TCA: Fox Trots Out 'Lie To Me' in a City Where "No One Lies"

At this morning’s Television Critics Association panel for Fox’s Lie To Me, actor Tim Roth and others discussed how the show—in which Roth essentially plays a human lie detector—will distinguish itself from CBS’ hit procedural The Mentalist. (Click here for complete TCA coverage.)

Roth: “I haven’t seen The Mentalist. The proof’s in the pudding. I’ve heard about it because these guys talk about it. We are what we are. We’re our own thing. I don’t think we need to get too worried about it.”

Brendan Hines (Actor): Our show is based in actual science where as The Mentalist is more of a scam. And they deal with murder every week. We go more places, whether domestic drama or political power. It’s based in actual science.

Samuel Baum (Creator): It’s based on cutting-edge research.

They also addressed the fact that Roth will not disguise his British accent.

Roth: “I know work goes into dialects and you have to get specific to convince people that’s where you’re from. Do you want the added work? I don’t know how Hugh Laurie does that.”

David Nevins (Executive Producer): Audiences are more comfortable with British accents than you think. [For example], Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsay. Americans think British accents make you smart.

And where do the creators get the show’s storylines?

Baum: “I know no one lies in Los Angeles, so we are limited to set stories here. [laughs] Read the newspaper. The range of cases is Lie To Me. There are as many lies as there are people.”

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