Coming up on Fox’s Lie to Me (Wednesdays, 8 pm/ET), Cal and The Lightman Group not only will hack away at more half-truths and ferret out many fibs, they’ll also welcome some new if familiar faces — namely, those belong to Jennifer Beals (The L Word) and Mekhi Phifer (ER). Monica Raymund, who plays Ria Torres, a relative rookie when it comes to deception detection, previews the episodes to come.

TVGuide.com: Do you feel like your own story parallels that of Ria Torres? An airport security guard is picked to work alongside the brilliant cal Lightman, whereas Monica Raymund is picked to star on a series with Tim Roth?

Monica Raymund: It absolutely is a parallel life. I had just come out of school in may 2008 when they plucked me up and put me on this show. It was the same deal with Torres — she has a very natural ability but not a lot of experience, and is kind of the rookie of the group.

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LOS ANGELES, Calif.

Deep in the bowels of the Sony Studios lot, Monica Raymund faces a microphone, trying to find a simpler way to criticize a smile.

It’s an odd ritual required in the making of modern TV. Raymund, playing a budding expert in nonverbal communication on Fox’s new crime drama Lie to Me, stands in a recording studio dubbing lines that either weren’t taped correctly when filmed, or that producers want to hear emphasized differently.

The line she’s struggling with is easy: “There’s something not right about her smile; she doesn’t look happy.” But the direction from producers — “make it simpler, like you’ve just discovered this” — is not.

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Every year I try to pick a new drama to watch and make it my “new show” that I follow for the season. This does not always work out (see: Love Monkey and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). I had decided that Lie to Me was going to be this year’s show, based mainly on my appreciation for Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction). Due to circumstances, I was out of town and I never got a chance to watch the two episodes I had recorded on DVR when, coincidentally, I was contacted and asked if I wanted to speak to one of the stars, Monica Raymund. I agreed, of course, and saddled up to the TV over the weekend to catch up. Then, I realized, both episodes were gone because my girlfriend’s abundance of Oprah episodes obliterated the episodes I had saved (thank you, Hulu, for saving me from embarking on a Christian Bale type rampage).

Regardless, my only regret for this interview is that I did not ask Monica about my idea for a SNL skit where Jon Lovitz’s liar character, Tommy Flanagan, is interviewed by Tim Roth’s Lie to Me character only to be stumped by Flanagan. I picture a distressed Roth saying, “I just don’t know, this guy seems like a straight shooter.” Yes, I realize this idea was most relevant in 1987. Anyway, here is my conversation with the more than delightful Monica Raymund:

Mike: So, I was watching the show and … it’s funny, considering the subject matter, I made sure I watched every frame of every episode — and not just enough to get by — because it scared me that you might have picked up some tricks (and call me out).

Monica: (Laughs) Yeah…

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Lying is in. Over 12 million viewers have been given an education in microexpressions and deception detection thanks to FOX’s new hit drama “Lie to Me.” The series, which stars Tim Roth as our guide Dr. Cal Lightman, moves to its new time of Wednesdays at 8:00/7:00c starting tonight. I had the chance to sit down with Roth and his co-stars Brendan Hines, Monica Raymund and Kelli Williams during a recent set visit.

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