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Lifetime has renewed its hit scripted series The Client List, starring and executive produced by Jennifer Love Hewitt, for a second season to premiere next year with 15 all-new episodes, it was announced today by Nancy Dubuc, President and General Manager of Lifetime Networks.

Regarding the announcement, Dubuc said, “The Client List represents everything we want to be — fresh, exciting and original with attitude. We love Jennifer and this series, and are equally thrilled that they have connected with our audience, especially as we express our new brand, ‘Your Life. Your Time.’”

Hewitt added, “I couldn’t be happier about Lifetime’s decision to renew The Client List for a second season. It has been so much fun working with such a great cast and crew on the wonderful stories we tell, and I’m ready to see where The Client List takes all of us next year.”

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The former Golden Girls star is paying a visit to Hewitt’s racy Lifetime show, The Client List, about single mom Riley Parks, who works at The Rub of Sugar Land, a day spa in Texas that offers a little more than standard massage therapy.

In the show’s season finale, Riley, played by Hewitt, will be left in charge of the spa when her boss goes on vacation.

White, 90, will play Ruth Gibbons, the wife of one of Riley’s clients who has some advice to offer about making a marriage last.

People.com

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And so is the star herself: This isn’t the Jennifer Love Hewitt that television viewers are used to.

A racier image of the former “Ghost Whisperer” and “Party of Five” star is the big selling point of “The Client List,” a series spinoff of the 2010 cable movie that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. Premiering Sunday, April 8, the Lifetime show casts the actress — also one of its executive producers — in the new role of Riley Parks, a Texas wife and mother who finds work as a day spa masseuse, then is left by her husband.

Many of her co-workers “provide other services,” as the network puts it, to customers … but Riley maintains, “I don’t give extras.” However, as her financial situation gets more dire, and the temptation of added profit increases, her internal moral battle grows. Loretta Devine (“Waiting to Exhale”) plays the spa’s pragmatic owner, with Cybill Shepherd and Colin Egglesfield (“Something Borrowed”) as Riley’s mother and brother-in-law.

“I’ve gotten so many text messages from friends, either standing beneath a billboard in L.A. or on a street in New York, standing next to me [on a 'Client List' poster] with their thumbs up,’ Hewitt muses of the attention to her newest venture. “It’s been quite fun, and it’s nice to know that we’re all working really hard on something the network is promoting.”

Hewitt recalls that while making the initial movie, “We all joked about the fact that it could be a really interesting series. When you’re filming something, you honestly have no idea how the audience will take it. Then after the movie did so well, it definitely was in the back of my mind: ‘I wonder if there is more of this story to tell.’ We could tell more of the ins and outs of the everyday life of someone who finds herself in this situation, and what that means for her and her family.”

Thus was born the character Riley, but Hewitt believes the series is “enough like the movie that I think people who loved that will be satisfied. At the same time, it’s very different. We have enough time to break down where this woman is, emotionally and psychologically, in the process. Since she’s a single mom, you’ll learn what her marriage was and is, and what the chances are for it to be again.”

Even before its debut, “The Client List” had sparked controversy. The group Licensed Massage Therapists is opposing the telecast of the series, claiming it’s “a huge step backward” in how the profession is depicted. “I feel badly that they feel offended,” Hewitt tells Zap2it, “but I respect that people need to say what they need to say.

“I’m not saying every massage parlor in the world gives ‘happy endings,’ nor do I know which ones do, but it is a part of our society. And even if it wasn’t, it’s just a part of our story. It’s entertainment.”

Also a recurring guest star on TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland” as Wendie Malick’s daughter, Hewitt is happy to have a major voice on the production side of “The Client List” as well.

“It’s something that I’m sort of used to,” she notes, “but I think that with every new project comes new problems and new excitement. Everything is so different, this comes with its own learning curve, but it’s great. I care about every single second and what the audience thinks. And if we find ourselves with a hit show on our hands, it’ll be that much sweeter.”

Zap2It.com

“It’s been really awesome. I’m super excited for Sunday,” Hewitt told OnTheRedCarpet.com at the premiere of “The Client List.” “I’m a little nervous but I’m excited and I just can’t wait for people to see it and I just hope they love it as much as we do… There’s a lot of sexy in this show, that’s for sure. There is a little something for everyone.”

In the “Client List” film, which aired on the cable network in 2010, Hewitt played a struggling Texas housewife who turns into a prostitute after she starts working at a massage parlor that secretly operates as a brothel and caters to powerful businessmen. The show earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

The 33-year-old actress is hoping that the positive reception for the TV movie continues with the series and spoke highly of the Lifetime network for their encouragement.

