Sadly, Lie to Me’s fate is still undecided. The FOX drama was given a full season renewal in November but the network has delayed its return until after the May sweeps period. That’s exactly a show of faith. And now, showrunner Shawn Ryan has jumped ship.
Lie to Me follows Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth), a human lie detector, and his team of experts who help law officials solve their most difficult cases. The cast also includes Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines, Mekhi Phifer, and Monica Raymund.
Last season, Lie to Me had a very healthy series premiere with a 4.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 12.37 million viewers. Those numbers slowly melted away though and, by the end of the season, dipped to a low of a 2.3 in the demo and 7.75 million. Despite the decline, FOX renewed Lie to Me for a second season of 13 episodes. Shawn Ryan (The Shield) was brought in as a new showrunner.
Year two kicked off in September to a 2.9 rating and 7.73 million viewers. Though Lie to Me was losing a significant percentage of the House lead-in, FOX gave the series a full season renewal and added nine episodes. Soonafter, Lie to Me hit a new low with a 2.2 rating and 6.64 million viewers.
FOX put the series on hiatus in December and it already looked destined to be on the bubble for a third season renewal.
It was expected that Lie to Me would return before the end of the 2009-10 season but FOX chose instead to hold original episodes until June 7th. That means they won’t air until after the May sweeps period and until after FOX has announced their 2010-11 schedule.
FOX execs could make their decision based on Lie to Me’s existing ratings data. Or, they could wait until after some more original episodes have aired in the lesser-watched summer months. Neither option is likely to put Lie to Me in a very positive light.
Now, it’s been announced that Ryan, the program’s well-respected showrunner, has decided to leave the show. He’s already committed to a new drama he created for FX called Terriers. It also looks likely that FOX will pick up his other new show, Ride Along.
While none of this means that Lie to Me will necessarily be cancelled, it’s certainly not positive news — especially if FOX execs like what they see in Ride Along. Why stick with a show that’s lost Ryan as a showrunner and has been losing viewers when you can pick up Ryan’s new show that’ll get some attention and might do a lot better. FOX may make a decision about season three at the upfronts next Monday or not for a couple months.
Whether Lie to Me is renewed or cancelled, it seems very likely that viewers will still get to see all 12 of the remaining episodes for this season.
What do you think? Does Lie to Me have a good chance of returning for season three? What would you do — keep it or cancel it and go with something new?
Image courtesy FOX.
I just discovered it and love it. Bummer
please keep it! it is too good to get rid of.
PLEASE DON’T CANCEL THE SHOW!
My kids and I love this show! Please don’t take our Lie to Me 🙁
LIE TO ME is just starting to become a fully developed show give it a chance!
This is one of the most intelligent shows I’ve seen. I’ve learned something watching almost every episode. It saddens me that it got cancelled. Mediocrity… *shaking head*
well nothing new, They get a great show on and get you interested and pull it, I will stop watching Fox if they do pull the show…And they are gonna put another stupid unrealistic Cop show on, Chicago Blues or whatever, I have been a Law Enforcement officer for 12 years and these cop shows drive me nuts as none of them come even a little close to what it’s actually like. Lie to me is real science, I took a class on this for interview annd interrogation and it is very interesting to say the least.
I like it at first but i cant stand the way tim roth acts he really acts like he is retarded.. i have stop watching and so has my family.
love the show, love the characters. Tim Roth portrays his character with just enough edge. Kelli Williams is a wonderful actress. In the first 2 seasons her character was 1 dimensional but this season they have given her a backbone. Love the stories and when you have such a wonderful supportive cast they need to utilize them more in the story lines. This show has so much potential, please make sure it stays on. you have a lot of devoted fans that would miss it.
i haven’t heard anyone i know say anything bad about this series. i love roths quirky style. this is what makes the show! leave it on!!
This show was interesting, more so in the beginning, but now I’ve stopped watching it. Tim Roth is becoming boring and predictable and is unrelentingly mean, crass, cynical and just a bully. Who can relate to a character like that? None of the other characters are likeable or very interesting, and all the sexuality going on with Emily would just make any parent (the targeted demographic age) just cringe. Moral to Dr. Lightman: Being right all the time doesn’t make you better than us. I may not be as smart as you, but I guarantee I’m more fun to hang… Read more »
At 50, few T.V. programmes interest me,but this one even has my children(11+13) looking for it.
no it lost me after a while
Ask yourself what would have happened if all the truly great cult TV series you ever saw were all cancelled, because someone jumped ship? Fox really have something here & not just from a ratings point of view. I think it would be a mistake for them not to run five maybe six seasons of Lie to me, this makes great sense when considering the amount of box sets sold in future to lets say social science students for a start…
I really enjoyed the show at first i love being able to read peoples faces, but as the show goes on i stared not liking the charactor he doesn’t act normal.