Lie to Me

Lie to me*
Genre	Drama Crime
Created by	Samuel Baum
Written by	Samuel Baum[1][2] Dustin Thomason[2]
Starring	Tim Roth Kelli Williams Brendan Hines Monica Raymund Hayley McFarland and Mekhi Phifer[3]
Opening theme	Brand New Day by Ryan Star
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	35 (22 Aired, 13 Unaired) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brian Grazer David Nevins Samuel Baum Shawn Ryan
Producer(s)	Samuel Baum
Production company(s)	Fox Television
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Original run	January 21, 2009 – present
External links
Official website

Lie to Me (styled as Lie to me*) is an American television series that premiered on the Fox network on January 21, 2009.^[4] In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman and his colleagues in The Lightman Group accept assignments from third parties (commonly local and federal law enforcement), and assist in investigations, reaching the truth through applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language.^[4]

In May 2009, the show was renewed for a second season consisting of 13 episodes.^[5] Season 2 premiered on September 28, 2009.^[6] On November 24, 2009, season two showrunner announced that FOX gave the show a full season pick-up.^[7]

Characters and casting

Main

• Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, is a psychologist with an expertise in body language and especially microexpressions, and founder of The Lightman Group, a private company that operates as an independent contractor to assist investigations of local and federal law enforcement through applied psychology.^[8] Though often confronted by people's skepticism, Lightman uses any psychological technique he deems necessary to reach the truth, however elaborate or truculent. He is divorced, and has split custody of his teenage daughter. He cares deeply about Gillian Foster, and there is a chemistry between them that has yet to develop into anything more. His mother committed suicide while he was still young, an event that led him to discovering and researching microexpressions. There is evidence he was involved with British Intelligence, due to the fact that Reynolds has said "Yeah, I read your file too. Northern Ireland? Let's talk about that...some of the crap you were involved in."^[9] He has also admitted to being an MI6 intelligence agent during the Yugoslavia Wars in 1994 in an attempt to gain the trust of an intelligence agent that he was interrogating. The character is based on Dr. Paul Ekman, a notable psychologist and expert on body language and facial expressions at UC San Francisco. He is also a vegetarian.^[10]

• Kelli Williams as Dr. Gillian Foster, Dr. Lightman's colleague and co-worker in The Lightman Group.^[11] Her husband's lack of candor often challenges her open pact with Lightman: not to let their professional skill interfere with coworker's personal lives. So, when Cal believes her husband Alec is cheating on her, he simply ignores what he is seeing, much to Torres' dismay. Gillian had adopted a baby (Sophie) who was eventually returned to the birth mother. This character is based on Prof Maureen O’Sullivan, a psychology professor at the University of San Francisco.

• Brendan Hines as Eli Loker, initially an employee of The Lightman Group. Loker is academically educated and acquired his skills in "reading" people through practice. He also adheres to radical honesty, and thus rarely lies, even if that makes him appear rude or undiplomatic.^[12] Such as in the pilot, when he first meets Torres, he bluntly tells her that he wants to have sex with her. Lightman demoted him to an unpaid intern after, despite Foster's warnings, he divulged sensitive information to the SEC while working on a case, calling his actions, which includes the fact that Loker made Torres lie about knowing it, "disrespectible, selfish, and just plain stupid."

• Monica Raymund as Ria Torres, an employee of The Lightman Group, and a protegee of Dr. Lightman's, who was recognized as a "natural" while she was still working as a TSA agent.^[13] Torres was abused as a child, a common pattern among naturals, by her father. Though talented and loyal, she lacks academic training and sometimes lets her emotions cloud her judgment.

• Hayley McFarland as Emily Lightman, Cal Lightman's teenage daughter. She is under shared custody between her parents, and though she does not appreciate her father's ability to "read" her, she does not deny its merit for social screening. She sometimes shows a talent for "reading" people, even her father. (Recurring Season 1, Regular Season 2)

• Mekhi Phifer as Ben Reynolds, a FBI agent who is assigned to and assists the Lightman Group in their investigations, offering armed assistance and practical insights. (Recurring Season 1, Regular Season 2)

Recurring

• Jennifer Beals as Zoe Landau, Cal Lightman's ex-wife. She is an assistant to the Attorney General and though currently engaged to another man, she also engaged in a tryst with Lightman, after he helped her in a case. It was revealed in "Truth or Consequences" that she is half-white and half-black.
• Sean Patrick Thomas as Karl Dupree, a Secret Service agent who becomes romantically involved with Torres. He was seriously injured during a terrorist attack.
• Tim Guinee as Alec Foster, Gillian Foster's ex-husband. He works at the United States Department of State and is a recovering cocaine addict where throughout the series it was heavily hinted that he was having an extramarital affair until it revealed the woman was his drug sponsor. He and Gillian have decided to divorce.

