Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mental Samurai’ On Fox, A Rob Lowe-Hosted Game Show That’s Pretty Intense

There’s a reason why good old-fashioned game shows are still so popular; you can play along and see yourself behind the podium or in the seat of the contestants you watch. But can you imagine trying to answer questions while being spun around on a gigantic robot arm? That’s the idea behind Fox’s new game show Mental Samurai. Read on for more…

MENTAL SAMURAI: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A massively-tall set, dark except for the requisite lights and four “pillars” (i.e. massive screens). Host Rob Lowe stands on a balcony over the playing area, describing the game. In the middle is a circular capsule on the end of a massive robot arm called “Ava”.

The Gist: The game part of Mental Samurai is pretty straightforward. A contestant has five minutes to answer 12 questions, 3 in each of four categories: Knowledge, Memory, Puzzles and Sequencing. The questions aren’t super difficult, but the contestant is flung around the gaming area, from one “pillar” to the next, between each question. This is designed to disorient the contestant to see if he or she keeps his or her mind in the game. The contestant pulls a lever and says “Lock it in!” to register his or her answer. One wrong answer and the game is over; if the contestant runs out of time, the game is over.

However, if the contestant answers all 12 questions, he or she wins $10,000 and goes to a bonus round where they have to answer four questions, one in each category, in one-and-a-half-minutes plus whatever time they had leftover in the first round. Every right question sends the contestant up the money ladder; if he or she answers all four questions, he/she wins $100,000 and is called a “Mental Samurai.”

Our Take: The concept behind Mental Samurai, where a contestant is flung around while trying to answer questions, was conceived by former Fox reality guru Mike Darnell (the show’s EPs are Arthur Smith, Toby Gorman, Jeff Apploff and Noah Bonnett), and it’s a good one. When a contestant gets on a roll, with the capsule rotating and literally flinging the contestant around the stage, the game play is as exciting as we’ve seen on any recent primetime game show. Lowe is a good host for this kind of game, as he’s low-key but enthusiastic for the contestants, rooting for them and guiding them as they’re being spun from pillar to pillar.

The show’s actual format is more akin to a reality competition show than a game show. Selected contestants get an introduction segment: One woman just lost her mother, who she played games with, one is an astronaut, another didn’t graduate Stanford and didn’t tell her parents, and one is a trucking salesman by day and a drag queen by night. But others barely get any screen time.

That part is a smart adjustment from the producers. They’re not interested in showing ten different contestants fail on the first or second question over and over again. They know that would end up tiring out the viewer via repetition, and give them no room to tell the personal stories they know will get audiences to root harder. Sometimes the show gets bogged down in these personal stories, sacrificing game play in the process. But we’re really on the fence as to whether we wanted to see the game play these stories replaced.

Parting Shot: One contestant does manage to get to the bonus round, and gets a “victory lap” on Ava for his efforts.

Sleeper Star: Ava looks like a pretty awesome amusement park ride; if this show becomes successful, Fox should create a mobile version to tour around the country.

Most Pilot-y Line: The lights and computer voices feel very early 2000s, but it feels like producers of primetime game shows can’t seem to get away from that kind of set design.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Mental Samurai a fun watch, and Lowe exudes his usual understated cool as host.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream Mental Samurai on Fox