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Lie to Me

There has never been a television series titled Corporate Crime. But one of the best series that touched on the topic is called Lie to Me.

Lie to Me had 48 episodes over three seasons on Fox. The series ran from January 2009 to January 2011. (You can watch them all online at Netflix.)

Lie to Me focuses on Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) whose Lightman Group hires itself out to law enforcement agencies.

Lightman and his colleagues try to figure out who is lying and who is not.

They do this through the real life science of deception detection.

Tools in their bag — analyzing microexpressions and body language.

Out of the 48 Lie to Me episodes, at least four focused directly on corporate crime.

In “The Best Policy,” Lightman is hired to find a corporate spy at a pharmaceutical company when he uncovers a conspiracy surrounding a risky new drug called Priox.

In “Life is Priceless,” Lightman is brought in to determine who is at fault in a building collapse and he discovers a massive corporate cover-up.

In “The Canary’s Song,” Lightman tries to find out who was responsible for a deadly coal mine explosion.

And in “Black and White,” Lightman investigates the murder of a journalist friend who was in the process of investigating a corrupt politician.

Lie to Me put forth the view that lying is a bedrock principle of American corporate and political life.

Almost every episode features a news clip of a famous politician lying – highlighting the facial expression or body language that gave away the lie. Think John Edwards, Sarah Palin and Bill Clinton.

So, why did Fox cancel Lie to Me?

You can have your theory. I have mine.

Lie to Me threatened to become our new national anthem.

It exposed both political parties and major corporations as built on a pack of lies.

The biggest lie – that Democratic Party is the party of the people while the Republican Party is the party of big business.

When in fact both parties cater to the corrupt corporate state.

After watching Lie to Me, you may never again trust a Democrat or a Republican.

And maybe that’s the point.

Time to start over.

Russell Mokhiber edits the Corporate Crime Reporter.