Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

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MarkBarrett
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by MarkBarrett »

Jeopardy_fan wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:29 am Two head scratching loses in Episode 3
Spoiler
One contestant gave up because they didn't know who the third photo was to get his initials. You didn't have to know that one the first two were enough, I only know one U.S. capital that starts with "ALBA"

Another spent the entire time on his second question, a picture puzzle he said the answer to four or five times but never locked in because he didn't recognize it.
Pretty darn funny (not that I'd say it to his face) when MMA fighter
Spoiler
Frankie Bam Bam Bloise could not figure out the music duo when looking at a picture of a hallway and a picture of a bowl of oats.

Yes, Jaimi Alexander could not identify Neil Young to get the NY needed even when she had the first 2/3rds solved with ALBA.

Nathan Gonzales insured a spot in the finals becoming the first mental samurai. My impression is his feat will be matched before the season is over.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by Jeopardy_fan »

It was funny in a way, but I mainly felt bad for him since he had it but there was just no way to realize. There's just nothing you can do about something like that. Tough break.

Rob's reactions to camera throughout the incident though were hilarious!
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by MarkBarrett »

Game show trivia Ten Commandments: Thou shalt know thy Seven Dwarfs

What happened:
Spoiler
Stephanie Thornton (Mensa member) answered true for Doc being the only member of the Seven Dwarfs not ending with the letter Y. Next up, her husband, Jameson. Stephanie missed on Q7.
Edited for correction.
Last edited by MarkBarrett on Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

The woman in the audience's reaction to Matt Potts missing the very last question was hysterical. :lol:

Stephanie is smarter than 99.9% of people and Jameson is smarter than 98% of people. My IQ is 130, which I believe puts me in at least 90%.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by Johnblue »

MarkBarrett wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:43 am
Jeopardy_fan wrote: Wed Apr 03, 2019 10:29 am Two head scratching loses in Episode 3
Spoiler
One contestant gave up because they didn't know who the third photo was to get his initials. You didn't have to know that one the first two were enough, I only know one U.S. capital that starts with "ALBA"

Another spent the entire time on his second question, a picture puzzle he said the answer to four or five times but never locked in because he didn't recognize it.
Pretty darn funny (not that I'd say it to his face) when MMA fighter
Spoiler
Frankie Bam Bam Bloise could not figure out the music duo when looking at a picture of a hallway and a picture of a bowl of oats.

Yes, Jaimi Alexander could not identify Neil Young to get the NY needed even when she had the first 2/3rds solved with ALBA.

Nathan Gonzales insured a spot in the finals becoming the first mental samurai. My impression is his feat will be matched before the season is over.
Tonight a dancer tried to prove that dancers are smart. He failed.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by MarkBarrett »

LucarioSnooperVixey wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:30 am The woman in the audience's reaction to Matt Potts missing the very last question was hysterical. :lol:

Stephanie is smarter than 99.9% of people and Jameson is smarter than 98% of people. My IQ is 130, which I believe puts me in at least 90%.
Yes, was funny.

Music again causes trouble. Put in order:
Baby Got Back
Baby One More Time
Baby
Ice Ice Baby

It's Vanilla, Mix-a-Lot, Britney, Bieber for earliest to latest (or perhaps the show asked the other way - can't recall)

Later: Jay-Z's Problems + Nena's Balloons = ? She ran out of time and was going to guess 102 as 99 for Jay-Z and 3 for Nena. Half right as Nena is 99 for a total of 198.

How embarrassing for Andrew Ames to go out on Q1 for being unable to decipher the image of an eye wrapped in twisted cellophane = eye candy.

Congrats to
Spoiler
Matthew Potts for getting through the initial 12 questions and adding $65K to his total for getting the first extra three right including the [sarcastic] extremely difficult Titanic over Avatar as Best Picture Winner worth $25,000 of the bonus total. He missed Mental Samurai status on the Baby music above when he had Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Back Got Back" as earliest. It's 1992 and Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby is 1990.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by MarkBarrett »

Comments about the 4/16 episode:
Spoiler

Ouch on Glenn Hetrick on the last of 12 questions with only time to say the sea without time to spell it.

Olympic swimmer Ed Moses had the nightmare that could hit anyone when the crossword for the actor's name took forever to come to him eating up way too much time. Even halfway to it getting Ford from the car company was not enough.

Jack Vomacka had me right with him unable to work out the four letter word to complete _ _ _ _ port & over _ _ _ _
When it happens there is no pass even when a player really needs a pass.

Unscrambling the anagrams can be tough and when it is one-word movies it only becomes more difficult. From the comfort of home I was able to work the jumble to see INCEPTION while Nancy Jo Perdue could not under stage conditions.

Jackie Boehme needs to appear on J! as she was great all around earning the M S title, $100K, and invite to return.

That sucks for the contestants who bowed out early and only appeared in the quick montage.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by Prizes »

I love this show for the fun aspects, and some of the feel goods of the players, less so the brain stimuli that others in this genre provide. That said, like Jeopardy!, I find there to be an increasing number of underutilized strategies on pretty much every minigame.

One minor complaint is how much swinging, by duration, around Ava does, to the point where it's probably upwards of 30 seconds per 12 maingame tasks. 10% of allotted solve time is too much.