“They’re really jumping into very unapologetic, provocative television with this show,” Hewitt said of the network. “I think they’re ready, I think I’m ready and hopefully, America’s ready.”

One of the positive things for Hewitt about the role was that she got to return to her Texas roots and use her real Southern accent.

“I’m from Texas, so I get to use my real accent again, finally, which is really nice,” Hewitt said. “I’m sort of playing an homage to my mom, who is a very feisty, wonderful, single Texas mom. So my part is dedicated to her and it’s great.”

Speaking of her mom, her feisty on-screen mother is portrayed by TV veteran Cybill Shepherd (“Moonlighting,” “Cybill”), who sung her co-star’s praises.

“Jennifer and I are both from Texas. Jennifer has the best essence of a Texas woman,” Shepherd told OnTheRedCarpet.com. “She has incredible strength, she also has incredible beauty and she’s very smart and she’s going to really do what she has to do and do it smart. Her character is a lot like that and my character is a whole lot like that too. I love her and it’s like a key relationship. We’re partners – mother-daughter partners.”

Lifetime announced in August that a new series based on its movie was in the works and sees Hewitt playing a single mother who helps run the business, adding that she would also serve as an executive producer. The actress told OnTheRedCarpet.com that she will also get to direct the season finale.

Hewitt made her directorial debut in 2009, when she helmed several episodes of her previous series, the drama “Ghost Whisperer.”

Hewitt told OnTheRedCarpet.com that she found her role in “the Client Life” movie to be empowering because her character becomes the family’s breadwinner.

Hewitt rose to fame playing Sarah Reeves on the family drama series “Party of Five” in the 1990s. She later starred in a spin-off, “Time of Your Life” and also appeared in movies such as “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and a sequel, Can’t Hardly Wait” and “Heartbreakers.” She played main character Melinda Gordon “Ghost Whisperer,” which ran on CBS between 2005 and 2010.

During an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this week, the actress joked that she would be willing to go on a date with the newly-single “The Voice” judge and Maroon Five front Man Adam Levine, who split up with model Anne Vyalitsyna.

“The Client List” premieres on Lifetime on Sunday, April 8 at 10 p.m. ET.

The show does air on basic cable, after all, so Hewitt won’t have to show everything — and she says she wouldn’t have taken the role if she had to. “I wouldn’t have done nudity, no. That’s not something that I feel particularly comfortable with.” But even keeping (some of) her clothes on, Hewitt still experienced some first-day jitters. “It was a little nerve-wracking the first day, for sure,” she says of shooting scenes at the infamous day spa where her character, struggling Texas mom Riley Parks, turns to prostitution to help support her family. “Even though we’re actors, the guys are strangers to me at the time. I’m sort of there in lingerie and everything, so it does take a couple of takes to sort of feel comfortable with it.”

“List,” you may remember, started out as a TV movie that aired back in 2010, and the experience left Hewitt and the rest of the cast wanting more. “We had sort of joked around when we were doing the movie about how fun it would be to sort of turn this into a series and really get in deeper with the lives of the women in the spa.” And indeed, the series is less about what Hewitt coyly refers to as the “happy endings part” and more of a workplace dramedy about a tight-knit group of women who happen to perform certain acts behind closed doors.

This isn’t Hewitt’s first time at the TV rodeo, of course. She started out as Bailey’s girlfriend Sarah on Fox’s ’90s drama “Party of Five” and is fresh off a five-season run as medium Melinda Gordon on CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer.” And being from Texas herself, the role of Riley feels like something of a homecoming. “I’ve gotten to go back to my original accent, which has been really fun for me,” she explains. “But it’s hard to drop now sometimes when I go home. So I talk goofy, and my friends are like, ‘What are you doing?’”

TV veteran Cybill Shepherd (“Moonlighting,” “Cybill”) co-stars as Riley’s feisty mom, Linette, and Hewitt is clearly thrilled to be working with her. “She lights the set. All the lighting that you see on the series is pretty much just Cybill being in the room. I love her to pieces.” Plus, after Riley’s husband ditches her in the pilot, an illicit romance starts brewing between Riley and her hunky brother-in-law, Evan (Colin Egglesfield, “Rizzoli & Isles”). “Riley’s life is going to be turned upside down, and the brother is there to hold her hand through it, and so that’s going to bring up some complications and some interesting storylines.” (And some pretty steamy make-out scenes, we might add.)

The star is well aware that her new project may raise some eyebrows, but she dismisses any criticism that “List” portrays all massage therapists as being one step removed from prostitution. “I don’t think anybody that’s watching is expecting me to teach the logistics of giving a proper massage. … I played a medium on ‘Ghost Whisperer’ for five years, and the mediums never complained about the fact that I had cleavage while I was crossing people over into the light.” (We don’t think anyone complained about that, actually.)

