New crime drama 'Lie to Me' dully studies human interaction and psychology

    "Lie to Me," one of FOX Network's new mid-season shows, is centered on a detective agency where the employees are trained to tell when someone is lying. Starring Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, the show is part crime thriller and part office drama, with the rest of Lightman's staff playing integral roles in each episode. Truth be told, despite Roth's best efforts, there is nothing that makes this show stand out among other crime shows.
    Lightman studied the psychology of faces and gestures for nearly twenty years in order to better understand how and why people lie. Along with his partner and friend Dr. Gillian Foster (played by Kelli Williams), he left the government to open his own independent firm for solving crime.
    The duo teams up with Eli Loker (Brendan Hines) and Ria Torres (Monica Raymund) to solve the usual crimes dealt with on TV procedurals, such as rape, bribery, political misconduct and murder. The solutions to many of the cases are usually not obvious, with twists at the end that make them interesting and easy to watch.
    The show features adequate acting, decent dialogue and intriguing plot lines. Some similarities in content to "The Mentalist" on CBS could turn many viewers away though, as well as the fact that Simon Baker will probably draw more female viewers than Roth.
    But Roth's acting ability is certainly not in question after last summer's turn as the villain in "The Incredible Hulk" and his career-making roles in Quentin Tarantino's films, "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994). In this show, he stands above the rest of the cast, balancing Lightman's crime-solving intelligence with a light-hearted humor, mindful of the fact that his occupation is quite an odd one.
    It isn't usually possible for one great actor to carry a television show though; great television requires a joint effort from every member of the cast. Unfortunately, the rest of the actors in "Lie to Me" don't measure up.
    The characters are somewhat intriguing, though, especially Hines' portrayal of Loker, a man who practices what he calls "radical honesty," in which he says anything and everything that comes to his mind. The dynamic between Lightman and all his employees is interesting — with room for development in future episodes.
     Specifically, the relationship between Lightman and Foster is noteworthy because it draws on a deep shared history, and early on it is revealed that Lightman knows Foster's husband regularly lies to her. TV veteran Williams (from "Men in Trees" and "The Practice") provides a foil character for Roth's tough, cynical Lightman.
    With a theme of lying, the show could easily become a moral soapbox about the virtues of honesty. However, "Lie to Me" maintains the moral gray area that makes for good television. Many of the plot twists include some lesson about the necessity of lying — sometimes for protection of others or for the capture of criminals. At one point, Lightman even coerces a witness to lie for a polygraph test in order to catch a rapist.
    There are also many cover-ups and lies told within the firm, especially between Lightman and Foster. Lightman hides some dark secret about a case in the past, and Foster seems to be an expert at lying to herself about her personal life and her feelings for Lightman.
    The show raises some questions about the entirety of human interaction, implying that people should pay more attention to body language and facial expressions: It suggests that people rely on words to discern meaning, but people are actually usually lying for one reason or another.
    Many people will probably be skeptical of Lightman's techniques, but the producers have somewhat solved this problem by showing examples of historical figures who lied and their expressions and gestures at the time. For example, Richard Nixon's speeches are used to demonstrate a man who doesn't believe a word he's just said.
    The psychology behind the show seems to be well-researched, and the technology used to solve crimes differs from other similar shows. Even so, there seems to be something missing that keeps it from jumping to the realm of great television. Everything about "Lie to Me," besides Roth's acting and the few questions it raises about the complexity of human interaction, drips with mediocrity, almost as though it is nothing more than a mish-mash of other crime shows.