''Mistresses'' is an American mystery

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

television series based on the 2008–10 U.K. series of the same name, about the lives of four female friends and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships. This adaptation was developed by K. J. Steinberg, and stars

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in '' My Name Is Earl'', Sa ...

Rochelle Aytes Rochelle Aytes is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as April Malloy on ABC drama series ''Mistresses'' (2013–16) and as the voice of Rochelle in the critically acclaimed video game ''Left 4 Dead 2'' (2009). Aytes al ...

Yunjin Kim Yunjin Kim (Hangul: 김윤진), also known as Kim Yun-Jin (born November 7, 1973) is a South Korean-American film and theater actress. She is best known for her role as Sun-Hwa Kwon on the American television series ''Lost'', and as the North K ...

Jes Macallan Jes Macallan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Josslyn Carver in ABC drama series ''Mistresses'' and Ava Sharpe in The CW superhero comedy-drama ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Career Jes Macallan is an actor and director. Be ...

, and

Jennifer Esposito Jennifer Esposito is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the feature films '' Summer of Sam'' (1999), ''Don't Say a Word'' (2001), ''Welcome to Collinwood'' (2002), as well as ''Crash'' and ''Taxi'' (both 2004). She has also appe ...

in the lead roles. The series was originally set to premiere on May 27, 2013. However, ABC announced that ''Mistresses'' would premiere on June 3, 2013. On September 9, 2016, ABC canceled ''Mistresses'' after four seasons. It had been expected that if there had been a fifth season it would have been intended to be the final season.

Cast and characters

as Savannah "Savi" Davis (seasons 1–2), a lawyer who is Harry's ex-wife and the older half-sister of Joss. *

as Dr. Karen Kim, a psychiatrist who was romantically involved with one of her patients. *

as April Malloy, a widowed single mother, who is the owner of home furnishings boutique and cafe. *

as Josslyn "Joss" Carver, a real estate agent and the younger half-sister of Savi. *

Brett Tucker Brett Alan Tucker (born 21 May 1972) is an Australian actor and singer. He was a series regular in '' The Saddle Club'', ''McLeod's Daughters'', and '' Mistresses''. He is also known for his role as Daniel Fitzgerald in ''Neighbours''. He pla ...

as Harry Davis, a chef/restaurateur who is Savi's ex-husband. *

Erik Stocklin Erik Flynn Stocklin (born September 24, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his recurring roles on television series such as ''Mistresses'', ''Stalker'' and '' Good Trouble'', and for his leading role in the Netflix original series ''H ...

as Sam Grey (season 1), the son of Karen's deceased lover. * Jason George as Dominic Taylor (main, seasons 1–2; guest, seasons 3–4), a lawyer and coworker of Savi's. *

Rob Mayes Rob Mayes is an American actor, musician, and model. He is best known for starring as the title character in the 2012 horror comedy film ''John Dies at the End'', as well as portraying Tommy Nutter in the short-lived comedy-drama television seri ...

as Marc Nickleby (seasons 3–4), a handsome new friend and colleague of Harry's and the uncle of Paul and Miranda's son who moves in with April. *

as Calista Raines (born Carla Rizzotti) (season 3), creative director of a luxury fashion brand who befriends Joss. * Tabrett Bethell as Kate Davis (guest, season 2; main, season 4), Harry's sister who relocates to Los Angeles looking for love after the breakdown of her engagement.

Episodes

Production

Development

In February 2012, ABC announced that it had

green-light To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

ed ''Mistresses'' with a direct-to-series order and a planned summer 2013 airdate. Thirteen episodes were ordered. K.J. Steinberg wrote the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in television in the United States, United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a te ...

, which had previously been under consideration for a pilot order for ABC's fall 2012 schedule. This is the second attempt by a network to import the British series to the U.S. In 2008, Lifetime announced it was developing the series, but it never made it to air. The Lifetime version was also to have starred Aytes, alongside Milano's ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcas ...

'' co-star

Holly Marie Combs Holly Marie Combs Ryan (born December 3, 1973) is an American actress and producer. She is known for her roles as Kimberly Brock in the CBS series '' Picket Fences'' (1992–1996), Piper Halliwell in The WB series ''Charmed'' (1998–2006) and ...

. On September 25, 2013, ABC renewed ''Mistresses'' for a second season, which aired from June 2 to September 1, 2014. On September 30, 2014, ABC renewed the series for a third season with production of the program being moved from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, British Columbia. The season premiered on June 18, 2015, with a special two-hour premiere in a new Thursday timeslot. On September 25, 2015, ABC renewed ''Mistresses'' for a fourth season of 13 episodes. In December 2015, ''Mistresses'' was selected for the California film and TV tax credit, relocating filming of the series back to Los Angeles.

Casting

Casting announcements began in early March, with

and

being the first actors cast. Aytes portrays April, a widow and mother of one, while Macallan plays Josslyn, a real estate broker and the youngest of the women.

came on board the project in mid-March in the role of Karen, a psychiatrist who is upset over the death of a patient with whom she was involved.

completed the lead cast when she signed on to portray Savannah, a married lawyer and older sister to Josslyn. On September 30, 2014, Milano announced that she would not be returning for the third season of the series as production would be later moved from Los Angeles to Vancouver in order to cut production costs. On February 10, 2015, it was confirmed that actress

would join the cast as the new co-lead Calista Raines, described as the creative director of a luxury fashion brand. On September 25, 2015, the same day when ABC announced ''Mistressess fourth season renewal, Esposito also left the show after one season. On February 19, 2016, it was announced that Tabrett Bethell, who previously guest starred as Kate Davis in season two for one episode, would return in the remaining lead role during the fourth season.

Reception

Critical reception

''Mistresses'' holds a score of 42 out of 100, on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 16 negative reviews by critics from early in the first season. Brian Lowry of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' was quite optimistic about the series, stating: "A frothy prime time soap with a definite naughty streak, the program looks well suited to scratch an itch for daytime serial fans ABC abandoned." He went on to state: "Although the characters and situations largely mirror its inspiration, this U.S. version wisely seeks a somewhat cheekier and less somber tone." Writing for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', Dorothy Rabinowitz likened the show to ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'', stating: "''Mistresses'' carries very little hint of any complex lineage, give or take a few scenes that could, with ferocious effort, evoke memories of Carrie Bradshaw and company." Rabinowitz also stated that "the really delectable fun, the best of the sparkle, is to be found in the darkest plots, the looming catastrophes, which promise to come in an endless flow." In less positive reviews, ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

David Hinckley gave the premiere two out of five stars, stating that "ABC loves racy romantic dramas, but ''Mistresses'' is not its best work in the genre." He continued by saying that "the problem with ''Mistresses'' may lie with the expectations it has set." Mary McNamara of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' stated that executive producer K.J. Steinberg is "grasping the letter yet not the spirit of the thing, appears more interested in replicating plot from the British version rather than character or anything like nuance."

Ratings

The premiere episode scored a 1.2 in the 18–49 age demographic and 4.40 million viewers. The first season ranked as the No. 2 scripted summer drama among adults 18–49, behind '' Under the Dome'', and averaged around 5 million viewers and a 2.0 18–49 rating, with DVR ratings factored in.

Accolades

Broadcast

''Mistresses'' premiered on

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

on June 3, 2013, the same day it premiered in the US. The series premiered in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

on July 25, 2013, on TLC In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, ''Mistresses'' premiered on September 30, 2013, on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mistresses 2010s American drama television series 2013 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2010s American mystery television series American television series based on British television series American television soap operas American primetime television soap operas Bisexuality-related television series English-language television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television series by ABC Signature Studios Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows filmed in Vancouver