Poker Face

Solid show. Great premise and each story for each episode is very interesting, mysterious, entertaining and is well structured with great characters with villainous motives. The only negative this show suffers from is predictability. Obviously she will continue to solve every single murder every episode using her power of perception in picking lies. There's no deviation from the formula and no surprises at the end of each episode except for the satisfaction that the bad guys got what was coming to them. Still, it's a fun show with great storytelling. Will be interesting to see how the season ends.

Poker Face has been pretty entertaining so far. Natasha Lyonne plays Charlie Cale, a casino host with the talent of being a human lie detector. She can tell if you're lying about anything from playing cards to actual murder. She ends up going on the run and being an amateur detective solving murders across the nation. Each episode is its own story and has a great cast of guest stars each episode. It's being hailed as one of the best new shows of the year by just about every critic and the audience seems to really like it too. If you give this a try there's a good chance you'll end up watching the entire season.

The Poker Face pilot is A+. This is a nice throwback to the murder mystery series that used to be common in the 70s/80s. So many TV shows have gone to the long story format it's refreshing going back to the story of the week format.

The pilot episode is a love letter to series like Columbo. In fact, Rian Johnson goes as far as borrowing some of the fonts from Columbo. If you enjoy this series and have never watched Columbo I highly recommend checking those episodes out. Poker Face has a great cast, it's superbly written, and directed.

Hopefully this series keeps up the quality of the opening episodes. I can't wait to see where they go from here.

Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) is a cocktail waitress and former card hustler working at the Frost Casino in Nevada, but following the murder of her best friend, Charlie finds herself on the run from her past with her abilities as a human lie detector serving her on various self-contained mysteries.

Poker Face is the new Peacock series created by Rian Johnson of Looper, Knives Out, and Glass Onion fame. Much like how Knives Out tapped into the framework star studded closed room murder mysteries, Poker Face evokes a number of classic examples of "case of the week" detective series and the show definitely has DNA from the likes of The Rockford Files, The Fugitive, but most especially Columbo which is deliberately homage by Johnson with its usage of yellow text opening credits and the "howcatchem" format popularized by Columbo. Johnson and company have used these well worn TV frameworks to create a memorable and unique closed ended murder mystery series that does a lot to stand out from the crowded field of procedurals taking up the TV airspace.

At the center of the show is undeniably Natasha Lyonne's Charlie Cale character, and with Johnson's writing and Lyonne's performance the two create a likable and memorable character who we want to see go on further adventures because of how unique she is. While Charlie Cale is able to discern whether people are telling the truth or not, Charlie herself is a bit of a mess barely keeping her head above water and driving a car and living in a mobile home which have both seen better days. In many ways the character reminded me of Jeff Bridges' The Dude from The Big Lebowski as filtered by way of Peter Falk's Columbo as both characters' slovenly appearances cause their antagonists to underestimate them which leads to their downfall. Because Poker Face is up front about its antagonists and doesn't rely on all the post CSI flash of many procedurals, Poker Face distinguishes itself by making itself a character based affair with the cases being a battle of wits between crook and sleuth and we definitely get some memorable crooks from the get go.

Poker Face is a really entertaining series and it definitely has the legs to be a long running and fun bit of investigative escapism. Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of classic sleuthing tropes.

Yes I said it. I've noticed that there are some similarities in their demeanor and even her raspy voice but I am glad to say, Charlie carves her own path in this easy flowing yet still mystical series. I'm two episodes in and so far so good. I happen to like Colombo so the similarities are pleasing and the fact that trouble seems to always find her as she try to evade her own troubles is a nice addition to the old mystery theater ploy. Custom and character is believable enough and actually begs for sympathy at times. The acting is spread out with a mixture of veterans and newbies but it still flows quite honestly. Here's hoping for the best!