History Series / TheLyingGame

* TeensAreShort: Averted with Mads and Ethan. Played straight with just about everyone else.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Mads, which is confusing as her father and brother are white.

* TheReveal: No not that Rebecca [[spoiler: is the twins mother]] It's the fact that [[spoiler: Sutton seems to have known all along and they have some sort of plan put together]]

* DemotedToExtra: Creator/KristenProut (Char) was demoted to recurring status. Sharon Pierre-Louis (Nisha) was also demoted but she had never really been a major character in the first place. Neither appeared at all in the second season.

* CastingGag: Creator/CharismaCarpenter due to her role in ''Deadly Sibling Rivalry'', a movie about a TwinSwitch that came out at the same time as ''The Lying Game'' and its Dueling Show ''Creator/{{Ringer}}''.

* DemotedToExtra: Kristen Prout (Char) was demoted to recurring status. Sharon Pierre-Louis (Nisha) was also demoted but she had never really been a major character in the first place. Neither appeared at all in the second season.

* ClarkKenting: Taken UpToEleven. Emma is different from Sutton in almost every way except for appearance (Sutton is a slacker, Emma is smart. Sutton is kind of a bitch, Emma is nice. It goes on.) and yet the whole town continues to believe that she is Sutton ''simply because she says so.''

* DisneyDeath:[[spoiler:Sutton.]]
* DoggedNiceGuy: Thayer to Sutton.
* FiveManBand:
** TheHero: Emma
** TheLancer: Sutton
** TheSmartGuy: Thayer
** TheBigGuy: Ethan
** TheChick: [[spoiler: Mads after she finds out the secret]]

* BrotherChuck: Justin is gone by Season 2 with no explanation where he went.

''The Lying Game'' is an Creator/ABCFamily series based off the novels of the same named by [[PrettyLittleLiars Sara Shepard]]. It follows the adventures of Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer, two long-lost twins living in different parts of the country. When Sutton decides to go looking for their real parents, Emma is forced to move into her home and take over her life. ''The Lying Game'' premiered on August 15, 2011 and was cancelled on July 15, 2013.

* ActingForTwo: Alexandra Chando as Emma and Sutton.

* BillingDisplacement: Several of the show's most important characters are billed at just recurring status (ex. Alec, Thayer, Justin) while there are characters like Nisha and Char who were AdvertisedExtra.
** Char was more a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot: She's as prominent as Mads and Laurel in the first ten episodes and looks set to take a prominent role with Rebecca being named her guardian [[spoiler: and her being the twins' cousin]] but the actress took another job before the second half of season one was picked up, resulting in the character being rapidly PutOnABus.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in Phoenix, with Sutton off to Los Angeles... and filmed in Texas (except for the pilot, which was filmed in New Mexico).

* TheCastShowoff: Episode 13 is the first (but not the last) to feature not only Allie Gonino's singing talents but also the other members of her band.
* CastingGag: Creator/CharismaCarpenter due to her role in ''Deadly Sibling Rivalry'', a movie about a TwinSwitch that came out at the same time as ''The Lying Game'' and its Dueling Show ''Creator/{{Ringer}}''.

* DawsonCasting: All of the teens are in their 20s. The youngest was Kirsten Prout at 20 who played Char.
** Made worse by the fact that Christian Alexander (born 1990) plays a character that is supposed to be a few years older than the teens. He's actually 5 years younger than the actress playing his '''little''' sister.

* IKnewIt: Annie [[spoiler: is not the twins mother, Rebecca]] is.

* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: [[spoiler: Creator/CharismaCarpenter and Alexandra Chando look so much alike that the reveal of Rebecca being the twins' mother was borderline TheUntwist]].

* SecretKeeper: Ethan and Thayer, who know Emma and Sutton's secrets. Later, Emma brings [[spoiler: Mads]] into the secret. Alec and Ted also keep the secret about Emma and Sutton's mother

* [[spoiler: HotMom: Rebecca. Well, she ''is'' played by Charisma Carpenter.]]

* HotMom: [[spoiler: Rebecca. Well, she ''is'' played by Charisma Carpenter.]]

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: A very extreme version between Emma and Sutton. Sutton and Laurel are a pretty tame version in comparison.

->''A few months ago I discovered I had a twin sister. And then she asked me to take her place. Keep the secret, find our real mother, and'' try ''to stay alive. Put yourself in my shoes - how long could you keep up The Lying Game?''
--> Opening narration.

Not to be confused with ''LiarGame''. Or ''TheCryingGame''.

* CastingGag: CharismaCarpenter due to her role in ''Deadly Sibling Rivalry'', a movie about a TwinSwitch that came out at the same time as ''The Lying Game'' and its Dueling Show ''{{Ringer}}''.

* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: [[spoiler: CharismaCarpenter and Alexandra Chando look so much alike that the reveal of Rebecca being the twins's mother was borderline TheUntwist]].

''The Lying Game'' is an Creator/ABCFamily series based off the novels of the same named by [[PrettyLittleLiars Sara Shepard]]. It follows the adventures of Emma Becker and Sutton Mercer, two long-lost twins living in different parts of the country. When Sutton decides to go looking for their real parents, Emma is forced to move into her home and take over her life. ''The Lying Game'' premiered on August 15, 2011.

* AlliterativeName: Char Chamberlain and in season 2, Rebecca Rybak

* AscendedExtra: Thayer (but not Alec) was promoted to main cast in episode 10 and Rebecca will be a regular in Season 2.

** Emma started out only pretending to date Ethan, but eventually fell for him, which caused ''friction'' with Sutton

* BigSisterInstinct: Laurel with Sutton

* TheCastShowoff: Episode 13 features not only Allie Gonino's singing talents but also the other members of her band.

* TheChessmaster: Sutton was already shown as quite the chessmaster but the season finale revealed that [[spoiler: she was collaborating with her mother Rebecca]]

** Made worse by the fact that Christian Alexander (born 1990) plays a character that is supposed to be a few years older than the teens. He's actually 5 years younger than the actress playing his '''little''' sister
* DemotedToExtra: Kristen Prout (Char) was demoted to recurring status. Sharon Pierre-Louis (Nisha) was also demoted but she had never really been a major character in the first place.
* DisneyDeath:[[spoiler:Sutton]]
* DoggedNiceGuy: Thayer to Sutton

** And their parents Theodore "Ted" Mercer, Alec Rybak, Phyllis Chamberlain

** It gets even more tangled when you add in [[spoiler: Jordan, Rebecca's stepson]]

* WhamEpisode: "To Lie For" Jordan [[spoiler: killed his brother]], Rebecca [[spoiler: tries to kill Alec by throwing him through a glass ceiling]] and [[spoiler: Thayer is shown with the murder weapon that killed Teresa.]]

* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in Phoenix, with Sutton off to Los Angeles... and filmed in New Mexico.