Lie to Me – Pilot on Fox

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Lie to Me premiered on Fox Television last night and I made sure my DVR was set to watch it after my wife finished up with American Idol.  The premise of the show is listed on Fox’s site:

LIE TO ME, the compelling new drama from the producers of 24, stars Tim Roth (“The Incredible Hulk,” “Reservoir Dogs”) as DR. CAL LIGHTMAN, the world’s leading deception expert who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if someone is lying, but why. When someone shrugs one shoulder, rotates a hand or raises the lower lip, Lightman knows he’s lying.

Based on the real-life scientific discoveries of Paul Ekman, the series follows Lightman and his team of deception experts as they assist law enforcement and government agencies to expose the truth behind the lies.

I was excited as Lie to Me gave us a new little twist on the whole investigative drama, but a twist that could take the show to the top.  I must confess that I find the whole concept of lying to hold a very high level of interest with me.  I have done a bit of studying into the art and detection of lying so maybe I had too much information coming into the show.

The pilot was broken up into two separate stories each of which The Lightman Group was hired to investigate.  They both seemed a bit predictable by mid episode and I think trying to handle two totally distinct story lines for an hour show seems a bit much.  I think that the writers are trying to focus the show more on the actual Lightman Group rather then the storyline for at least the first episode but it just did not work out that way for me.  Also I felt like as a viewer, my hand was being held a little too much for the show when it came to showing the facial expressions.  If that continues past the first show it will teeter onto the side of rather annoying.  I think it would have worked out a little better, if they did not flash back to the celebrities facial expressions each time when they made a point.  This is a show that needs a little work, but I hope for all of our sakes it gets it because the concept is pretty intriguing.

The casting though was pretty on point though.  Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams) is Lightman’s psychologist partner is well played next to the close to omnipotent lie detector in Cal Lightman (Tim Roth).  Eli Loker (Brendan Hines) has an interesting take of lying so he jumps off the other end of the pier by practising “radical honesty” which lends itself to many fun discussions.  Ria Torres (Monica Raymund) get taken on by the agency after they field test her at the airport.  She bring the ability for the writers to question the agency and help the viewer along with necessary background.

I will continue to watch, but for how long remains up in the air.  The other part of the episode that was quite annoying was the part played by the Federal Agents.  They were quite one dimensional for any sort of arc on the show, let us just hope they do not appear often if at all.  If they are part of the overall story, please write them up some personality please.  The pilot episode was a bit overdone and even if it was to introduce the viewers to the show by force feeding them the new take on the drama that is fine.  If it is something that we will continue to see with the same overdone flashing facial expressions by the time we hit the next few episodes I will have to stop watching, and that is no lie.

5 Comments

1. 

   Brian

   January 22, 2009 at 3:06 pm

   I watched up until the opening credits. It’s a shit show as far as I’m concerned with a gimmick that can’t support an entire series.

   Plus they gave Robert Wisdom guest starring credit which tells me that he isn’t a permanent fixture on the show (tho I could be wrong)

   Reply
2. 

   Damon

   January 22, 2009 at 3:20 pm

   I dont know if I call it shit right off the bat, I need to see a few more episodes. The gimmick or twist is pretty interesting and if done right could work, like the mentalist does.

   Reply
3. 

   Brian

   January 22, 2009 at 3:27 pm

   The Mentalist is a joke too

   Reply
4. 

   Camille

   February 7, 2009 at 4:48 pm

   I like it, it’s house but with someone reading facial expressions. But house is still 1# in the world!!!

   Reply
5. 

   Damon

   February 22, 2009 at 8:16 pm

   I actually like the Mentalist, but Lie to Me has not gotten any better. They need to stop showing the damn celebrities and force feeding us the micro expressions. They are catering to people that do not pay attention. The concept is good, but sometimes the execution is dumbed down way too much.

   Reply