tvview.tv - Daily Television Magazine - Primetime TV Listings Guide, News, Reviews, Chat, Blog.

Editor's TV Show Reviews

Click Here To Return To tvview.tv Editor's Reviews Menu

 Lie To Me

(March 30th, 2009.  Editor)               Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, Monica Raymund star in the one hour drama Lie To Me, airing Wednesday on FOX.

The average person tells three lies in ten minutes of conversation. Dr. Cal Lightman (Roth) can detect the truth by analyzing a person's face, body, voice and speech. When someone shrugs his shoulder, rotates his hand or raises his lower lip, Lightman knows he's lying. By analyzing facial expressions, he can read feelings, from hidden resentment to sexual attraction to jealousy. But as Lightman well knows, his scientific ability is both a blessing and a curse in his personal life, where family and friends deceive each other as readily as criminals and strangers do. Lightman is the world's leading deception expert, a scientist who studies facial expressions and involuntary body language to discover not only if you are lying but why.

From writer Samuel Baum ("The Evidence") and the executive producers of 24 and "Arrested Development" comes a new drama series inspired by the scientific discoveries of Dr. Paul Ekman, a real-life specialist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose both the truth and lies in criminal investigations.

Lightman heads a team of experts at The Lightman Group who assist federal law enforcement, government agencies and local police with their most difficult cases. Dr. Gillian Foster (Williams) is a gifted psychologist and Lightman's professional partner who brings balance to the partnership by looking at the bigger picture while Lightman focuses on the details. He needs her guidance and insight into human behavior, whether he knows it or not. Eli Loker (Hines) is Lightman's lead researcher, who is so uncomfortable with the human tendency to lie that he's decided to practice what he calls "radical honesty". He says everything on his mind at all times and often pays the price. Ria Torres (Raymund) is the newest member of the agency, and one of the few "naturals" in the field of deception detection. She has a raw, untrained ability to read people, that makes her a force to be reckoned with.

Acting in this series would be the best training in your craft that any job could be. Because a critical plot point depends on a facial expression or small movement, the performance of the actor is often the key to a scene. As an actor, I don't see how it gets any better than that.

I also like the characters created by the writers. What I like about the character of Lightman is that even though he is in the position of authority in his workplace and often works for the police, he is also flawed. He suffers from the mistakes of his past and because of that, he forces himself to consider and reconsider every decision he makes. As he reveals the clues to the humanity of those he studies, he reveals clues to his own humanity.

The depth that this series delves into the human psychology has never been attempted before. While I am quickly becoming a fan, this is dangerous ground for a television series. There will be a large segment of the population who will not be interested in seeing a journey into their own mind, or even the mind of someone on TV. There will be another segment who have no interest or ability when it comes to "Head Games". I'm hoping that there are enough viewers to satisfy the network out of those who remain, as it really it offers the viewers a chance to think and to learn.

This quirky, unconventional drama is worth a try. It won't be like a lot of other things you have seen before. But I'm fairly sure, that was the intent.

 

Editor

 

All Content Copyright © 2009 TVVIEW.TV - All Rights Reserved.