Samurai shenanigans

When Fox pushed back the premiere of Mental Samurai, I figured the show must be a dog. I just watched the delayed debut, and guess what. The show was really pretty good.

In fact, Mental Samurai was an engaging test of mental gymnastics. A contraption called "Ava" - don't ask me where they got the name, but it's better than "Watson" - whirled contestants in every direction around an elaborate set. Once in a while Ava stopped to pose a puzzle or memory test or general knowledge question. Contestants who got all twelve challenges right won ten grand and a chance for more lucre in a four-question bonus round.

The kicker was that they only got five minutes to solve the twelve mental puzzles. This wasn't easy for a viewer comfortably ensconced in a recliner, much less a contestant who's getting a thrill ride throughout the studio.

In fact, Ava crunched through contestants faster than Godzilla stomped through Tokyo. One poor guy, a former astronaut, bombed on the very first puzzle (an admittedly brutal pattern recognition query). Finally, a drag queen - no lie - got through all twelve questions, though he only solved two of the puzzles in the bonus round. That was still good for fifty grand.

An odd note was that Ava sounded like the sister of the disembodied voice on Minute To Win It. When the gadget counted down three-two-one before the start of the five minutes, the resemblance was uncanny. Meanwhile, human host Rob Lowe did an okay job of interacting with the put-upon contestants.

My only quibble was that the show spent a little too much time on contestant back stories. But a bit of human interest material never hurt a game show. Mental Samurai was definitely a pleasant way to pass an hour. Just keep Ava away from me.

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