TV audiences are more willing than ever to be pushed out of their comfort zone and challenged by characters they become attached to on TV.
"Not babysitting the audience is becoming extraordinarily important in TV today," says Hewitt, also an executive producer on the series.
"They can handle a lot of things. We do a show about a mom who gives happy-ending massages. You have 'Nurse Jackie,' you have 'Dexter,' you have 'Breaking Bad.' You have all of these shows that push the envelope and the moral compass of their lead characters and somehow you still love then and still want to follow them on their journeys. It didn't used to be that way."
Cybill Shepherd, who plays Parks's mom Lynette on "The Client List," agrees.
"I think one of the things that contributes to this show is the tension, and what's going on is that they are doing something illegal. There's always that feeling like they're going to get caught."
Shepherd, who co-starred with Bruce Willis on the '80s hit "Moonlighting" as well as her own sitcom, "Cybill,' has a reputation as a hell-raiser on her sets. She's happy to let Hewitt — also directing this season — do the heavy lifting on this series.
"I get to have wonderful scenes and everybody is great on the show and Jennifer is just wonderful, but I don't have to work so hard as I did on the 'Cybill' show."
Hewitt has spent half her life starring on network TV shows, starting when she was 17. Besides her series work, including a recurring role on "Hot in Cleveland," she's starred in two "I Know What You Did Last Summer" films as well as "Tropic Thunder" and "Garfield."
Asked about enjoying such a long career at a relatively young age, Hewitt tries not to think about it too much "because I feel old." She also feels humbled.
"I definitely do feel like a lucky girl as far as living my dreams are concerned."
Shepherd also enjoyed fame and success at an early age. She was 20 when she made her film debut for director Peter Bogdanovich in "The Last Picture Show.”
To handle fame it's important, Shepherd feels, to experience it early in life. That way, "you really have an opportunity to get over yourself being famous.
"I think that's something Jennifer and I have in common," she says. "When you first become famous, it really can go to your head and you can get confused and, all of a sudden, everybody wants a part of you. Once you've been in the business long enough, you really don't take that too seriously."
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Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.
