‘Lie To Me’ Boss Sees ‘Opportunity’ With Summer Slot

http://www.fancast.com/blogs/2010/lie-to-me/lie-to-me-boss-sees-opportunity-with-summer-slot/

On the one hand, ‘Lie To Me’s nearly six-monthhiatus (!) was a small, cruel eternity for the Fox drama’s passionate fans.

But truth be told (wink-wink), the adventures of Cal Lightman & Co. now can continue, starting this Monday at 8/7c, free of the obscenely tough competition that is ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ ‘Two and a Half Men’/'Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Monday Night Football.’

Shawn Ryan, who executive-produced the show’s second season, admits that he had “mixed feelings” about the long hiatus “because traditionally [summer] has been a burn-off spot.”

“But when I was told that they were pairing us with ‘The Good Guys‘ (starring Bradley Whitford and Colin Hanks), which I knew was an important element in their schedule… I chose to look at the glass half full,” Ryan continues. “Now we have a chance to attract some audience attention and get some eyeballs that maybe were tuning into other things during the fall.”

“I’m definitely looking at it as an opportunity more than a punishment.”

‘Lie To Me’ is back for a total of 12 episodes, including a “really strong” final run “that will launch the show into the third season” (airing Wednesdays at 8/7c this fall), says Ryan. Come Season 3, writer Alexander Cary will assume show runner duties as Ryan tends to his own new creations: FX’s upcoming ‘Terriers’ and the Fox midseason cop drama ‘Ride-Along.’

Among the guest stars on tap for ‘Lie To Me’ summertime comeback:

* Jason Dohring (’Veronica Mars’) brings a chill to the air this first week, playing a suspect in some serial slayings. Says Ryan, “It becomes an episode about Cal (played by Tim Roth) trying to prove his theory, either right or wrong, and obtaining a great nemesis in the process.”

* Also this week, ‘Howard Hesseman (’WKRP In Cincinnati’) guest-stars as a teacher who’s gotten himself into a jam because he claims to have seen a UFO.

* Shaking things up in the coming weeks will be Melissa George (’Alias’) and Max Martini (from Ryan’s ‘The Unit’), playing people who come between, in different ways and to varying degrees, the increasingly close Cal and Gillian (Kelli Williams).

* Enver Gjokaj (’Dollhouse’) turns in what Ryan calls “a really, really great guest performance,” playing a soldier who returns Stateside with some mental problems from his tour of duty in Iraq.

And of course, come August 16, a half dozen members of Ryan’s ‘The Shield’ will reunite when Cal checks himself into a psych ward.