I confess. I'm a fan of the Fox TV series "Lie To Me".
There some kind of fascination with the concept that every lie we tell can be
spotted.
I don't have satellite/cable/on-air reception so I watch on the internets
typically a couple of days after a broadcast.
Last night I watched the latest episode - the one that Fox decided to air instead
of the President's press conference.
It was interesting...
[SPOILER ALERT!]
The episode (entitled 'Undercover') had the typical share of lie-spotting events.
The two plots of this weeks show were quite interesting.
The first theme dealt with a police shooting which collided with
a possible terrorist conspiracy. Lightman was investigating a police shooting and at some point was told by both the FBI and the CIA that he should back off as he was intruding on a matter of national security. His assistant tried to argue that national security should trump the search for the truth in this case. He would not relent and in the end, criticized the competency of the FBI and found the bad guy - just by looking for the truth. The other side tried to argue that one shooting victim was acceptable collateral damage compared to what would happen if the terrorists succeded.
The second theme dealt with one of his employees who had disobeyed a direct order and lied to him about it. In order to bring things to a head Lightman told his staff they had to be interviewed by a lawyer about the event to find out who had lied. In the end, he tells his assistant, "This was a test of her loyalty - in our business we have to rely on each other - even if we have to lie for each other."
These were interesting mixed messages.
One of the devices on this show is, after a symptom of lying is described, a couple of images of (usually famous) people displaying that symptom are flashed by. I pay close attention to their choice of images since they sometimes make a political statement with their choice of images. Examples of images include a picture of the First Lady biting her lip and the VP wringing his hands - both were shown after some explanation that such behaviour is indicative of a lie being told. That certainly sounds like this show presents veiled criticisms of the current administration.
So I'm unclear on what message this show is sending.
Can you spot lies with these 'telltales'?
Is this show an attempt by Fox to smear the current administration?
Is the producer pulling one over on Fox with some of these subtle messages ?
Somebody - please tell me what to think!
[and now, suitably armed - I'll know if you are lying... :) ]