Hewitt’s not only the star of “The Client List,” she’s an executive producer as well and does poke her head into the writers’ room from time to time. (“Probably more than the writers like,” she admits.) And she’s stepping into the director’s chair, too: Hewitt says she’s slated to helm the “List” season finale. All of which makes for some pretty long hours. So how does a TV star unwind after an exhausting day of shooting? “I watch ‘The Voice’ and ‘American Idol,’ and I sit in my Brookstone foot massager.” Sounds like a pretty happy ending to us.

“The Client List” premieres Sunday, 4/8 at 10 PM on Lifetime.

Yahoo.com

Jennifer Love Hewitt has towered over fast-food joints and gas stations for months to sell the actress’ new show, “The Client List,” which premieres Sunday on Lifetime. On the program, she plays a Texas single mother who works at a full-service massage parlor to make ends meet.

The series marks a new creative direction for the relatively chaste Lifetime, best known for its ripped-from-the-headlines, made-for-television movies and tacky reality shows like “Dance Moms.” The move signifies no less of a change for the 33-year-old actress who rose to early fame playing a wholesome girl next door on the long-running ’90s family drama “Party of Five.”

But after appearing in a few teen movies — most memorably 1997′s “I Know What You Did Last Summer” — her big-screen turns weren’t as well-received. It wasn’t until the 2005 launch of “Ghost Whisperer”that Hewitt regained her stride. The CBS series, about a woman able to communicate with spirits, earned solid ratings and ran for five seasons.

“I think people were expecting me to go play another network show and play the same girl I’ve been playing for a long time,” she said, sitting at a booth last month at Corky’s diner in Sherman Oaks, where “The Client List” crew members were preparing for a scene in the show’s sixth episode. “But now starting my 24th year in the business, I needed a little bit of a re-creation. I looked at my career and thought, ‘Let’s shake it up a little bit. Let’s have butterflies in our stomach.’”

“The Client List” grew out of a movie of the same name, also starring Hewitt, that ran on Lifetime in 2010. Lifetime executives, who’ve struggled with ratings in recent years, were encouraged by the film’s strong numbers. According to Nielsen, last year the network’s prime-time viewership fell 6%, to 1.1 million, from 2009, while Lifetime’s core audience — women ages 18 to 49 — was down 14%.

“This is a bold series for us, there’s no doubt about it — and we want to bring in new viewers,” acknowledged Rob Sharenow, Lifetime’s executive vice president of programming. “We’re proud of our Lifetime movies, but we are trying to evolve the mother ship and do things that are more accessible to the general public. And with this show’s marketing campaign, I’ve definitely had a lot of anecdotal comments from men who have never noticed Lifetime in quite the same way.”

Hewitt, too, has heard from men intrigued by the risqué advertisements. But by now, she says, she has become accustomed to public commentary about her body. In 2007, a round of unflattering bikini shots made the rounds on the Internet, prompting the actress to appear on the cover of People magazine under the headline “Stop calling me fat!”

“Because my body has certainly been talked about in a negative way, the fact that people are talking positively about it now makes me feel good,” said Hewitt, who is also an executive producer on the new series. “It would be great if there was an equal amount of, ‘Wow, she really gave us a great performance’ as ‘She has big boobs.’ They’re not always equal…. I always try to remember that it’s Hollywood, and part of our job as actors is to be eye candy — so it’s fine.”

Playing up her sexuality hasn’t always come easily to Hewitt. Harry Elfont, who directed the actress in 1998′s “Can’t Hardly Wait,” said the studio initially had reservations about casting her as the “prettiest girl at school” when her image was more the “cute, supporting best friend.”

“She was figuring out the balance of how sexy she should be,” recalled Elfont, who noted, “she was still girlish and innocent, but at the same time — she knew she looked good.”

It’s partly that sexy-but-sweet reputation that has endeared Hewitt to audiences. While she realizes the importance of her sex appeal, she also believes there’s a “best friend vibe” about her: “a dorky, throw my hair in a ponytail and pillow fight with my friends kind of girl,” as she puts it.

Hewitt isn’t shy about using social media and has been exceedingly open on her Twitter account. She shares pictures from “The Client List” set, muses about her desire to become aVictoria’s Secretangel and retweets saccharine love sayings, like “come live in my heart and pay no rent.” She has also been candid about her relationship struggles, most notably in the 2010 self-help book “The Day I Shot Cupid: Hello, My Name Is Jennifer Love Hewitt and I’m a Love-aholic.”

“She’s enormously approachable,” said Cybill Shepherd, who plays Hewitt’s mother on the new show. “I loved the experience of working with her so much that I’d probably do the phone book with her. And she looks gorgeous on those billboards. They’ll get people to tune in, and then they’ll see her wonderful acting.”

