I have seen the future, and the future is good. In fact, the main thing I am worried about with Lie to Me is the fact that it’s up against Lost (on FOX, Wednesday, 8pm Central, January 21st). However, I have already figured out, thanks to the magic of both TiVo and VCRs, how to watch both, and so can you.
I have been a big Tim Roth fan since I first saw him in Reservoir Dogs. He is a terrific actor, and I could watch him all day. I have to admit, though, that after having viewed the pilot of Lie to Me, in some ways he reminds me of Hugh Laurie’s House. In a good way. But I don’t know if there is room for two Gregory Houses on FOX. Perhaps it is just his honesty, or the fact that he doesn’t really care about offending people. Whatever it is, I hope that I soon start to associate Roth with his character Dr. Cal Lightman, rather than making comparisons. I am going to review the pilot next week after it airs, so I will address some other points in this preview.
The Cast
As much as I love Tim Roth, I think Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams from The Practice) might be my favorite character. I didn’t see her much in The Practice, but I had formed a pretty dour image in my mind. She is sexy and funny, smart and fresh in Lie to Me, and I adore her. I don’t want to spoil anything for the pilot, so I’ll go into more detail next week.
The rest of the supporting staff is interesting, and we’ll have to see how they all gel together as the actors find their characters. Brendan Hines plays researcher Eli Loker. He’s a great-looking kid with a really obnoxious personality trait (which makes him perfect for assisting Dr. Cal Lightman): he is pathologically honest. I think that character decision was probably meant to bring comic relief, but I think it’s going to get obnoxious fast, because it’s not like they’re going to have him say boring things about the cereal he ate. He has to say slightly shocking and awkward things, which is annoying. Leave the comic relief to Kelli Williams: she does it better.
One of the most heartening moments for me when I was watching the pilot, though, was noting in one scene that there was only one white man in it.
The Writing
I am a big sucker for well-written shows. I am very happy to report that Lie to Me falls under that category. It’s smart, fast-paced, funny, and there are a lot of small moments, great details, that contribute to the larger whole of the show. I’ve seen it twice now, and I could happily watch it again (and will). Shows that bear repeated viewings are a Good Thing. In comparison, I’ll say that I usually don’t want to watch an episode of CSI for awhile, because I already know what happened. There is enough other stuff packed into Lie to Me to make me want to view it again.
One of the things that intrigues me about Dr. Cal Lightman is that he has a teenage daughter. I am very curious to observe more of their relationship after viewing the pilot.
The Lying
Of course, the show has to overcome the obstacle that we don’t know as much about how people lie as Dr. Cal Lightman. What they have done to overcome this is genius, I think. They instruct the viewer (via instructing other characters, of course, but it’s interesting) in the seven universal micro-expressions that give people away. Seven is perfect, because that is how many chunks of memory our minds can store. And I have a feeling they will stick with these throughout the show, so they don’t have to re-train us constantly.
The seven emotions that are universal to all people’s facial expressions are: contempt, happiness, disgust, anger, fear, sadness, and surprise. Though, I am pretty sure shame came up a couple of times, too, during the episode. Regardless, it’s pretty easy after you’re instructed to start to be able to take apart the characters who are lying.
I think the show has a great future if it can lure viewers away from Lost – or convince people to rig their houses so somehow they can watch both.
Clacked by Jen Creer
on Jan 17, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
