It's been a big month for The Client List. The soapy Lifetime drama wrapped up its second season this month, weeks after we learned that its star, Jennifer Love Hewitt, was expecting a baby with her co-star and eventual fiancé Brian Hallisay. How her pregnancy will affect the production of the show remains to be seen, but from the sound of it, it's a major sticking point in the plans for the future of the series. At this point, it sounds like The Client List could move forward with a third season, but decisions still need to be made about the direction of the series, in light of the star's pregnancy.
Based on a Lifetime movie, which was based on a true story, The Client List stars Hewitt as Riley, a wife and mother whose husband (Hallisay) takes off, leaving her to take care of the kids on her own. She takes a job as a masseuse at a massage parlor that, as it turns out, offers "happy endings" to paying clientele. The money's good, so Riley decides to make it work. The show focuses on her work at the massage parlor and her hectic life at home, which includes her complicated relationship with her brother-in-law Evan (Colin Egglesfield). Deadline notes that the ratings drop off that occurred in the series' second season isn't the cause of the delay in the series' renewal for Season 3. Hewitt's pregnancy is the issue, and from what the site reports, the actor has some demands that conflict with the series showrunner (presumably Jordan Budde, though Deadline doesn't specify). Reportedly, Hewitt wants Hallisay's character Kyle - who's the actual father of her child - be the father of Riley's baby. The CL showrunner is considering Egglesfield's character Evan - Kyle's brother - as the potential father of the baby, but they haven't settled on a character and are keeping their options open.
At this point, no decision has been made, but Deadline says they're at an impasse and at present, either or both sides could walk away. But their sources insist a compromise is reachable.
Granted, I'm about a season behind on The Client List, but from what I saw from the first season, Riley and Kyle's relationship was the more intriguing. In fact, the series seemed set up from the start to see Riley and her brother-in-law - the guy that was around when her husband left - get together. As great as it is that things sound like they're going really well for Hewitt and Hallisay in their real-life relationship, I'm not sure that's reason enough to alter the direction of the show. If the second season wasn't priming viewers for a reconciliation between Kyle and Riley, forcing the series into that direction because the actors are in a relationship in real life might push viewers away.
At this point, it doesn't sound like anything's set in stone, but hopefully the writers and Hewitt, who's an executive producer on the show, come to a decision that's in the best interest of the series.
This poll is no longer available.