Indeed, Hewitt’s TV movie role earned her a Golden Globe nomination — an honor that still leaves her dumbfounded.

“It was like, ‘Wow, somebody noticed something else,’” she said with a laugh.

“I’d like to find some more parts like that that could offer a different side or a different conversation piece. I have not been offered those yet,” she said. After pausing for a moment reflectively, she tried to regain her optimism. “But, hey, I’ve only got a few years left before I’m a character actor, anyway, so might as well work it.”

LATimes.com

That’s the stripped down marketing campaign driving eyeballs to Jennifer Love Hewitt’s racy new Lifetime series, The Client List, which launches Sunday (10/9C).

But Hewitt will tell it you you straight. “The scariest part of those billboards was how hungry I was when we were doing the photo shoot,” says Hewitt today in her trailer, laughing. “Because for days I was just like, ‘Let me suck on an ice cube and pretend it’s chicken.’ ”

Sex is on the front burner in the series which revolves around Hewitt as Riley Parks, a Texas mom who turns to giving erotic massages to break even on her mortgage.

The show, says Lifetime president Nancy Dubuc, is helping push the network forward. “It’s clearly not your mother’s Lifetime anymore,” she says. “We want to be a reflection of who women are today.”

Hewitt is ready to shake up her image. “I’m not just going to turn the music up a little bit I’m going to turn the music up really loud,” she says, curling up in an oversized t-shirt and ripped jeans, while sipping on lemon-flavored sparkling water, her extra-long lashes and TV makeup still in place. “That, for me, was those billboards, and for (Lifetime), it’s this show.”

To play Riley, who is often in lingerie, Hewitt has been “working out like crazy,” ruling out junk food and soda and treating herself to desserts once a week. She calls flaunting her new body, years after tabloids gleefully ran photos of her then-curvier self on the covers of magazines, bittersweet. “I didn’t have a body image issue until they plastered me on the cover of things,” she says. “Then I got one.”

But today she says she’s in the best shape of her life – for herself. “Because I’m at the right age, I’m not in that phase of my life, I’m not caught up in (the tabloid) side of things I went, you know what? If I don’t do it at 33, I’m never going to do it.”

The Client List began its life on air as a Lifetime Original Movie that debuted in 2010 to 3.9 million viewers, with Hewitt starring. Hewitt, who is also an executive producer, will reboot Riley’s story on Easter Sunday with a newly empowered protagonist, and a few new characters to boot (Cybill Shepard remains as her mother).

The series will be lighter, and funnier. “The movie had a bit of a dark tone to it and I think it felt a bit heavy and a bit more reminiscent of what the old brand and tone of Lifetime has been,” says Kim Rozenfeld, executive vice president of current programming at Sony Pictures Television, which produces the show. He says the sexual content was handled carefully by the team. “It was very important not for it to be flagrant and not for it to be gratuitous.”

But there’s plenty of steamy content left to satisfy those intrigued by Hewitt’s billboards. In the first episode, Riley’s husband mysteriously leaves her with two children to take care of, and she ends up applying for a job at a massage clinic called The Rub. Lingerie-fueled massage sessions quickly follow.

“I think we might surprise some people with how they feel about what she does,” says Hewitt, whose character often counsels the men she services. “Even though the ad campaigns and a lot of the provocative parts of promoting this show are about the ‘happy endings,’ the show is a really a very normal series about a woman who’s just trying to be a single mom.”

Called “Love” by her friends, in her personal life, Hewitt, who is single, says her view of love has grown up. “I’ve always been a hopeless romantic,” she says. “I’ve always had my head in the rom-com – which I think is a great quality. The problem is, rom-com’s aren’t real.”

Although she still tweets actively about love, “I’m at a place where I could get married, I could not get married,” she says. “Kids is not something I’ll give up on, that’s something I really want in my life but I just sort of started shifting my mindset a little bit.”

Prince Charming, right now, might just turn out to be a netowrk. “Lifetime and I are in such synergy right now because we’re both in exactly the same place,” she says, with a TV movie and another series in the pipeline with them. “We both have been one thing for a long time and loved it and are now ready to say hey, there’s more to me in there than you thought there was and let’s switch it up a little bit.”

USAToday.com

During this recent interview to promote the risque new show, actress/executive producer Jennifer Love Hewitt talked about what initially drew her to this role, what made her want to do a series version of this story after having done a two-hour film, how she’s been using social media sites to attract interest from viewers, how she mentally prepares to wear lingerie and give the guest stars massages, the research that she did for this role, how exciting she is to be directing the season finale, and that she hopes viewers just have a really good time watching the show.

