''Poker Face'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series created by

Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film ''Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget. Transition ...

for the streaming service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. Stylized as a "case-of-the-week" murder mystery series, it stars

Natasha Lyonne Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she r ...

as Charlie Cale, a casino worker on the run who entangles herself into several mysterious deaths of strangers along the way. Peacock announced the series in March 2021, with Lyonne attached and Johnson as director.

Nora Zuckerman Nora Zuckerman is an American television screenwriter, who has worked on a number of television series, most notably the FOX science fiction series ''Fringe'' and the Syfy original series '' Haven'', '' Suits'', ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', '' ...

and

Lilla Zuckerman Lilla Anne Zuckerman is an American showrunner, television writer and producer. She is currently the showrunner of Poker Face which was created by Rian Johnson and stars Natasha Lyonne. She has worked on a number of television series, most no ...

were named as co-

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

s. ''Poker Face'' consists of 10 episodes and debuted on January 26, 2023. The series has received critical acclaim. In February 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise

''Poker Face'' is a murder mystery series stylized as a character-driven, case-of-the-week mystery, with each episode adapting the

inverted detective story An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describ ...

format popularized by ''

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...

''. The series centers around Charlie Cale, a casino worker with an innate ability to detect lies, traveling across the United States on the run from a casino boss following a suspicious death. Along the way, she encounters colorful characters and solves homicides in a variety of settings.

Cast and characters

Main

as Charlie Cale, a cocktail waitress with the uncanny ability to tell when people are lying

Recurring

Benjamin Bratt Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has worked in film and on television. He had supporting roles in the 1990s in such box office hits as ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), ...

as Cliff LeGrand, the head of security at the casino Charlie works at, with whom she finds herself at odds.

Guest

Episodes

Production

Development

The project was announced in March 2021, with

serving as creator, writer, director and executive producer. Johnson stated that the series would delve into "the type of fun, character driven, case-of-the-week mystery goodness I grew up watching." The series was inspired by ''

'', being referred as a "

howcatchem An inverted detective story, also known as a "howcatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describ ...

". Johnson also used ''

Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980 to May 8, 1988 during its first-run broadcast on ...

'', ''

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investigator ...

'', ''

Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physi ...

'', ''

Highway to Heaven ''Highway to Heaven'' is an American fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order t ...

'' and ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

'' as influences for the tone of the series. Johnson was interested in "doing that ''Columbo'' or even ''Quantum Leap'' thing of having every episode be an anthropological deep dive into a little corner of America that you might not otherwise see." On February 15, 2023, Peacock renewed the series for a second season.

Casting

The announcement of the series included that

would serve as the main lead actress. She was approached by Johnson about working on a procedural project together, with Lyonne as the lead character. As Johnson explained, the role was "completely cut to measure for her." While the series and lead character would share things in common with

, the writers sought to differentiate the lead character by having her work outside of the law. Due to the series' procedural aspects, the episodes feature several guest stars. Johnson was inspired by the number of actors who guest starred on ''Columbo'', wanting to deem each guest star as the star of the episode, which allowed them to attract many actors. In April 2022,

joined the series. Instead of a guest role, his character would recur as Cliff, the head of security at a casino where Charlie works. When she escapes the casino, his character would go after her, which Bratt called “a ticking clock for the show".

Filming

According to the director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission, filming was based in

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

, and ran from April through October 2022, in locations throughout the mid-

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

. At least one episode of the series was filmed in late August 2022 in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. Outdoor scenes were filmed in

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas, i ...

, in September 2022, with the

Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino is a hotel and casino on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. History Don Laughlin bought the southern tip of Nevada in 1954 (informally called South Pointe). Laughlin operated the 10 ...

depicting the fictional Frost Casino.

Release

''Poker Face'' premiered on January 26, 2023, with the first four episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis. International sales for the series are handled by

Paramount Global Content Distribution Paramount Global Distribution Group or Paramount Global Content Distribution is the international television distribution arm of American media conglomerate, Paramount Global, originally established in 1962 as the international distribution divis ...

. The series is available on Citytv+ and

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

in Canada and on

Stan Stan or STAN may refer to: People * Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name ** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy * Stan (surname), a Romanian surname * Stan! (born 1964), American author ...

in Australia. The series debuted in Asia via

Rock Entertainment Rock Entertainment (formerly RTL CBS Entertainment and Blue Ant Entertainment; stylized as ROCK entertainment) is a 24/7 Southeast Asian English-language television channel owned by Rock Entertainment Holdings. Launched in 2013, it was initially ...

on May 24, 2023. The series then debuted in the United Kingdom on

Sky Max Sky Max is a British pay television channel which launched on 1 September 2021 along with Sky Showcase. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel was announced on 28 July 2021 to replace Sky One, which had been ...

on May 26, 2023.

Reception

''Poker Face'' was met with critical acclaim upon release. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 99% approval rating with an average rating of 8.5/10, based on 88 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "With the incomparable Natasha Lyonne as an ace up its sleeve, ''Poker Face'' is a puzzle box of modest ambitions working with a full deck."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 84 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''s

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

gave a rating of 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "The beauty part is watching the amazing Natasha Lyonne's Charlie puzzle out the crime in clever and often hilarious fashion."

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

felt Lyonne landed "the role of her career" in Charlie Cale and called ''Poker Face'' "the best joyride of the 2023 TV season."

Linda Holmes Linda Holmes (born March 16, 1959) is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 42nd District since January 2007. The 42nd district includes all or parts of Aurora, Boulder Hill, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora and O ...

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

felt Lyonne's "unforgettable" performance proved herself to be the "

Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series ''Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...

of her generation". Ben Travers of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

'' gave the series a B and stated "All this star power is enough to guarantee ''Poker Face'' will be, at least, an enjoyable diversion. But... it's hard to shake the feeling that ''Poker Face'' isn't as good as it could've been." ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''s Sophie Gilbert believed the show succeeded in its first episodes "by attending to the emotional cadences of overlooked people and places" but criticized the characters of later episodes for falling into

tropes Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Peacock (streaming service) 2020s American comedy-drama television series 2020s American crime drama television series 2020s American mystery television series 2023 American television series debuts American crime comedy television series American detective television series English-language television shows Nonlinear narrative television series Peacock (streaming service) original programming Television series by Media Rights Capital Television shows about murder Television shows filmed in Nevada Television shows filmed in New Mexico Television shows filmed in New York (state)