Those tired of murder mysteries will find little here to pique their interest, but for fans of the genre (or Phillippe), there’s plenty to like, making for engaging, if not appointment, viewing.

Secrets & Lies pits Ryan Phillippe and Juliette Lewis in an intense if sometimes overboiled battle of wills over the murder of a 4-year-old boy.

It’s a crisply paced suburban potboiler with a murdered child at the center, and if you’ve been sucked in by other shows in this genre you may find yourself sucked in by this one. But also feel free to be vaguely annoyed that those clever TV makers are seducing you with formulas rather than freshness.

The show delivers the secrets and lies, but isn't compelling enough to justify yet another story about a child's murder.

The two-hour pilot lacks the growly tension of that dark, nnotty Netflix thriller [The Fall]. [27 Feb 2015, p.66]

Ryan Phillippe does the blank thing well. Juliette Lewis, once American cinema's liveliest eccentric, is drained of life.... This show runs ten weeks. I'm out.

Secrets and Lies starts out stale and predictable, which really does save so much time, especially for viewers who should immediately find something else to watch.

I don't understand why anyone would say anything bad about this show it was REALLY AMAZING!!!!! Ryan Phillippe acting was GREAT and he really gave his all to playing this character. I can't wait to see what happens in season two! P.S. Thank so much for having this so on Hulu Plus the very next day after the air date it made it really easy for people to have a chance to watch the show and fall in LOVE!

"Secrets & Lies" season 1 is a 10 episode mini series appearing on ABC. It is based on an Australian series that I have not seen but is currently available on Netflix. I guessed the killer in the first episode so it's not much of a mystery. It is still entertaining to watch Ben, the accused main character played by Ryan Phillippe, run (literally) around the neighborhood and accuse a different person each week. He is relentlessly pursued by Detective Crawford (Juliette Lewis). I initially made fun of Juliette's performance and wondered why her face looked all weird. After seeing the entire season though I enjoyed Crawford the most. I also liked Ben but his constantly making the worse decisions possible made him hard to sympathize with. Some times I just wanted to shake him. There apparently will be a season 2 with Juliette reprising the character of Crawford but everything else (the story and the other characters) will be new. Cant say that I will be watching next year. It just depends on the story.

You know those "real crime" shows that cram 30 minutes of program into 120 minutes. Secrets and Lies seems to trying to cram 30 minutes into an entire season. I've watched three episodes now, trying to be fair, but I am just totally tired of watching Ryan Phillippe "acting", with extreme anger, upon every little impulse that enters his mind. I don't know where this story is going but I have come to simply not care. It drags on and on with everyone acting like jerks. Only the automaton police detective remains consistent in her behavior. I don't know why Ryan hasn't taken a punch at her tiny little face yet but I figure that as the show stretches on and on that punch is probably lurking in the near future. I will miss it.

Worst crime show with whom I thought to be two great actors, worst acting job I've ever seen, the best acting is from people I've never heard of before. By far Juliette Lewis and Ryan Phillipe's worst. I keep trying to like it but It's just not going to happen. Unbelievable!

The things happening on this show are so far outside of what regular people would do in this situation it's down right frustrating. The whole show is like a bad lifetime movie.