Based on the work of Dr. Paul Ekman, FOX’s new crime drama Lie to Me stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, a renowned expert on lying with a tarnished reputation. Founder of the FBI’s Deception Detection Unit, Lightman now heads a private firm based in Washington DC offering his services to high profile clients such as politicians and celebrities.

Lightman’s partner at the firm is Dr. Gillian Foster (Kelli Williams of The Practice). Also on hand are Eli Loker (Brendan Hines), who never tells a lie, and the newly-hired Ria Torres (Monica Raymund), one of an extremely small percentage of the population who can spot deceptive body language with no prior training. (When Loker meets Torres, he says, “I would like to sleep with you.” She asks how he is in bed, and he says, “Fair.”)

Like most niche procedurals, Lie to Me highlights the role of its particular science in crime-solving, but that’s fine by me as a psychology minor and body language buff. In the pilot (aired January 21), Lightman and his team take on the case of a high school student (Jake Thomas) accused of murdering his teacher. A side case involves a member of the Senate Ethics Committee who’s allegedly been seeing a prostitute.

Though Ekman is American, Roth asked that Lightman be British. As Roth is well known for playing American, it was odd hearing a different accent out of his mouth, but this doesn’t detract from the show. The pilot episode beat the season premiere of Lost in the Nielsen ratings. Here’s to continued success.

Gerald So
For more of Gerald’s thoughts and observations, check out his blog: If you want to know about my Life…