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Medium, House, The Closer, The Mentalist, Ghost Whisperer… and now Lie to Me.  All are procedurals about a key central character with a superhuman (or at least almost superhuman) ability to solve mysteries.  The adage that Hollywood likes to see new projects that are, “the same… but different” seems to prove true.

Lie to Me opens with a very effective scene in which our protagonist, Dr. Cal Leightman, interrogates a domestic terror suspect.  We then zoom out to him teaching a seminar about that interrogation.  His descriptions of reading microexpressions, using celebrity examples, does a marvelous job of framing our world.

From there, of course we solve this week’s mystery and secondary mystery–right number of twists and turns, neat quasi-instructional use of the lie detection, fun enough.  Unfortunately, what’s missing so far is a reason to want to watch these characters go on a ride.  Cal Leightman, as the cynic about human nature (after all, he knows how much we all lie) is paired rather uninspiredly against Dr. Gillian Foster, who naturally thinks everyone is good, if only to play the foil.  Cal’s human polygraph skills make for a compelling enough pilot, but won’t sustain a show.  Much more intriguing are the supporting lie detectors: employee Eli who always tells the strict truth as a personal philosophy, and new recruit Ria, a TSA agent whose ability to see lies is innate, though she attributes it to having dated men.  Also promising are hints about a Cal’s past with some federal agency, and a too short scene with Cal’s daughter.

No matter how interesting one might find Dr. Greggory House’s Sherlock Holmes medical act, it’s the insults he hurls at his colleagues that keep people tuning in.  And Brenda Leigh can get all the confessions she wants, but without her subdued Southern bitchery, we don’t have a show.  If Lie to Me can get its ensemble or its lead on par with those characters, FOX will have a winner.

Best aspect: The use at act breaks of public figures making expressions similar to characters in this episode.

Worst aspect: While Lie to Me goes easier on gratuitous close-ups and zooms than The Mentalist or Psych use, we still get a bit much of the “active noticing” by the end of the show.

Verdict: I would try another episode, but I won’t go out of my way to make this into appointment television.  If you are the kind of person whose DVR overflows with one-hour crime shows, add this one.

Odds of success: There are a lot of people who DO love the one-hour crime shows, and this is yet another that is good enough, so it should fare decently.  Assuming the hints at cool conflict in the subplots reach fruition, Lie to Me will last five years.  But only if.