TCA press tour: ‘Lie to Me’ will get more personal in second season
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When CBS canceled ‘The Unit,’ 20th Century Fox Television didn’t waste time in asking its show runner, Shawn Ryan, to move to Fox’s ‘Lie to Me’ to become that drama’s new show runner.
Ryan, who created ‘The Shield’ for FX and was in charge of ‘The Unit’ until it came to an end last season, appeared at a press conference today with creator Samuel Baum, who still serves as an executive producer, to discuss what he hopes to bring to the sophomore series.
Inspired by the scientific discoveries of Dr. Paul Ekman, a psychologist who can read clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to expose the truth and lies in criminal investigations, ‘Lie To Me’ stars Tim Roth as Dr. Cal Lightman, the world’s leading deception expert.
‘I want to push it a little bit more in a character direction, add a little bit of more adrenaline,’ Ryan said, noting that he doesn’t mean he’s going to turn Dr. Lightman into Vic Mackey or Jack Bauer. ‘I just want to get to know these characters better... The show is ultimately based on a group of scientists. But the fact is they are people who are diving into the middle of charged cases. They are going to be in emotionally and physically harrowing situations at times. And I think the pace of the show will just get some juice.’
In the first season, Baum said he wanted to introduce viewers to the science. But now, with Ryan’s help, the characters will be challenged on a personal level, he added.
‘The origin of this was my interest in the things we can’t talk about, the things we lie about, and the secrets we keep from one another. And what the consequences are. And then I found the scientific research and thought it was sone of the coolest things I’d ever read and decided to launch the series with the science and then peel back how it affects the characters in their personal lives.’
The science, Ryan said, differentiates the series from other shows, especially from ‘The Mentalist,’ which features Simon Baker as a mind reader of sorts.
‘We want to tell stories that you can’t find anywhere else,’ Ryan said. ‘It can’t just be the tick of the week. Ultimately, what America will care about the show is seeing what these people go through and come together at the end of episodes.’
— Maria Elena Fernandez
Related: David Strick’s Hollywood Backlot: ‘Lie to Me’