# The Client List (2012)

> A single mother in a conservative town secretly runs an upscale business staffed by a group of women.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/36902

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 25
- Episode runtime: 40 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Suzanne Martin, Jordan Budde
- Network: Lifetime
- Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Loretta Devine, Colin Egglesfield, Rebecca Field, Alicia Lagano, Naturi Naughton, Brian Hallisay, Kathleen York
- TMDB rating: 6.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2022170/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: earnest, melodramatic, sincere, breezy, tense

## What critics say

Audiences found the series a mixed watch, with its first season better received than its second, and its premise of a mother balancing a double life drawing the most engagement.

## Synopsis

The Client List (2012-2013) is a US cable drama created by Suzanne Martin and Jordan Budde for Lifetime. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Riley Parks, a single mother in a conservative small town who must keep her family afloat while secretly working as a savvy, ambitious businesswoman among a rowdy and unpredictable group of women. Loretta Devine appears as Georgia Cummings, and Cybill Shepherd plays Linette Montgomery, adding weight to the cast of women around Riley. The engine of the series is Riley's constant balancing act: every dollar she needs for her family and her debts pushes her deeper into a second life that could destroy her reputation at home. Its episodes move between kitchen-table pressures and the tense, glossy business floor, so each story turns on a new money problem or a new risk of exposure. Across two seasons and twenty-five episodes, the show keeps a serialized thread of secrecy and loyalty running beneath its case-by-case business plots. The tone is earnest and melodramatic, with sincere moments of female solidarity balanced against sexy, breezy surfaces. Its territory is the American small town, where respectability and survival collide. Fans of Weeds, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty will find a similar blend of domestic stakes, morally compromised ambition and ensemble warmth.

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