Question: What made you want to be a part of the television version of this, after starring in the film version?

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT: We had joked around, when we were doing the movie, about how fun it would be to turn this into a series and really get in deeper with the lives of the women in the spa and everything. So, when the movie did really well, I talked it over with everybody and said, “Let’s pitch it and see what they think,” and here we are.

What originally really drew you to the role of Riley Parks?

HEWITT: I just thought it was really interesting, even with the movie. I think it’s interesting to create empowerment in a woman, who essentially could feel powerless and who could find herself in danger and could look at the situation she’s in, if she wanted to, as not very empowering. This is actually very powerful. She’s making these decisions and she’s making them consciously, and she’s growing sexually, emotionally, physically and mentally, in this job. She’s connecting, in a real, human way, with the human condition and human spirit and hearts of the people on her table. It’s super-powerful. I was really interested in that. I just thought that that was really cool, and a neat message to send out.

You’re a big part of Twitter now, taking pictures from the set and posting updates. How has your social networking enhanced interest in the show?

HEWITT: I have to say that, by nature, I’m like a 90-year-old woman, so the whole internet and Twitter and Facebook, and all of that, I’m very new to. But, I am quite shocked at how much fun it is to be able to reach out to people, on a daily basis, and keep content out there, and how much it actually really does help promote things, in such a different way. I also feel like, sometimes as actors and artists, we don’t really get to be an effective and integral part of the promotional process, other than doing interviews. With Twitter and Facebook now, and all of this stuff, it really allows us to play and have fun, vis-à-vis the pictures that I send out on Twitter every day, or little videos, or whatever it is. I feel like I’m getting to promote the show, in my own way as well, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a lot of fun.

What do the men in your life think of you playing such a provocative role, week to week?

HEWITT: The men in my life are our crew members and the actors that I work with on the massage table, and they’re pretty happy about it because they’re usually getting massaged. My one male dog is very jealous because I’m gone a lot with the hours. I have had a lot of my guy friends be like, “So, have you learned anything in massage yet? Can I get a massage?” I’m like, “I just worked 14 hours, so no, you cannot have a massage. That’s not what we do there.” I think people are having a pretty good time with it.

How did you mentally prepare for your first scene at the massage parlor? Did you get as nervous as your character did?

HEWITT: It was a little nerve-wracking, the first day, for sure. Essentially, even though we’re actors, the guys are strangers to me, at the time, and I’m there in lingerie. But, I will say that the guys that we’ve hired so far have just been such gentlemen. They’ve been so lovely. I think it’s awkward for them also because I‘m in lingerie and they’re in pretty much nothing, and we’re in front of so many people. It is a very intimate thing to have to massage people, so it does take a couple of takes to feel comfortable with it.

Since the show is on Lifetime, obviously there’s only so much they can show. If it had aired on something like HBO or Showtime instead, and the role actually required nudity, would you still have done it?

HEWITT: I wouldn’t have done nudity, no. That’s not something that I feel particularly comfortable with. I also think that it’s sexier not to show everything. I feel that people’s imaginations can do way more.

Have you ever done anything in your life, where you had to keep a big secret from your loved ones, like your character does?

HEWITT: It wouldn’t be a secret if I tell you, now would it? No, I really haven’t. I’m a pretty bad liar, and I’m not very good at keeping secrets. I’m one of those people who is like, “Let me tell you what happened today. You’re never going to believe it!” So, I feel like I probably would not be as good at this as Riley is.

What research did you do for this? Did you actually go to massage parlor?

HEWITT: No, I chose not to. For me, the funny thing is that, even though the show has this provocative setting, and I know that what people are talking about is this happy ending aspect of the show, for me, the part that I did more research on was being a single mom. I’m playing a Texas woman in economic struggles. She’s somebody who, emotionally, has to carry all of these secrets and all of this loneliness, and all of the stuff that she struggles with in the series. I’m from Texas. All the woman in my family are from Texas. So, I did more research in spending time with them and the women that I know who are single moms, and how they hold it all together with a full-time job, then I did the happy ending part of it because, for me, that’s not who Riley is. That’s where Riley finds herself, but that is not who she is, so I chose not to do research on that aspect of things because it wasn’t something that I needed to know how to do, in order to play the part.

Being from Texas and having the show set there, is there anything that you drew on from your personal experiences to create the character or the setting?

HEWITT: Definitely! Riley and Linette (Cybill Shepherd) are there great combinations of my own mom. I feel like Riley is who my mom was in her 20s and 30s, and I feel like Linette is how my mom is now, in so many great ways. Not in what they do in the show, necessarily, but in the spirit of who they are. I’ve really drawn a lot from that. My mom was a single mom who did have a boy and a girl. She was a Texas mom. I’ve gotten to go back to my original accent, which has been really fun for me, but it’s hard to drop now sometimes, when I go home. That part of it has been really fun. It’s reminded me how lucky I feel to be from Texas, and how much I just love the spirit there.