Plot

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Based on the real-life scientific discoveries of Paul Ekman, the series follows Lightman and his team of deception experts as they assist law enforcement and government agencies to expose the truth behind the lies.^[14]

The season opens with Cal and Gillian hiring a new associate: former TSA officer Ria Torres. Ria scored extraordinarily high on Cal's deception detection diagnostic, and is labeled a "natural" at deception detection. Her innate talent in the field clashes with Cal's academic approach, and he often shows off by rapidly analyzing her every facial expression. She counters by reading Lightman and when he least expects it, peppers conversations with quotes from his books.

It was gradually revealed that Dr. Lightman was driven to study micro-expressions as a result of guilt over his mother's suicide; she claimed to have been fine, when she was actually experiencing great sorrow.

For a small number of the early episodes Lightman would team up with Torres working on a case, while Foster and Loker would team up on a separate case. Occasionally their work would intertwine or Foster or Lightman would provide assistance on each others cases. As the first season progressed, the cases became more involved and all four of the main characters would work together on one case for each episode. This formulaic technique is often used in the first episodes of a new series to help establish the characters.

In addition to detecting deception in subjects they interview, Lightman and his team also use various interviewing and interrogation tactics to elicit information that is useful to their cases. Rather than by force, they instead use careful lines of questions, provocative statements, theatrics and healthy doses of deception on their own part. In the show's pilot episode, Lightman is speaking to a man who is refusing to speak at all, and is able to discern vital information by talking to him and gauging his reaction to each statement.

Principal crew

Samuel Baum (Showrunner/Head Writer), Brian Grazer, David Nevins, Steven Maeda. Katherine Pope, former president of NBC Universal’s TV studio, has signed on as a consulting producer. Pope will work on the final four episodes.^[15] Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield and The Unit, took over as show runner for the second season.^[16][17]

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

The show received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It gained a score of 64 on Metacritic from 24 reviews.^[18] Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker awarded Lie to Me a B- rating and wrote "Lie to Me is derivative yet well crafted, predictable yet ever-so-slightly novel...it's no wonder that Fox thinks it's got itself a potential hit". However he also commented "if this review were a face, Dr. Lightman would say it had a forced smile: hopeful, but dubious, about Lie's chances."^[19] Tom Shales, writing for the Washington Post, said "Lie to Me seems an unusually meaty, thoughtful and thought-provoking crime drama - another police procedural, yes, but one with a dramatic and mesmerizing difference...easily one of the season's best new shows."^[20]

Ratings

In the United States the viewing figures declined as the series progressed. The Pilot was seen by 12.37 million, however by the final episode of the first season it was down to 8.46 million. The most viewed episode was episode 3 ("A Perfect Score") which attracted 12.99 million. The season's least viewed episode was episode 10 ("Better Half") with a total of 7.87 million attracted viewers.

The first episode attracted 395,000 viewers overnight in the United Kingdom, with an estimated 790,000 watching the episode on personal video recorders. The live viewing figures increased to 436,000 overnight for the second episode.^[21] The viewing figures have increased gradually over the series. The highest rated episode of the series (as of 23 July 2009) is episode 9, with official viewing figures of 739,000.

International broadcasting

The series is broadcast by Network Ten in Australia and Global TV in Canada, and also airs in Norway, Sweden, Hungary and Belgium.^[22][23] Lie to Me aired on Sky1 in the UK and Ireland,^[24] starting on May 14, 2009. On July 20, 2009, Fox aired the premiere in Latin America.^[25] RTL 5 in The Netherlands is broadcasting it since November 6, 2009.

Country	Television Network
Australia	Network Ten, Arena
Bulgaria	bTV
Spain	Antena 3, Fox
Canada	Global, V
Netherlands	RTL 5
Belgium	2BE, BeTV
Serbia	Nacionalna
France	M6
Estonia	PBK
Georgia	rustavi 2
Hungary	RTL Klub
United Kingdom	Sky1
Ireland	RTE1
Malaysia	NTV7
Sweden	TV4
Poland	Canal+
New Zealand	TV3
Norway	TV2
Denmark	TV2
Italy	Fox
Germany	VOX (TV channel)
Russia	Channel One
Armenia	Channel One
Chile	Fox
México	Fox
El Salvador	Fox
Honduras	Fox
Uruguay	Fox
Colombia	Fox
Ecuador	Fox
Peru	Fox
Argentina	Fox
Brazil	Fox
Venezuela	Fox
Philippines	C/S 9
South Africa	M-net
Thailand	True Series
Turkey	Fox Life
Ukraine	1+1
Cuba	MultiVision
South Korea	Fox

DVD releases

See also

• Microexpression
• Paul Ekman
• Wizards Project
• Facial Action Coding System

References

Serie Info

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lie to Me

• Official website
• Lie to Me at the Internet Movie Database
• Lie to Me at TV.com
• Deception Detection, American Psychological Association