By Paige Wiser, TV Critic
pwiser@suntimes.com
There are many ways to set your game show apart. You could involve a gong, or an enormous spinning wheel. You could make contestants bounce on Big Balls. You could hire William Shatner to host.
Or you could keep it simple and shoot the whole thing on a roller coaster. That's what Cartoon Network went with, and their new live-action "BrainRush" airs Saturdays at 7 p.m.
Young contestants don't know that they're on a game show until they're seated in the front car, with a camera in front of them and host Lamorne Morris next to them. As a coaster known as the Boomerang drops 100 feet and twists with five Gs of force, Morris barks questions at them, such as "Who was the second President of the United States?" and "Who is the leader of the Fantastic Four?"
(For the record: The President question was answered incorrectly, while the Fantastic Four question was practically a gimme. Mr. Fantastic, duh.)
If they can think straight while their brain is jostled, winners stagger away from the ride with $100 cash, or as much as $3,000.
Morris says that producers scan theme park lines looking for contestants that fit their requirements. "Well, they have to be energetic, and have to be able to carry on a conversation," says Morris, 25. On land, at least.
There was one extreme requirement in casting the host, of course: That he have a titanium stomach. Morris, a Chicagoan who grew up on the South Side and then in Wheaton, rode the coaster 12 times in a row when he was shooting the "BrainRush" pilot. "Yes, I threw up," he says. And then he got right back on again.
More than the strong stomach, more than the Dramamine patch on his neck, Morris has relied on his sense of humor for this gig. He studied at Second City and performed in a Chicago comedy troupe called 750 Entertainment. In an average day's shooting, he might hurl through the air 55 times.
So Tylenol is also a must.
Morris insists that the show is, first and foremost, educational. "I always wondered what a cycle is in baseball," he says by way of example. "It's a single, a double, a triple and a homer in the same game." That's $100 right there.
"Hopefully the kids are getting smarter," says Morris. They're certainly getting richer.