How do you feel about women, like Riley, who are caught between conventional work and perhaps compromising their morals to get ahead?

HEWITT: I think it’s realistic. It may not make people comfortable, and it begs the question of, “Are there any other options?” For Riley, there aren’t, at the time. I think people are just going to have to try to be as non-judgmental about that as possible. But, I do think that this real. The story that we’re telling is real. There really are families that are put in these positions, economically. There are women out there who are in sex worker positions that you would run into at the grocery store with their hair piled on top of their head, and have no idea. So, I feel like, as women and men and people on the planet, you just have to do the best with what life gives you. Hopefully, on our show, people will have a lot of fun watching Riley do the best with what life has offered her, and it’ll be an interesting series.

Given the double life that Riley leads, what’s the biggest challenge for you in playing her?

HEWITT: Not eating pasta because I’m in lingerie all the time! I miss pasta so much. Probably my biggest challenge is not eating all the food that I want to eat sometimes.

Do you think your stint on Ghost Whisperer really helped you, in terms of getting ready for this role?

HEWITT: They’re two completely different roles. It definitely prepared me for the work schedule and for the hours, and for what it’s like to promote a new show, and all of those things. But, as far as emotionally, they’re so different. They’re such different people. So, in that way, not really. But, definitely in the off-camera aspects of how to live a life and work these kinds of hours and do this sort of job, it definitely helped, for sure.

Which role do you like playing more, or do you like both of them, equally?

HEWITT: I like both of them. They’re two totally completely different parts. I will say that there’s one common theme between them, which is their empathy. That is something I am apparently very attracted to, in the characters that I play. I loved that about Melinda, and I really do love that about Riley. I think she’s, quite possibly to a fault, one of the most empathetic people I’ve ever met, and I think that’s a really lovely quality, and it’s hard to find in a human being. And Melinda was that way, as well. But, I couldn’t choose a favorite one. I like not always having to talk to dead people. Definitely giving a massage beats the crossover, any day.

How hard was it for you to decide to jump back into a TV series regular role again?

HEWITT: It took some thought, but after meeting everyone at Lifetime and knowing that this was the part I was going to jump into, it was pretty easy. The only real consideration was the hours and just how sleepy you get, but the work made it the easiest decision ever. I love this part, and I love what the show represents. I’m really, really excited for, and blown away by, Lifetime’s commitment to change their network and do bigger, bolder things. To let us help them do that was exciting.

What do you think audiences will enjoy most about the show?

HEWITT: I think people are going to take away different things. I think that it’s extraordinarily relatable, even though people may not think that, right off the bat, with our promotional campaign. But, is relatable in that that’s where we are right now, economically. I also think that there are lots of single moms out there in the world who are doing the best that they can. There are lots of people that married their childhood sweethearts and it turned out different, after some time went by. I think there are also different characters that people will identify with on the show. I think there’s a little something for everybody. I do think that we make the journey really fun for people to watch, and that’s the best television. We all sit down to watch television to forget about reality for a minute, and we want to do that for people.

Are there any characteristics of Riley Parks that were so complex that you had to adjust to them?

HEWITT: Playing her every day, I still ask myself, “Was there another option? Could she have done something else?” Hopefully, my journey emotionally playing her will be the same journey that the audience will go through. Just as you start to maybe feel like you could judge her for a minute, you will realize that there isn’t another way for her, and that she’s doing exactly what she should be doing and that she’s growing in her humanity, in doing this. She’s becoming a better mom and a better woman and a better daughter and just a better person because of her circumstances, and that makes it really cool. But, I think that I definitely have asked myself a few times, “Okay, are we telling the right story here and are we doing it the right way?”

Is it hard to shake off Riley, when the scenes are very intense?

HEWITT: No, it’s kind of fun, actually. She’s real feisty, and I’m pretty feisty in life, too. It’s good for me to get to do that stuff, sometimes. The hardest thing is because I’m 33 now, sometimes I go home, at the end of the day, after a day of massages or a day of really high heels, and I’m sore. I’m like, “Really, old lady? You’re sore from giving massages all day?” But, it’s good.

Do you get to ad-lib at all, or do you follow the script completely?

HEWITT: We pretty much follow the script, but we do ad-lib. The writers are amazing, and I have a lot of respect for what they do and how they break down stories and make it happen. But, when it’s passed off to us, as actors, our job is to go, “Okay, are we saying it in a way that they’re going to be able to grasp it the best? Emotionally, can I deliver it better, so that viewers can cry or laugh or feel something even deeper than what you intended?” So, the only reason to change a line or ad-lib is to have that be the purpose. We do that sometimes, but not all the time.

