TV’s most challenging game show returns to Fox
Mind game: Contestants on television game shows have been answering trivia questions for decades, but one unique series turns the genre on its head, quite literally.
Rob Lowe (“The West Wing”) returns to host one of prime time’s most thrilling game shows in the season premiere of “Mental Samurai,” airing Wednesday,April 22, on Fox. In the show, contestants are challenged to answer questions while being whipped around the set in a specially designed high-speed capsule capable of twisting and turning 360 degrees.
The first season of the show was a popular prime-time offering when it premiered last March, pulling in well over a million viewers per episode as contestants battled for a top prize of up to $100,000. When Fox announced that Season 2 would premiere in April, Warner Bros. Unscripted and Alternative Television executive Mike Darnell had high praise for the series.
“The show fires on every single level,” said Darnell. “Rob Lowe, the producing team, the set, the technology and the network. We couldn’t ask for a more perfect combination.”
For news-weary TV viewers, “Mental Samurai” could be an appealing distraction from the current state off affairs. Billed as an “obstacle course for the mind,” the program tests not only knowledge but also speed as contestants race to answer 12 seemingly simple questions in five minutes in the Towers of Samurai round, which features four towers: Knowledge, Puzzles, Sequences and Memory.Those who make it through that round earn a shot at playing for $100,000 in the Circle of Samurai round.
All the while, Lowe guides viewers through gameplay while keeping contestants engaged in the action.With his chiselled jaw and debonair good looks, the SAG Award winner has been keeping audiences entertained since his teens and shows no signs of slowing down. Watch as Lowe welcomes a new batch of hopeful players in the Season 2 premiere of “Mental Samurai,” airing Wednesday,April 22, on Fox.
No monkeying around: While apes live worlds away from most North Americans, they are some of our closest relatives. A new documentary sheds light on three women who dedicated their lives to studying these primates and it’s finally coming to television.
Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”) brings TV viewers the stories of legendary activists Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas in “She Walks With Apes,” premiering Wednesday, April 22, on BBC America. Part of the channel’s Earth Day programming, the film explores how the women changed our understanding of primates by studying them in the wild.
AMC executive Sarah Barnett touted the value of such shows in a January release that announced additions to BBC America’s nature programming.
“Funny, engaging, profoundly moving and, most of all, joyful, nature programming is embraced by our audiences, and we are delighted to keep fueling passion for our planet and the natural world we’re all part of,” Barnett said.
Father-daughter filmmaking team Caitlin and Mark Starowicz embarked on a yearlong journey through jungles to tell the tales of the three women, who are known collectively as the Trimates because they were all chosen by famed paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey to study hominids in their natural environments.
Originally from England, Goodall went to Africa to live with chimpanzees in what would become an unprecedented decades-long study.The renowned primatologist and anthropologist is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on chimpanzees.
American Fossey studied mountain gorillas in Rwanda from 1966 until her murder in 1985, which some theorize was connected to her conservation efforts.After Fossey’s death, her book “Gorillas in the Mist” was made into a 1988 movie starring Sigourney Weaver (“Alien,” 1979).
After Galdikas, a Lithuanian-Canadian scientist, met Leakey during her graduate studies at UCLA, he arranged for her to study orangutans in Borneo. Her pioneering work earned her a doctorate and a place alongside Fossey and Goodall.
For a more detailed look at the lives and careers of these three fascinating women, check out “She Walks With Apes,” premiering Wednesday, April 22, on BBC America.
Prime-time paranormal: Whether you believe in ghosts or not, tales of hauntings and paranormal activity can make for great television.A team of ghost hunters are returning to the airwaves, and this season they’re going all out.
Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango invite viewers to join them on more paranormal investigations in the Season 2 premiere of “Ghost Nation,” airing Wednesday, April 22, on Travel Channel. Fans of the series are in for a big treat as the season opens with a special two-hour edition.
This season, the investigators continue to try to help harried homeowners deal with their perceived hauntings, plus they’ll visit an abandoned prison complex and a menacing tattoo parlor. Fellow paranormal investigator Shari DeBenedetti joins the team to keep an eye on the monitors and review footage.