Word has been buzzing around for a bit that Lingo might not come back. Some more confirmation of this may have been just released as GSN removed all Lingo online games from their website. The games (and show) and the news really caused a bit of a commotion among fans. A GSN representative issued a short statement regarding it: “They had to pull the games because they don’t have the rights anymore.” They also said “We understand how important Lingo Plus in particular is to many people and regret the short notice and inconvenience this will cause fans. We will update you as soon as we know more.”
It’ll be really amazing if Lingo gets canceled. I don’t really blame the network at all, I more place blame on Phil Gurin and the production crew. They haven’t done anything new on the show since season two (beyond a short tournament of champions which barely counts). The only way you could tell a season from another from season two and on is by the set. Even now, the past three or so seasons have had the same exact set so that idea’s shot. The show really became boring, mundane, and stale. The sad thing is they could have tweaked the show a lot; there’s tons of potential. Throw some cash balls in, prize balls, update the end game, bring in something new to the front game; just something. It became robotic to watch which is a huge shame. It wasn’t the greatest show ever, but it was a fantastic little play-at-home show.
I mean was it just me, or did the show become really really boring and stereotypical by the end of the run? Just something new and fresh would have helped immensely.
24 Responses
Jordan Hass
1March 1st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I don’t think the show is the problem, it’s the amount of 5-letter words you could use before you repeat yourself that is the problem.
GUY
2March 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Well It’s the same thing every time so here are possible changes
1.3-9 Letter Words (15-45 Points)
2.Losers Points Turn To Cash (e.g. 175 points=$175)
3. Proggersive Pot Is Added By Cash Won
4. Give Set An Upgrade
Sam
3March 1st, 2008 at 5:51 pm
It did get really stale. I can’t watch it for extended periods of time anymore.
The Great Butler
4March 1st, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Eh, it bit the bullet for me back in Season 3 when the entirely unneccesary addition of eye candy was made. It bounced back a bit when that empty, vapid Stacey Hayes was thankfully fired and replaced by someone with a bit more presence, but once Shandi became WAY too overexposed (Playmania? Dancing With The Stars?) and her ego exploded, not even the exciting rolling jackpot could save it.
It had a great run, but all good things have to come to an end. RIP Lingo.
captparis1
5March 1st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I say make Lingo a weekly series:
1. Losers get a flat $500 fee and a Lingo DVD game (if they hurry-they can still make it.)
2. Every bouns word gotten is worth $1,000 ($10,000 max for 10 words) in the 2 minutes.
3. Like before- getting Lingo on the first pull nets the jackpot (starting now at $25K.) Otherwise, any Lingo before running out of chances- scores $20,000 to the team. Also, the jackpot goes up $5000 a show, until it is won.
4. Champions return until beaten or they win the bonus round, whichever comes first.
I just hope, it is not to late to save the show.
GUY
6March 1st, 2008 at 8:35 pm
GSN Can’t Afford That
$500 A Word
$10,000 Lingo
$20,000 Pot
$2,500 Added To Pot Everytime Not One
KBGUY09
7March 1st, 2008 at 9:52 pm
One idea I had: instead of a growing pot for the bonus round, it is the amount of points they won in the regular game times 100. So if they’ve won 300 points, they’re playing for 30,000. If they won 150 points, they’re playing for 15,000, etc. If they get a LINGO on their 2nd pull or more, they earn $5K, and if they dont get a lingo, they earn their points x10.
Chris Parsley
8March 1st, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Since when are we counting GSN as cheap as Canada’s CBC? GSN just pinied up a ton ‘o cash for the WPT rights, so saying GSN doesn’t have money and cant afford something is total BS.
lobster
9March 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 am
take it from someone who’s been on the show twice ;) the game sucked and it got old very fast.. Alex is right, there were many opportunities for them to throw lots of fun twists into the game, and they just didn’t.. even with their higher-than-average-gsn budget, they could have been more creative about the way they gave away money… ah well.. next time, phil, next time ..
and Guy — 3-letter words are impossible to play in the Lingo format.. imagine given a puzzle like S– .. there’s not enough characters given to expose any hint letters.. And 9-letter words??? Who the hell can come up with those in the time limit? Quick, try to think for yourself five 9-letter words that start with the letter C and see how long it takes you :p
anyway, I suppose when the “season is ripe” for word games again ;) there are much better word formats out there to be had..
GUY
10March 2nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
Well Extend The Time Limit Give 4-7 Words (4-7 Turns (they’ve done 7 letter words before))
Bonus Round $5,000 Per Lingo
5 Lingos Equal Grand Prize ($50,000)
Chriscarrion
11March 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 am
This would be a good time to start my campaign:
BRING BACK WINNING STREAK.
Devon
12March 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Here’s the thing. Seasons 1-3 there was 3 consecutive set changes and 4-6 were the same and that is one thing I HATE is to see the same set used for 3 straight years. The production crews these days NEED to learn to stay with the times and keep things modern.
Season 3 made the “co-host” debut idea with Stacey Hayes or whatever her name was. Then in Season 4, she was let go for Shandi F. I’ve also noticed that the 5 letter words HAVE been repeating. I felt seriously that seasons 5 and 6 have been using recycled words used in previous seasons but I have noticed some new ones but only like 1 or 2 or so. However they did debut the progressive jackpot in 2006 which was a nice touch.
