kelli williams

(S02E04) "If we don't do exactly what this guys says, he will kill Cal." - Foster

Looks like it didn't take long for Cal's decision to buy out Zoe to catch up to The Lightman Group. Cash poor, Cal has been relegated to handling simple, pedestrian cases that do nothing more than bring in a paycheck. As the episode opened, there was obviously the possibility that Cal was actually at that singles mixer for himself, but it became clear pretty quickly what he was up to once he started grilling that blonde about marital fidelity.

Lightman looked embarrassed that he had to be doing it, but it did lead to a very heated discussion between him and Gillian. It would have been nice to see them argue a bit more about where their income will come from, but then a case that guaranteed to not pay anything wandered in the front door. Good thing, too, because it turned out to be arguably Lie to Me's strongest episode to date.

(S02E03) "So you're setting me up on a blind date with a potential murderer?" - Torres

When I first heard about Lightman's Mexican holiday via Shawn Ryan's Twitter account, I had pretty high hopes for it because as he suggested, it should be a "fun one." I assumed it would just be Cal and Emily having a grand ol' time, making fun of cabana boys when they lied about being out of pineapple juice or dark rum. There was some of that, but Cal, who always needs something to do, ending up getting embroiled in a fairly interesting case. The problem? The case that Gillian and the rest of the team got caught up in was far more intriguing and Cal wasn't there to take part of in any of it. Well... sort of.

(S02E02) "I mean, how can I not judge someone who creates their own harem and then tosses out the competition when they hit puberty?" - Foster

Already this is shaping up to be leaps and bounds ahead of season one of Lie to Me. The cases are more interesting, the writing is tighter, and most importantly, it's becoming far more personal for the employees of The Lightman Group. Every case has far more meaning when Cal and his team are in it for more than just a paycheck. That isn't to say that I'm against seeing cases like we saw in the season premiere with Erika Christensen, but finding out that Cal's daughter Emily has a connection to a statutory rape case he's investigating is far more compelling.

(S02E01) "Oh, your husband likes unprotected sex with hookers, so it might be a good time to get yourself tested for, you know, everything really." - Cal

Lies! Lies! Lies! Or are they? With the return of Lie to Me comes a whole new batch of poker faces for The Lightman Group to interpret and fortunately for us, the overall vibe of the show is a lot more believable than it used to be. If I'm going to watch a show where the lynch-pin of every episode rests on the ability of Tim Roth's Dr. Cal Lightman to negotiate all the little twists a suspect's face makes, then I better not be able to figure it out myself in the first five minutes. When I recently spoke with Roth, he said the show was a lot better now. He wasn't lying.

Lie to Me is not a show that grew on me last season. When it first premiered earlier this year, I didn't even bother watching it. I tend to shy away from mid-season replacements to begin with and something about seeing Tim Roth speaking in his normal British accent in promos for the show seemed weird to me.

Then summer arrived, TV viewing options started to dwindle, and suddenly Lie to Me became a viable option. I watched the pilot, was mildly amused, and then dropped it for over a month before I looked at another episode. At first, it wasn't that great, and now that I've had the opportunity to speak to Roth about it, it's good to know that I wasn't alone in thinking that.

"When you try to hide an emotion ... you cannot inhibit the signal from being sent to the facial nerve, you can only compress the amount of time it shows for." -- Samuel Baum, creator of 'Lie to Me'

The average person lies three times in every 10 minutes of conversation. But after a quick training in lie detection, we couldn't read any fibs or half-truths happening on the L.A. set of Fox's newest hit drama, 'Lie to Me' (Wed. 9PM ET).

Based on the real-life work of Dr. Paul Ekman, 'Lie to Me' follows Dr. Cal Lightman (played by Tim Roth) and his team of human lie detectors for hire.

AOL TV got the scoop on the new show and sat down with Dr. Ekman, series creator Samuel Baum and the extremely candid cast to find out the secret behind lying, the curse of being able to detect lies and which newly elected high-ranking official (ahem, President Obama!) will be making an appearance on the show soon. --By Maggie Furlong

(S01E01) The mid-season premieres just keep on coming, and FOX has finally let us all have a gander at Lie to Me. Tim Roth is the latest in the increasingly long line of film actors making the jump to the small screen. Here we find him playing Dr. Cal Lightman, the world's leading deception expert, and head of the Lightman Group. Joining him on his journey is Kelli Williams, as Lightman's partner, Dr. Gillian Foster. It's a great match. Roth easily takes to the leading role, and the two of them work very well together.

If there's one thing we know about the American television landscape, it's that there just aren't enough procedurals on the air. And while CBS has managed to snatch most of them up before anyone else can get their hands on one, it looks like FOX managed to sneak one by the almighty Eye. And as with most crime dramas of this sort, it must differentiate itself from the others by having a little twist all its own. Lie to Me offers that twist in the form of Tim Roth's character, Cal Lightman, who is essentially a human lie detector.

Loosely based on the findings of author and professor of psychology Paul Ekman, FOX was kind enough to send along Ekman's book, Telling Lies, with the pilot so I could follow along and see which of his strategies were used on the show. Yeah, I didn't do that.

Ex-Practice star Kelli Williams will have an arc on Men in Trees this season. She'll play a love interest for Jack (James Tupper). The story is that Jack goes out of town for a spell to do some work and finds himself falling for a married woman, played by Williams. She'll appear in 5-6 episodes, starting with episode 7 this next season.

Sounds a little bit like art is imitating real life here, with Tupper hooking up with his married co-star Anne Heche last year.

Also? Sounds like Justine Bateman must be leaving the show because the last time we saw Men in Trees (last February), Jack was dedicated to his relationship with Lynn.