Rian Johnson Wanted Poker Face To Feel Like A Detective Throwback
Rian Johnson is on a murder mystery hot streak. After releasing "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" at the end of 2022, he's starting off 2023 on the right foot with a mystery-of-the-week original series on Peacock. Executive produced by himself and Natasha Lyonne (who also stars in the series), "Poker Face" is emblematic of the mystery shows of old, and harkens back to the 1970s when Universal and NBC ruled the mystery movie night spot with feature-length "Columbo" episodes that boasted impressive guests and even more remarkable murders.
The bygone era of those old detective shows has been revived with "Poker Face," as Johnson's primary goal is to take all the best parts of mystery television from years of yore and reintroduce them to a new audience. Given his love of all things mystery that he saw as a child, it's no surprise that a series like "Poker Face" came to fruition. While his Benoit Blanc mystery movies may have satisfied his Agatha Christie itch, it's "Poker Face" that really plays into the procedural format of detective series and allows Johnson to provide a tasteful and entertaining homage to the shows that shaped him.
'It's the TV that I was raised on'
In an interview with The Ringer, Rian Johnson was inevitably asked about how "Poker Face" compares to "Columbo." From the audience seeing the murder happening at the beginning of each episode, to the little clues left behind for Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) to pick up on while pestering the murderer, the similarities give "Poker Face" a strong "Columbo" vibe. However, rather than just sticking to a single show to take inspiration from, Rian Johnson instead took notes from a variety of other programming from his childhood. Here's what he said to The Ringer when asked about his influences for "Poker Face" beyond "Columbo":
"I'd include 'The Rockford Files' and 'Quantum Leap,' but also 'Highway to Heaven' and [the 1978 TV series] 'The Incredible Hulk.' It's kind of got the DNA of all that stuff. And that's the stuff that I was sitting on the rug in front of my family's TV watching reruns of every single afternoon as a kid. It's the TV that I was raised on."
The "DNA" of these shows is certainly there when you watch an episode of "Poker Face" play out. Bill Bixby's man-on-the-run character of Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk," who helps bring justice to whatever town he ends up in, is recreated with a much less gloomy angle with Charlie's fugitive status. And much like Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files," Charlie is also down on her luck, living in a mobile home in the first episode where she is very much not an officer of the law. "Poker Face" thrives off of its influences, and the structure's repetitive nature isn't a detriment to the show — it's actually a big reason viewers should tune in every week.
The true pleasure of the procedural
Rian Johnson has high hopes for "Poker Face" and its protagonist Charlie Cale. Much like "Columbo" was a hit with audiences because of the joy derived from seeing the rumpled detective match wits with white-collar criminals until they eventually got their comeuppance, Johnson hopes that "Poker Face" has the potential of making Charlie just as lovable of a character. In his interview with The Ringer, he detailed why he thinks audiences will dig the series:
"Part of the appeal of trying to do one of those shows is recognizing the comfort food element that I have with it and getting back to the notion of the true pleasure of the procedural — of something where it has the same pattern, it repeats every single episode, but with a very charismatic, wild-card lead in the middle that is going to draw you back every week."
The first four episodes of "Poker Face" have more than proven that Johnson and his creative team are more than capable of replicating the detective shows of old. Natasha Lyonne's performance as Charlie is a down-to-earth approach that makes it so you can't help but root for her while she figures out the sinister intentions of various guest stars. Most importantly, Charlie's method of investigation, including her ability to tell when someone is lying, causes her to stand out from Johnson's influences, making "Poker Face" refreshing despite its strict adherence to a tried-and-true formula.