There has apparently been some backlash from massage therapists over the fact that this show portrays that happy ending element. How do you feel the show does, in terms of portraying the realities of this profession?

HEWITT: I think from the word go, it’s a television series, so I don’t think anybody that’s watching it or turning it on is expecting me to keep the logistics of giving a proper massage. If they’ve seen our billboards, they’re definitely not expecting that. I played a medium on Ghost Whisperer for six years, and the mediums never complained at the fact that I had cleavage while I was crossing people over into the light. In fact, they were super-excited that a hot person was out there representing the medium. So, I have the utmost respect for the massage therapy industry. I get massages all the time. Friends of mine are massage therapists. I think it’s important for people to understand, and they will when they see the series, that we also give legitimate massages at the spa, so it’s not all happy endings. There is a client list and only those people get extras. The rest of the people are there for real massages. So, we do represent both sides of it. But, at the end of the day, it’s the reality. There really are these places and there are lots of people that go to them, and we’re just trying to entertain. We’re just trying to tell a story and would never, ever disrespect any profession, intentionally. I hope that some of those people eventually will be able to stop for a second, watch the show, and find themselves enjoying it.

How do you dive into character for a TV series versus how you portrayed it in the film?

HEWITT: I’m portraying her the same way, essentially, except that I’m getting to know her, every day. What I do love about television is that you actually really do get to know a human being. We’re all different, every day. Stuff happens in my life that comes into how I play her. If I have PMS, maybe Riley is a little bit feistier that day. If I’m really, really happy, she might be super-elated. So, it’s different in that it’s an everyday thing, and we’re getting to break her down, emotionally and psychologically, much differently than we did in the movie. In the movie, we had two hours, so it had to go A, B, C, D, E, F, done. In this, we’re still on A, in Season 1. Season 2 would be the next step in unfolding who Riley is. We’re still figuring that out. There’s definite things that we thought we were going to do, in this season, that either we’ve pulled back from now and have decided not to do in this season because we want to give it more time, or that we’ve rushed because we want to get it out quickly.

You directed some episodes of Ghost Whisperer. Is there any chance you’ll be stepping behind the camera for this show?

HEWITT: Yes, I am directing the season finale, which I’m super-excited about.

How do you feel about directing a cast, when you’re in the show?

HEWITT: It’s great. It’s really fun. The good news is that they’re used to me and, essentially, because I direct, I’ve been able to observe what they like, what they don’t like, their power, and all of their greatest attributes. I’ve been watching, from day one, so when I get in there to direct, I know if somebody is an actor who likes to keep moving while they’re acting, or who needs to use props in order to forget that the camera is there. I’ve seen them figure out how to get to an emotional spot, so I know where, in the day, to place that scene, or what to say to them to bring that out. So, I start at an advantage, which is really nice, when you get to direct the cast like that. That’s cool.

As one of the executive producers, Do you ever get involved with the writing of the show, or the direction it’s going to go?

HEWITT: I do, probably more than the writers like because I have lots of storyline ideas swirl around in my head, and lots of opinions on things. My job playing Riley, and as an executive producer, is to watch over her and the rest of the cast, and see where they’re going emotionally with their characters, in this first season, and what we’re saying to the audience. So, I have been very vocal. I’ve not physically written anything, but I’ve definitely been very vocal.

What do you prefer doing more, movies or TV?

HEWITT: I like them both, for different reasons. Films are amazing. To be a part of a movie is the greatest. It’s so historic and exciting. Television, for me, is great because I love to act, every day. I love to work that muscle. I love to learn, and I love to be able to just do what I love. It’s when I’m at my best. So, I love TV for that reason because it’s every day.

When, in your life, do you most need a massage, and call up and make an appointment?

HEWITT: A friend of mine is a really amazing masseuse, so on those very few days that I get off really early, she’ll come over and give me massage. It’s a way for me to consciously take a minute for myself. I don’t always lay down on the table. Sometimes it’s just sitting up in a chair, getting my shoulders and neck rubbed, but it’s good. Now, it’s research for me as well because if she does something where I’m like, “Oh, wow, that’s really cool, that feels nice,” she can teach me how to do that, so that when I’m actually doing a massage on the show, I can look like I know what I’m doing, and the actors can go home and be like, “I actually got a little bit of a massage.” That’s super-exciting.

What were you really looking forward to exploring more, in the series, that you didn’t necessarily get to do with the film?

HEWITT: Just more of her being a mom, more of the double life, and more of the odd friendships that she would make with the people either in the spa or outside of the spa.

