How cool would it be to have the ability to be a human lie detector? Personally, I think it would be pretty darn cool, and scary, at the same time. Knowing, so completely, the truthfulness of everyone around you, is as much a burden as a boon. FOX’s Lie to Me follows a group of consultants that can tell if you’re telling the truth, just by looking at you. Kinda crazy, if you ask me, but the show, lead by the amazing Tim Roth and Kelli Williams, did fairly well as a mid-season replacement last year. I thought that the DVD-set deserved a look, as season two starts on September 28th.
I’m a special features junkie. From the ubiquitous gag real, to in-depth featurettes, to the holy grail of DVD special features, the interesting commentary, I’m a fan of them all. A well done commentary can be better than the source material in the first place, be it director, actor, writers, or producers who do the talking (just not the costume designers … they put me to sleep, with one, very notable exception — Mrs. Ron on the Battlestar Galactica podcasts).
Lie to Me really didn’t come complete with a variety of extras. In fact, it was really just a (well put together) featurette, and deleted scenes. (Note to producers: Put deleted scenes on the same disc as their source episode! If I’m going to watch the removed scenes, I want to do it immediately following the episode they came from, and NOT in the final disc of the set.)
The featurette was pretty good. It covered the conception of the show, from the casting all the way to providing details about several of the first season episodes. One of Lie to Me‘s biggest criticisms early on was the science … it was just too cute to be real. The segment covers Dr. Paul Ekman, the U.C. San Francisco professor who has pioneered the actual science behind the fiction.
I am really looking forward to the upcoming season. Mekhi Phifer has been added to the regular cast, adding a seasoned investigator for the group to work with more regularly. What I’m more excited about, however, is the addition of Shawn Ryan as the new show runner. I loved some of Ryan’s previous work on Angel, and show-running the criminally underrated The Unit (I hear he also had something to do with some cop show on FX, but I wouldn’t know). I predict he’s going to take a good show, and make it great.
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Sep 11, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
