Lie To Me, the Tim Roth I-know-what-you’re-thinking-because-your-eyelid-twitched crime show, just got an order from Fox for an additional three scripts. It deserves the full “back nine” order — a full season. Here’s why:
• It’s gotten better: more tense, funnier, smarter. Under new showrunner Shawn Ryan (The Shield), Roth’s Cal Lightman has been put under more pressure this season. He leveraged his company, The Lightman Group, to buy out his ex-wife and keep her from moving his daughter to Chicago. As those few of us who watched last night saw, Cal’s cranky about this. He has to take grungier, cheesier clients to drum up fast cash. And a cranky Cal is a very good Cal: Roth excels at orneriness.
• Lie To Me deserves to prove itself over another season, to demonstrate where it’s going. It’s clear that Ryan, the producers, and the writers have a plan — they want to provide more intensity to the show, so it’s not just The Mentalist Lite. (Maybe that’s the wrong comparison: Can The Mentalist get any lighter? Oh, that’s right, it can: It’s called Psych.) Right now, following Fox’s King Crankypants, House, Lie To Me suffers from its lead-in comparison as much as it benefits from House’s big ratings. It also gets bumped around, as it did last night, due to Fox’s airing of baseball play-offs.
• Last night, we saw how good Lie To Me can be. With a superb guest appearance by Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood) as a gun-wielding hostage-taker, Roth and co-star Kelli Williams really got to show what they can do. Lie To Me has all the makings of a solid, maybe even surprisingly original series.
But it needs more of a vote of confidence from its network. And from you.
Did you watch Lie To Me? Would you watch it again?
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I discovered Lie to Me this past summer and I absolutely love it. I want it to continue and I hope to god it does =D
Is that an intended slam against Psych? Say what you want, but Psych is the most entertaining of these shows. And, oh yeah, it came first.
Psych is cheesy
Pizza’s cheesy, but I love it nonetheless. Anyways, it doesn’t make sense to call Psych a cheesier version of the Mentalist when, chronologically, the Mentalist followed Psych. The more accurate description would be that The Mentalist attempts to be a darker version of Psych.
^agreed.
He’s not slamming Psych, he’s just saying it’s lighter in tone than Lie to Me. Kinda of like how Supernatural (although quite serious at times) still has a lighter overall tone than the X-Files ever did.
Actually he is slamming Pysch. Ken Tucker hates the show giving it bad reviews and even dissed it again on Craig Ferguson.
And it’s better done because it doesn’t take itself seriously. The other two shows just don’t draw me in.
thank you! Psych is one of the funniest, most orinigal shows on TV!
I love Lie To Me. The cast is great and I find the “science” of it all to be unique. It deserves to stick around.
I love this show too. It needs to stick around.
Yes, I did and I would again. I like this show and Tim Roth is great.
Maybe the change has already happened…in DC on FOX5 an episode of “House” ran instead of “Lie to Me”.
Lie To Me ran after, House was pushed back due to the ALCS game.
I love this show especially for Williams and Roth. The characters are spot-on with a great chemistry between them.
My general complaint is that the networks program too many good shows in a few nights so some don’t get the audience they deserve. I use Hulu alot to catch up on episodes (instead of a DVR) and I wish the networks would count those views when looking at ratings.
I too watch Lie To Me every week on Hulu (I can’t afford to get it where I live) and the networks should pay attention to what is being watched on the internet. Lie To Me is a great show with a fantastic cast – keep it going!
Lie to Me is my favorite show!! It’s definitely worth watching — and renewing!
I LOVE this show. It is one of my favorites. Come on Fox…keep this fabulous show going!
I don’t have a TV, but I always watch it on hulu. I really enjoy the interesting science of it, and the characters are great.
try watching it on fox’s website so they know more people are watching
I’m pretty sure Fox accounts for numbers on Hulu as well.
I’ve watched the show since the beginning and never really felt it had anything to prove, but last night’s episode did a great job showing just how much better LTM could be and how far it could stretch beyond the limits of a procedural. (With that cast, it would be a crime if it didn’t.)
And it’s about damned time someone put Garret Dillahunt on the Emmys shortlist. Better yet, give him his own show. I miss seeing his mug on TV every week.
Yes, I’ll watch the show again. I’ve already seen this week’s episode three times and I’m not missing out on Lennie James next week either.
I love this show! Its funny and serious. I especially like when they point out an expression and then show all the famous (or infamous) people who have made the same face. Busted!
those are my favourite bits too. it’s like, ok there’s the science and here’s the proof which we can all see.
Ditto! I love that part.
I love that part of the show also. Love the show and I hope it stays on.
I like ‘Lie To Me’! The body language angle is fun and clever, and its episodic feel strikes me as a successful formula for syndication. Come on, FOX!
Btw, is it just me or does it seem like FOX runs superfluous reruns of ‘House’ ALL THE TIME?
I like this show but Tim Roth is a huge sore point for me. I wish they had cast someone else. I’ve liked him in other stuff but as a main lead, I don’t think he has the charisma. Also a lot of the ‘depth’ they try to give the characters feels fake. They have improved the non-Kelli Williams girl though. She was extremely grating last season.
I’d like to see more of Lie to Me. Last night’s ep was terrific.