What do you think it says about the economy that a woman like Riley would find herself in a position where she has to do something like this to make a living? Has playing this role changed your mind about the morality or even the legality of this type of job?

HEWITT: The legalities of it are not something that I’ve really thought about. I’m an actor playing a part, and I find it interesting. I do think that it is no surprise that, economically, we’re in trouble. There’s been a lot of trouble out there. I read a stat, a year and a half ago, that more women than ever have found themselves in these positions, mostly doing phone sex and things like that, to help pay bills, so that they could be two-income households. They can do these short-term jobs and still pick up their kids at school, at the end of the day, and drop them off in the morning, and all of that stuff. I find it fascinating. I’m not one to judge the people in that situation, nor would I really want to. I think that’s why I’ve not done research, on that side of things. That’s not for me to really be a part of, but I do think that it makes for a really interesting television series. I think that there’s enough in the story that people will be able to relate to, that you will be able to watch an episode and ask yourself some real questions about where you stand on certain things. If you’re talking about us after we’re off the air, then we’ve done a really good job.

What’s it like working with Cybill Shepherd?

HEWITT: She lights the set. All the lighting that you see on the series is pretty much just Cybill being in the room. She is hysterical. I love her to pieces. She’s just an awesome lady. We were able to bond in the movie, and there was no way that I was going to do the series without her. It’s just great. We have a really good time.

Can you talk about the love triangle that’s forming with the two brothers?

HEWITT: There could be a bit of a triangle. It’s a complicated relationship, between Evan (Colin Egglesfield) and Riley and Kyle (Brian Hallisay). It’s complicated when you go into a family and you’re that close with both brothers. I think that the audience is going to help us make up our minds a little bit on where that cookie is going to crumble. It might be a little bit of both. I don’t want to say too much about it because I really don’t want to give away anything, but there’s definitely going to be a triangle. Riley’s life is going to be turned upside down, and one brother is the driving force behind it being turned upside down, while the other brother is there to hold her hand through it. That’s going to bring up some complications and some interesting storylines.

How did you decide on the slight differences that were made in the show, from what was in the movie?

HEWITT: There was a conscious choice to start over. The movie was the movie, and we are beyond grateful that people loved it for what it was and that it did really well because it got us here. But, we really want people to look at the series as its own thing now. We made subtle differences and changes in things and places, so that we could say, “This is its own deal.” We felt like that was important, and hopefully the audience will be cool with it.

What has it been like to work with Brian Hallisay?

HEWITT: It’s great. He plays my husband, in the series. He’s not had tons to do because he leaves Riley. He’s there and he’s not there, and that will be explained, as the episodes unfold. We’ve gotten really lucky to have really great actors who are really amazing at their parts. It’s been so fun that way. Particularly with Colin [Egglesfield] and Brian, it’s been really to fun to play the scenes with both brothers because they’re so different.

What is the most important lesson you learned about yourself, throughout your career?

HEWITT: Oh, wow! That I bounce back pretty quick from rejection. I think, in 24 years in the business, you have a lot of doors slammed in your face, and a lot of people say mean things. Every time, I’m constantly surprised at how the span of time gets quicker that I get okay with it, and I’m over it. That’s been an interesting thing to learn.

Are you planning on writing another book?

HEWITT: I’ve been playing around with some new ideas for one. If I get a second to sit for a minute, I might take another stab at it.

You’ve been one of America’s darlings for a long time now. What are you looking forward to the audience seeing, with the show?

HEWITT: I’m hoping that they’ll just have a really good time. It’s a fun story that we’re telling. It’s an interesting story. I hope that they will really love Riley and root for her, as well as judge her sometimes. I’m one of those weird people that thinks a role model is an imperfect person, not a perfect person, because that’s who we are as real people. So, we’ve consciously tried to make Riley imperfect, in the most perfect way, and I’m hoping that people will appreciate that. I just want them to have fun. It’s a really fun show. We want to catch them by surprise and grab them by their shirt collars, every now and then, and have them cry or laugh unexpectedly, or get angry for her. But, for the most part, we just want them to have a good time.

What’s a day like, on the set?

HEWITT: It’s great. It’s very funny. The show’s subject matter leads to a lot of fun jokes, and we have a great time. Loretta Devine is the best. She and I are always in hysterics. My favorite thing to do is to bother all day. And, Cybill is just this ball of light. It’s a lot of fun.

What do you do in your downtime, to recharge and find some balance in your life?

HEWITT: I watch The Voice and American Idol, and I sit in my Brookstone foot massager. It’s so exciting at my house.

The Client List airs on Sunday nights on Lifetime, starting on April 8th.

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