Like you said, some serious potential could have been put on the forefront instead of the backburner. Each season that comes around you wonder…”What will they do new this year?” The time comes for the season premiere and NOTHING is fresh but you can’t help but watch anyway because “new episodes” are so desireable. I think it’s safe to say the ratings have been plummeting exponentially but even so there’s still a group that’s faithful to the show..but how long will that last?
devares
13March 2nd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
To say GSN is cheap is an understatement since they did spend millions on the rights to the World Poker Tour. And you’re right, Chris. CBC is a cheap Canadian network. If people watch hockey highlights on Sportscenter, you can tell their camera angles are poorer than any American sports broadcasts. But that’s another story for another blog site. As for Lingo, the show really died. I haven’t faithfully watched it since Season 4. It’s best for GSN to cancel Lingo if producers will do nothing to change it. It’s been on longer than any GSN originals (that includes the World Series of Blackjack).
Woodie B.
14March 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Lingo Plus may be gone, but GSN has brought back WHAMMY PLUS!!!
CarShark
15March 2nd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Well…Lingo has had a few theme weeks since Shandi’s come on board. There’s been an Armed Forces Week, a Fiesta Week, a Sci-Fi Week, and others. Alex’s suggestions of extra balls in the front game have been made many times before, and will be made many more times in the future. Make no mistake, I don’t want the show to turn into a late-90s-on Wheel gimmickfest, but there must be a happy medium. They haven’t given away a trip since season 3 or a car since the ToC a couple years back. Cash is always nice, but I think a variety would be better. They should find a couple “partners” to supply them like Harrah’s did before.
As for the bonus round, heck, part of me is wondering whether No Lingo is better, even though it does take forever. Five words and pulls wins the jackpot. It really can be anti-climactic when a good team rattles off 8 or 9 words but doesn’t hit the jackpot.
B-W
16March 2nd, 2008 at 7:36 pm
The game’s not just gone from the GSN site. All sites that offered official Lingo games have had to pull them in the past few days (I found out from WorldWinner via MyPoints Games). But I don’t see this a sign that the show itself is leaving soon. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But LOTS of game shows have official online versions out there that have left the airwaves ages ago. Pulling the online game BEFORE the show itself is gone just seems odd.
There’s obviously some renegotiating that’s going on (or recently went on), necessitating the removal of Lingo’s online presence. What it means beyond that is nothing more than guesswork.
Mike B.
17March 2nd, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I still enjoy the occasional episode of Lingo. I got tired of it for a while, but recently I started watching it again and found that it still can be very engaging, at least in moderation. I’d love to see it renewed, but I do agree that they should change things around a little.
Joe Mello
18March 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Here’s something to possibly counter all these arguments:
-Match Game had the same format for its first 5 years or so.
-Since Jeopardy! doubled the values in 2001, there have only been a couple of changes, and those were to the set.
-Who Wants to Be A Millionaire has had exactly 1 major change during its run in syndication.
If you’re asking for change for sake of change, is it because a good game’s gone bad, or was the game never really that good to begin with?
Alex Davis
19March 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Joe, I think we’ve already clearly said it wasn’t really that good of a game to begin with. I think that’s been well documented. Extremely well documented actually. We’ve already said they need changes because the show’s getting stale.
Devon
20March 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Like it or not I think GSN should focus their attention on Whammy! now. Seriously that show has been on continuously since 2002 looping through seasons 1 and 2 endlessly, NEVER being taken off once. They obviously see MORE potential in it since it’s getting a primetime slot coming up and some of the newer shows are somehow getting the axe quickly among other things. I think a renewal is in order.
lobster
21March 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am
CarShark — your anti-climactic scenario isn’t possible: it is impossible to lose with 8 or 9 pulls in the bonus round.. card of 25 spots, they cover 12 so you have 13 remaining.. if you draw 8 balls, there will be 5 uncovered spots remaining.. it is impossible to not have a lingo with 20 spots covered on a card. :D .. but I see your point.. the real anticlimactic thing about it is, you know they’re going to win — so if they don’t pull the magic ball on the first pull, you’re just sittin’ there watching balls be drawn knowing they’ll win. yawn..
ChrisCarrion — that would be awesome. You never know .. apparently nothing’s too obscure and undiscovered since they brought back Chain Reaction (and ran it into the ground) :o
Xavier
22March 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
This blog post from The New York Times say that GSN has decided not to make any new episodes this year, but they will rerun all 6 seasons. But I would not go out and say it is cancelled yet. Things can always change.
http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/as-went-love-connection-so-goes-lingo/
B-W
23March 7th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I said this in the thread posted today, but so it’s here, too: the signs seem to be that the problem lies not so much with GSN, but with the folks who hold the rights to Lingo. There may be nothing GSN can do about it, or it may be a matter of negotiations, where Gurin (or the unnamed-in-the-article Dutch company that created Lingo) are asking for more than GSN believes they can provide.
Lea
24March 10th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I enjoy both the TV show and playing the game online. I am having withdrawal symptoms. My criticisms are that Shandi got to be a little know-it-all and seemed to enjoy making Chuck look dumb, and Chuck and Shandi dragged out the show with their mundane small talk. (i.e.-Shandi asked Chuck to rub his stomach while patting his head.) This was completely unrelated to the game. There was no caveat for this. It just came out of the blue. She did this often. I just wanted them to get with it and let the contestants play the game. I don’t care about the set being changed or any other changes. I just enjoyed the game itself. Is it possible they can make a DVD version that can be downloaded like Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud did? I would definitely buy it. I really miss playing the game online.
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Leave a Reply
You may also like...
Recent Videos
Buzz In
Biggest Buzz
Categories