shoshannah stern

Dr. Lightman is getting a new assistant, straight off the boat from Jericho and Agrestic. Shoshannah Stern will be joining 'Lie to Me' this season as a grad student whom the doc (Tim Roth) hires to help him with his new book.

The Fox show (Mondays at 8PM ET) follows the investigations of Dr. Cal Lightman, the world's top expert on detecting deception. He and his firm, The Lightman Group, aid federal law enforcement through their observation of even the tiniest of facial expressions to catch criminals in their lies.

Stern's character, like the actress, will be deaf -- a fact that EW reports will make some of Cal's colleagues question whether she's up to par to assist him. The hyper-observant doc, however, takes a shine to his new right-hand woman, who will be a recurring character for the show's upcoming third season, which premieres Nov. 10.

The modern poster-child for a show that's "gone too soon" is Jericho. The impassioned fans buried CBS under a ton of nuts, which got the show renewed for a shortened second season. Your mileage of the quality of that season may vary, but the fact remains that the fans did something none of these internet campaigns today will be able to.

What people don't realize is that when Jericho came back for the second run, the ratings weren't any better than when the first season ended. So when they cancel your favorite show and you start mailing in bizarre objects and setting up your web petitions because "it worked for Jericho," remember that the networks remember Jericho as well. They remember that it failed to find a sizable audience twice.