Own the rights?
With my schedule already overstuffed with new shows I like PLUS returning favorites, I would rather not risk tipping the whole thing over into chaos with one more, thank you very much. But if I HAD to do it, I'm glad it's with something like LIE TO ME. Especially since an actor as great as Tim Roth doesn't just stroll onto the small screen everyday. For him to risk getting tied up in a series, it's got to be something good, and the premise of LIE TO ME is irresistible. Roth plays Cal Lightman, the one guy you would probably never want to have as a boss. That's because Cal's specialty is dealing with human behavior, in this case the fine art of lying. Well, make that lie DETECTION. In a fascinating conceit, Lightman and his group study everything from body language, to skin temperature, to something called "micro-expressions" - facial tics and tells that can go by in the blink of an eye, but to the trained observer can reveal everything; from what you had for breakfast on your birthday seven years ago, to what you REALLY think about your spouse. Yep, it's that detailed, that incriminating and that startling. Like most crime procedural shows, the pilot episode shows Lightman dealing with several cases at once, while also setting up his relationships with the rest of the cast: business partner and resident psychologist Gillian Foster (THE PRACTICE'S Kelli Williams); "radical truth-teller" and assistant Eli Loker (Brendan Hines), who has no filter on his ability to edit his feelings or opinions whatsoever, and newcomer Ria Torres (Monica Raymund), a former TSA agent who has an uncanny natural ability to sniff out prevaricators. A fascinating concept, indeed, if a lot higher than most TV shows shoot for. But we wouldn't expect any less from the same production company that gives us ulcers every week with '24'. One can only hope that an attempt isn't made to shoehorn LIE TO ME into that same kind of genre. This plays much better to the same kind of audience geared towards something like CBS's THE MENTALIST or USA's popular, long-running MONK. Given the proper amount of room to breathe and episodes that continue to be driven more by characters than by car chases and explosions every ten minutes, this is a show that might actually gain some staying power - a minor miracle these days when shows have about the length of a "micro- expression" to gain an audience.
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