"Poker Face" Evokes Vintage TV Mysteries

Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face

If you're a fan of vintage TV mystery series, then writer-director Rian Johnson (Knives Out) and actress Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) have a real treat in store for you. Poker Face, a new show airing on Peacock beginning January 26, evokes the self-contained format of classic series such as Columbo. Both Johnson and Lyonne are fans of that much-beloved 1970s show, and the two collaborated on this new series that is a valentine to the era of weekly television series with self-contained episodes.

Poker Face features Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a casino worker with a peculiar talent: she can tell when someone is lying. Charlie is sort of a human lie detector. While this may seem like a gift to some, it's caused Charlie some trouble in her past, as well as in her present. The series follows Charlie (who's on the run) as she travels from place to place, works a series of odd jobs, interacting with some offbeat characters, and ends up getting involved with mystery and murder along the way.

The show is structured in similar fashion to Columbo, in that we see the murder committed in the first act of the episode, and then Charlie enters the scene, and helps solve the crime, often befriending some of the people she meets. There are some clever stylistic touches, including a very 1970s inspired color palette and look to the show, right down to the title font. In addition to Lyonne, who's effervescent as Charlie, there's an all-star roster of guest stars throughout the series, including Adrian Brody, Cherry Jones, Nick Nolte, Ron Perlman, Ellen Barkin and Luis Guzman.

Poker Face is an enjoyable, retro-styled combination of Columbo, The Fugitive, Ellery Queen and Murder, She Wrote. As of this writing, I've seen the first four shows, and I think the best thus far is the fourth, "Rest In Metal," featuring Chloe Sevigny as the lead singer of a once popular punk band whose last shot at the big time comes at a murderous price. In addition to Sevigny's excellent performance, there are some clever faux punk-metal tunes featured in the episode. If you enjoy classic TV mystery shows, you'll have a great time watching this clever, entertaining series. Check out the trailer for Poker Face, now streaming on Peacock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x2NzusLAqk.