Lie To Me

Having watched a lot of Cowboys football, which normally will air on FOX, I saw dozens of previews for the network's new show Lie To Me. It is a show about a man (played by Tim Roth) who specializes in the art of detecting lies through body language. The show, despite the onslaught of programming, was very interesting to me, and I was determined to give it a shot.

There was only one problem: Lie To Me airs on Wednesday nights at 8pm. If you look immediately down the screen, you'll know that I absolutely love LOST. Getting the picture, yet?

(They're on at the same time)

First of all, I have a question for the geniuses at FOX. Are you insane? You have a show that you spent millions advertising, and it's a show that you're going to try and build an audience for. And not only do you decide to place it against one of the more popular shows on television (I know LOST's ratings are dropping, but I assume it's still extremely popular), but you premiere it the exact same night as LOST returns.

That's crazy.

Now I realize that since American Idol runs at least twice a week (I don't watch...it might be more), the options aren't great. And I also realize that a TV juggernaut runs at least once a night, and there will always be a CSI or a LOST or a Grey's Anatomy that you have to compete against.

But we're talking about a show that was debuting mid-season. It could've easily aired while LOST was on hiatus, and it might've established an audience by the time LOST came back. And while I decided to watch the show on the network's Web site, I'm not sure that enough people will be that patient.

As for the show itself, I found it to be very interesting, but I find interesting in the same way that I find another brand-new FOX show interesting (Fringe). I watch Fringe because the science on the show is pretty interesting, whether it be teleporting a man from a German prison or killer glass butterflies. But I'm eleven episodes in, and I don't really care about the characters. I'm more intrigued by the premise, and the characters are simply there to help out the premise.

I think Lie To Me's central character (Roth) has a chance to be a likeable-jerk (like the main character on House), but I don't even remember the other character's names. I'm sure, if I continue to watch, I'll get to know them, and I'll give them a chance. But this seems to be the kind of show that I'll watch just because I'll find it interesting to see, at least on the show, the signs that people are lying.

Which means, unless it grabs me, I'll be watching it as a dramatized documentary...meaning it will be more entertaining than a regular documentary but also probably less factual.

Now if they could only find a timeslot for it...

CORRECTION/UPDATE

Apparently Lie To Me did better in the ratings than LOST did (7.7/12 to 6.8/10). I'm extremely shocked to read that because I assumed LOST was back and kicking (it certainly got back to its original starting point story-wise). LOST actually ended up third on the night (both shows got beat by Criminal Minds...a show that no one I know watches).

It's possible, as my roommate pointed out, that LOST is such a niche show that it isn't the ratings superstar that it used to be (since it will lose viewers who are tired of the premise but not pick up new ones). That is sad.

I'm going to leave the original blog, as is, though. Other than the ratings bit, it still works about the same. And, even then, I can't imagine running anything against LOST. Because on Wednesdays at 8pm, that's what I'll be running. No matter what.