The All-Pilot Project: “Howie Do It” and “Lie to Me”
The Poop: I should note that I have a friend who really likes this show, because she thinks it’s always funny when people are uncomfortable. I usually think that’s funny, too. Unfortunately, this just doesn’t work.
For some reason, there is a huge live audience at the taping. It’s a comically large number of people to sit in one place to watch video. I really think they shoot another show on the same set, and they’re just forcing the American Gladiators audience to sit quietly for a little longer. The editors also have an annoying habit of cutting to the audience every time there’s laughter, presumably to assure us that real people are laughing. They do it so consistently that it seems like they’re trying to hide something.
Mandel introduces the clips from the stage, and occasionally points out what we’re seeing. The clips mostly involve Mandel wearing a wig and humiliating some schmuck who thinks they’re auditioning for a different show. (For some reason, almost all of the set-ups seem to involve auditions for TV shows.) And then, after the bit has gone on for too long, Howie takes off the wig and explains to the mark that they’re on Howie Do It. Since this is the first episode, nobody knows what that means. And then the notoriously germ-phobic Mandel has to skitter back several feet lest a stranger touch him.
It’s weird how carefully controlled the setups are. Everybody but the mark is an actor, so there aren’t any spontaneous reactions. And the stakes of the bits are generally really low. Mandel plays an incompetent waiter who keeps putting his thumb in the food. Ooh, somebody calls the manager! Hilarious! Some guy gets water sprayed in his face while auditioning to be a weatherman. Wow, he’s sure…. wet. And there’s one bit where a husband and wife (the wife is in on the joke) audition for a mouthwash ad. The joke is that the producer keeps demonstrating to the husband the proper way to kiss his wife. OK, kind of uncomfortable. But, even once the prank is revealed, the fact remains that this dude had to watch another guy kiss his wife. Somebody making out with your wife for a commercial? Bad. Somebody making out with your wife for a hidden camera show? Apparently hilarious.
Between the lame pranks, the awkwardness of a man who won’t touch people interacting with the public, and the constant explanations of why we should be laughing, this is pretty hard to get through.
The Prognosis: Not good. It’s not even fun to watch as a time-waster. It’s a laugh-free zone here.
Lie to Me
Wednesday 9 PM, FOX
The Premise: A behavioral scientist with a talent for reading people consults on criminal cases. Yes, I know it sounds like The Mentalist. Bear with me.
The Personnel: Tim Roth stars as Dr. Cal Lightman. Roth is best known as Mr. Orange in 
Reservoir Dogs and most recently seen as Emil Blonsky in The Incredible Hulk. Brendan Hines (of The Middleman) appears as one of Lightman’s assistants. The series is created by Samuel Baum who previously wrote for Young MacGyver. Did you even know there was a Young MacGyver? And was it about MacGyver as a young man or was it about MacGyver’s son? I want to know! But not so much that I’ll take ten seconds to Google it.
Reservoir Dogs and most recently seen as Emil Blonsky in The Incredible Hulk. Brendan Hines (of The Middleman) appears as one of Lightman’s assistants. The series is created by Samuel Baum who previously wrote for Young MacGyver. Did you even know there was a Young MacGyver? And was it about MacGyver as a young man or was it about MacGyver’s son? I want to know! But not so much that I’ll take ten seconds to Google it.The Poop: Remember back when I reviewed The Mentalist and was irritated that they didn’t actually explain any of the lead’s deductive leaps? Well, FOX listened and reacted. Who knew FOX paid attention to me? And why didn’t they do so when it came to the cancellation of Futurama and Arrested Development or the continued existence of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles?
Cal Lightman is an expert on human behavior who teaches classes in involuntary reactions. Specifically, he’s very good at telling when people are lying. He knows the signs, and bless his heart, he points them out. Even better, the show sometimes punctuates his observations with real-life examples. People with something to hide tend to scratch their nose? Check out OJ Simpson and Saddam Hussein at their respective trials! Want to see how an expression of scorn is the same around the world? Here’s George W. Bush and Simon Cowell! (And yeah, that one is pretty funny.)
This is the kind of thing that I’m interested in seeing. Sadly, they forgot to build a show around it. The interactions between characters are minimal to the point of being non-existent, and the two cases presented in this episode don’t really present anything new and interesting. Unless you count Tim Roth inclining his head slightly while he stares at a suspect to be “new and interesting”.
I think they’re going for a House feel, with an anti-social genius heading up a younger team. Only nobody really has a personality yet, and Lightman isn’t particularly anti-social. His team feels more like people who can fill up an episode so that Tim Roth can get time off to work on movies when necessary.
The Prognosis: I like Tim Roth, and I like the idea of learning things about body language and involuntary behavior. The execution just falls short. I might check back to see if the characters have personalities or how they can justify having Lightman work on criminal cases every week. Ordinarily, I’d give it more of a chance, but this is opposite Lost. My Wednesdays are spoken for.
