Official Lingo Discussion Thread

[GSNAngel]

Be sure to watch the premiere of Lingo, with host Bill Engvall, tonight at 8pm Eastern/Pacific and 7pm Central! Have you seen the promotional video here?

[Reckonin]

Have you seen the promotional video here?

Many, many times over.

[nowhammies10]

This show needs to die. Bring back the old Lingo!

[swm28wv]

Interesting remake, but where's the word game master Chuck Woolery? The money is very good considering GSN's normal jackpot, but I don't care for the cityscape background. The contestant coordinators still find the dumbest contestants, at least while watching the premier episode. The biggest thing I dislike is the clue for each mystery word; it cuts down on how many words there are over the whole show.

[CaseyAbell]

From the blog...

R-E-V-I-E-W has one too many letters

Just watched the debut of Bill Engvall's Lingo. Bottom line, I L-I-K-E-D it. All the grumbles I heard over the past few days seemed way overblown.

Yes, there is some mildly risque humor, emphasized in the debut episode by a team that insisted on spelling D-I-C-K-S and S-E-M-E-N in response to somewhat suggestive clues. But it was hardly a raunchfest, just a little spice.

The contestants were reasonably competent, though obviously the winners had more clue. Gross stupidity was not on display. It's not saying much, but the players sometimes guessed the word before I did.

The format changes, like the three rounds in the front game, were really pretty minor. It's still Lingo with the essential gameplay unchanged. The live audience and Engvall's humor brightened things up, which I didn't mind at all.

The bonus round is harder because only one free letter is given. But GSN clearly had to toughen the round to keep the prize budget under control. A niche cable outlet can't give away too many one-hundred-grand prizes.

All in all, Lingo's a lot better than GSN's other recent experiments. The gameplay remains rock-solid, Engvall is a fine host, and that terrific play-along value is completely intact. Good luck to Bill and company.

[swm28wv]

I was surprised that they didn't define the D-word as "private eyes/detectives," as used in days of yore. Even the game show "Remote Control" used that word in the category "Private D*cks" and it aired in the late '80s!

[danhere]

this show wasn't produced by GSN, but by Zoo Productions same co that gave us 5th grader with jeff foxworthy and family game night with todd newton
if GSN had produced we would have prob seen the original version return I'm sure.

[Kinokima]

I overall enjoyed Lingo. Engvall was a pretty engaging host and the game play itself was nice.

But the "dirty" clues were just plain stupid and didn't add anything to the game.

[chargeradiocom]

The contestants were reasonably competent, though obviously the winners had more clue. Gross stupidity was not on display.

ahem... (SPOILER -- highlight below to show)

It always comes at the end.
D-E-A-T-_

--

Anyway... I may post a more complete review when I have more time. My first impression was that it wasn't as bad as I feared it could be, but it definitely has some issues that it didn't need to have.

[drglo20]

Does anyone know why they couldn't get Chuck Woolery to come back and do the Show?
The whole mediocre comedian hosting a Game Show thing does not work for me at all!
This is by far the best original Show GSN ever came up with and they still found a way to screw it up!
Get a better Host and stick to what worked for 6 great years!
The original Lingo will always be better, but still, this could have been a lot better than it is.

[jtr115]

I enjoyed the premiere episode. Giving clues for the words actually reminded me of another Chuck Woolery classic, "Scrabble."

Granted, I would have liked Chuck and Shandi to return. However, Bill Engvall did a great job. I can't believe the second pair of contestants actually "went there" by guessing D*CKS!

[phimat37]

I really liked it! When I watched it tonight, I didn't care for the theme music but, I liked the gameplay. I may watch this every night, finally a decent show. Can't wait to see how the show did in the ratings!

GSN has really satisfied me this time on original programming. I did like the 1 vs. 100 revival on GSN but, not as much as the revived Lingo.

[mbc45]

I thought it wasn't as bad as I first thought. Bill Engvall wasn't that terrible as a host and the bonus round was pretty tough without the use of the bonus letters.

[SpeedAndStrategy]

It wasn't as terrible as I feared, but I definitely prefer the previous GSN version. I just really don't like the addition of clues - aside from the out-of-place risque humor, they're very vague and mostly just serve as a distraction from the usual word-guessing process that has made the show engaging for me over the years. I'd probably get the most enjoyment out of this show by simply tuning the clues out, but since they're repeated a lot that's probably futile. They've also slowed the pace of the show and made it feel more loud and hyped-up, though that's pretty much the norm for shows these days. And I find the bonus round to be a step down from the previous version, especially because of the lack of a bingo element.

The good points are that the core gameplay is still there, the visuals and sounds are solid, and Bill does a good job with what he's given. I just feel like the changes they made were pointless and distracting from what should be a simple yet engaging word game, and the risque humor might alienate some of the viewers that tuned in regularly for Chuck. Still, it's watchable and definitely better than some other things GSN has done lately.

[espnews26]

Tonight's episode was APPROVED by:
http://www.alan.com/wp-content/uploa.../03/weiner.jpg