At first glimpse, FOX's Lie to Me appears to have a similar premise to CBS' The Mentalist.  That's because both series revolves around a main character that makes use of his powers of observation to uncover the truth and solve crimes.  But there's a big difference between the two and executive producer Brian Grazer reveals the answer.

"I'm not really interested in The Mentalist's process," Grazer told TV Guide.  "I mean it might be good — I mean I think it is good, it's doing really well — [but] I'm actually interested in whether people are telling the truth."

Lie to Me, which kicked off its pilot episode last night, stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, a human lie detector that helps law enforcement with the help of his group of researchers and psychologists.  The character is based on Paul Ekman, a renowned psychologist and expert on body language and facial expressions.  Unlike The Mentalist, which is a police procedural series, Roth's character uses his skills to solve a wide range of mysteries, including murders, political plots and even deception in relationships.

"The show is based on real science, the most cutting-edge research that's used by our federal agencies in national security," executive producer Samuel Baum explained.  "One week we're going to be a thriller where there's a political assassination and the next week there's a terrible building collapse and people are lying about it and pointing fingers as to what happened.  Some weeks there won't even be a crime."

With that said, Lie to Me seems like an interesting show worth looking into.  Aside from Tim Roth, the show boasts a talented cast consisting of Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, and Monica Raymund.

Lie to Me airs every Wednesday at 9pm on FOX, while The Mentalist can be seen every Tuesday at 9pm on CBS.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: TV Guide
(image courtesy of FOX)