I'm a bit dissapointed.

It seems as though the people producing the show have started to slowly and slowly eliminate the science.

This is what made Lie to Me so different from other shows to begin with, but is it turning into just another ordinary drama?

What does everyone else think?

Yush, I agree.  I still think its an awesome show either way, and I like the addition of 'Cal's view', with the shot of the persons face with the notations of the different expressions that he sees, but I wish they would do it more.  Maybe once they cram in some more character development they'll give us a few good sciency eps ^^

Yeah, I miss the more scientific approach. 

On the other hand, I really *don't* care for the little lighted up number sequences on the facial expressions...it blocks out what we are looking for in the face..it doesn't allow US the chance to really search and find it on our own...it's now much more "spoon fed"..or dumbed down...we don't have to think as much with that addition.

I for one won't continue to watch the show, nor recommend it as I was last season, if it continues to be another nighttime drama. 

I was so surprised and dedicated to this show when I first stumbled upon it.  FINALLY something worth watching!  The way it actually helped the viewers in everyday life, yet remained totally intriguing to watch, was outstanding.  Was - being the operative word. 
I can't say I'm suprised - it seems the job of TV execs to dumb people down, get them addicted to meaningless romance/action dramas.  This show made FOX stand out as different from all that but I guess in the end they don't think they can afford to be any better or different than CBS, NBC, ABC.

Back to PBS then.  yawn....

Hi. I am new here but not new to the science. All of you probably already know this but to those who don't, the codes on the faces whenever Cal sees them and they flash, they are the FACS codes. They are Action Units. Now i am not gonna blubber on about those but i do see ur point. They are sort of dumbing it down but it could be because those who do not know the science do not fully understand what they see and how they see it. So this new approach that they have is to help the new viewers understand what is happening in the show. But it is not necessarily bad for us because we get to learn the FACS better such as AU 12A+25A is the Zygomaticus Major muscle slight twitch which could mean controlled happiness.

In a way it is getting less sciencie but at the same time they have made it more. Anyway that is just the way i think.

I agree that learning FACS codes could be interesting, but this is not the we to teach us. Flashing them does not give enough context and it indeed blocks out the face. I would rather have arrows showing the direction of muscle contractions. The codes and the muscle names is something to learn from looking at a map for a long time (put one on the site!). Having one of the characters pick one example out and give a small lecture about it every episode was working just fine for me. I learned a lot already.

Yes, that is a good point.  I don't know the science, so the numbers are meaningless to me.  And there is no context for those numbers when they flash..they mean something to the character Cal, but not to the majority of the viewers.  We can learn practical things when they go in close and in slomo with just the face, and descriptions from the characters on the show.  With the flashing numbers, all we do is watch someone else do the science.  With the upclose slomo with verbal descriptions, we get to learn, and our brains become active as the process occurs.  With the number flashes we don't have to think at all, because there is no real challenge to us at that point in time, you know?

 

I absolutely agree, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.  Season One of LTM was fresh, innovative, and daring -- a primetime drama one could learn from.  Season Two has been formulaic, overblown, and lacking in what made it such a fascinating show to begin with.

I've enjoyed "Cal's View" shots for the reason that they bring that science back a little, but I agree that they go by too quickly to be of real educational value.  Perhaps on the DVDs, where one can freeze-frame and pause to research -- although if the plots continue to focus on the characters' dysfunctional histories and the thoroughly unbelievable circumstances that happen to them out of proportion to who they are and what they do (in my opinion, any show that builds a plot around organized crime is grasping at straws) I won't be buying this season's DVD set.

I liked the "secondary" plot of the prep school video so much more than Cal's predicament in that recent episode, precisely because the science made an appearance.  Granted, it wasn't much, but at least the characters were talking among themselves about what they were seeing.  Thank heaven!

Bring back the science!

Last night's episode was even more reason to be disappointed in the show and its lack of science. I thought Lie to Me was a different drama, focused on the revolutionary science being conducted that is unlike any other crime drama out there. Now it is slowly turning into a mere drama with the relationships of the characters being more central than the science.

While they do include some AU Coding, there isn't any context for these expressions or coding (as someone else mentioned) To the layperson, these numbers and letters mean absolutely nothing. It would be nice to get some insight into what they mean but sadly, we dont' get any of it.

I'm pretty disappointed in the show as of late and I will be surprised if it gets renewed for a another season.  There is so much to be learned in this area of lie detection, nonverbal behavior, etc. but they don't seem to be capitalizing on any of it.

I, too, will be surprised if the show is renewed.  Letting it degenerate into an ordinary primetime drama leaves us as audience on the outside, instead of inviting us in to learn, to connect, and to see what the characters see.  I understand the value and necessity of character development to any show that wants to stay alive, but the fact of the matter is that last season's character development -- as driven by the science!! -- was handled so much more deftly than it has been lately.  I still remember how enthralled I was when Cal pieced together Ria's past from a lack of movement in certain muscles around her nose.  How original!  How fascinating!  By contrast, Cal grabbing his old "friend's" broken fingers to get him to tell the truth is pathetically crude and overblown.

Someone in the ranks of the Powers That Be for this show has apparently forgotten that the science is the show's raison d'etre.  The relationships between the characters ARE important, yes -- but they wouldn't be near each other to HAVE relationships in the first place if it weren't for the science.  Deception detection was -- and still should be -- what the show is about!  It's certainly why I, for one, started watching in the first place; from the couple of discussions like this one on this message board alone, it seems like I'm not alone in that.

I originally loved Numb3rs for the same reasons as LTM: It was unique, intelligent, and a fascinatingly well-executed mixture of educational and entertaining.  It gave me a new window on the world.  I didn't have to understand game theory or pursuit curves or fluid dynamics to be invited in by the presence of the math itself -- something that, analagous to LTM's body language and communication, is ubiquitous in life and the physical world.  And (at least last season) I didn't have to be an expert in deception detection to be invited in by the science on LTM.  I could learn from it -- about myself, and about others.  But now the show doesn't make me think, doesn't give me anything new, doesn't fascinate or enthrall; it's just another drama.  (Incidentally, Numb3rs went the same way, although it lasted 4 seasons instead of a mere 1.)

I can't fathom why the science (which, I'll re-re-re-emphasize, is the reason the show exists in the first place!) has vanished, and I certainly can't believe how quickly it's done so.  And... I don't know about you, or anyone else, but it kind of makes me feel like the people behind Lie To Me Lied To Us...