If only to be eligible, likely not the case, having known one of the fact checkers. Different under the lights but gee, the difficulty overall feels like free money every go.
MarkBarrett wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 1:17 am
Spoiler
Jack Vomacka had me right with him unable to work out the four letter word to complete _ _ _ _ port & over _ _ _ _
When it happens there is no pass even when a player really needs a pass.
Spoiler
Genuinely wonder if they were trying to create a moment. Draws some parallels to one of my favorite Quizbowl stories: The question asked what the name of the third baseman was in Abbott and Costello's Who's on First? routine. The intention was for someone to genuinely be in befuddlement, and inadvertantly give the correct answer of I Don't Know.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by bkellysky »

I agree on the Ava swings taking too much of the contestant's time.
Rob Lowe is yelling 'Hurry up, little time left,' while Ava is casually making wide swings to the next clue.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by jeff6286 »

One problem with the show’s format is the existence of “garbage time”, where the contestant has lost too much time to have any chance to win yet still has 2-3 minutes on the clock. This has to be very frustrating for the contestant and no fun for the home viewers. It could be mitigated if they got money for each question they solve, so at least there is something to play for. Maybe $1000 or $500 each, so a non-winning player could still take home up to $11000 or so.

This would also allow them to put in a pass option, maybe after you are stuck for a full minute on the same question. You obviously can’t win after passing but at least you can win a few bucks and avoid these awkward situations where someone is left staring at something they just aren’t going to know for upwards of four minutes.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by MarkBarrett »

The 4/30 episode could be titled,
Spoiler
"A Comedy of Errors or Emojis"

recalling number of letter Us in the short text message :lol:
Unable to identify all 3 famous Jessicas to alphabetize them :roll:
Unable to spot the third instrument in the small word grid :shock:
Unable to rearrange FINDERS to get the beloved TV show :o
Failing to put in order Beijing, London and Rio for hosting the Olympics :(
Minutes in an hour plus hours in two days equal 104 :P
In the mix one player went all the way to Mental Samurai & $100K, so that gets a :mrgreen:

The best moment of the show was Roz (a woman older than 50) solving the two pictures to figure out the grunge band, followed by the the audience going crazy.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

60 + 48 = 104: Curb Your Enthusiasm music.

DERFINS!!! My sister loves Friends and she probably would have said, "Are you f***ing kidding me?" :lol:

Rob's reaction to Roz getting the Pearl Jam question was hysterical.

Oh dUde!!!

Yeh for Chris Yeh for becoming Mental Samurai!!!
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by Jeopardy_fan »

MarkBarrett wrote: Wed May 01, 2019 1:32 amRoz (a woman older than 50)
Older than 70!

To which, I noticed she was being swung around significantly gentler than usual and with no superfluous extra motions during the transitions. I had wondered aloud if they would tone it down for her as soon as the intro package mentioned her age, so it didn't surprise me to see, but I thought it seemed unfair to other contestants who have time wasted from their clock as was just being discussed.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

Arius George obviously either hasn't seen or doesn't remember the $1,000,000 win from 1 vs. 100.

Rob Lowe: I like that(Ava's FAIL Interrupts) oh ... no!!!

Rob among many others in the audience were completely shocked. Just like the 15 women in the mob in that particular 1 vs. 100 question. Consider this question as negbaity as Do Not Dry Clean/Do Not Bleach and "The Road Not Taken"/The Road Less Traveled.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by SweepingDeveloper »

Spoiler
And Heather Hurley's the champ! Congratulations to her!
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

YAY HEATHER WON!!!! :D :D :D

By the way, I got 16/16 of the questions tonight. It really is easy when you are playing at home.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by DBear »

The Grand Championship reaired on May 14. Still can't believe George Washington's facing on the quarter tripped up three contestants. :shock:
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by Leander »

DBear wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 10:17 am The Grand Championship reaired on May 14. Still can't believe George Washington's facing on the quarter tripped up three contestants. :shock:
Agree! I had not seen this last year. I was interested, given all the complaints about the time lost with the chair swinging around, that they would end up with a final in which contestants were timed down to hundredths of seconds. Isn’t this inherently unfair unless TPTB guarantee the time swinging is precisely the same for everyone?
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by talkingaway »

Leander wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 1:29 pm
DBear wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 10:17 am The Grand Championship reaired on May 14. Still can't believe George Washington's facing on the quarter tripped up three contestants. :shock:
Agree! I had not seen this last year. I was interested, given all the complaints about the time lost with the chair swinging around, that they would end up with a final in which contestants were timed down to hundredths of seconds. Isn’t this inherently unfair unless TPTB guarantee the time swinging is precisely the same for everyone?
I always guessed (although I could be totally wrong) that the clock was stopped during the chair swinging, for fairness. Or perhaps a constant amount of time was deducted during each chair swing, no matter how severe or long the swinging actually was. IIRC, the show cuts a LOT of the game out - watching someone stare at a giant screen for 50 seconds "ummmm"ing and "aaaahhh"ing isn't exactly compelling TV. Then again, the "fairness" part only really matters in that final round, right..because everyone gets different questions in the prelims. Maybe everyone gets different swinging patterns, too.

I think gimmick of the flying chair on Mental Samurai was kind of stupid - but then again, those same kind of gimmicks (the 30 TV screens of J!, the big flashing board with lights on Press Your Luck, and that big beautiful wheel on Wheel of Fortune) are probably what got me into game shows when I was 6 or 7. But one thing I like about J! is that everything I've heard from past contestants leads me to believe that the J! producers want them to succeed - the fact that there's a random swinging chair in Mental Samurai makes me doubt the same is true of that show.

Then again, FOX doesn't have the best track record with safety and chairs on game shows. There was one show in the early 2000s that was basically a kind of torture chamber show, and a contestant sued the producers. Clearly this one seems relatively tame compared to that.
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Re: Fun with Fox's "Mental Samurai"

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

Mental Samurai Season 2 is arriving. A game show vet. Who could it be?
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