GSN’s “Bingo America” Renewed for Second Season + Gas Promoion

19 Jun

Posted by Alex Davis as Bingo America, GSN, GSN Live, Returning Show

GSN’s hit original series, Bingo America has been renewed for a second season. The interactive quiz show will have its new season in the Fall, so be on the lookout for more information as time comes. And I’d like to especially note that producers of the show have been reading here for viewer’s input, so be sure to voice off and hopefully we can see some changes next season. Honestly, I was fine with the game play. The focus of the game is the at-home Bingo aspect so I’m not expecting any unbelievably groundbreaking game play, though something a bit more interesting would be welcomed.

The presentation could really use some work, though. We get the point, host Patrick Duffy. You mark off the number when it’s called. It doesn’t take a reminder every two seconds to know how to play Bingo, the simplest game on the planet. The audience levels need help. It goes from sounding like a full audience to a bored crowd instantly. Either get them to act more excited or just put more applause track on it. Also, I really don’t think getting a shot of them is needed constantly. Give co-host Crystal a bit more work too. Her job could have easily been done by Patrick, so give her a reason to be there. A new end game would be nice too, since the current one seems really fishy. There’s some weird reason why people are getting matches so quickly. How about a few extra bonus balls in the hopper to get some variety, though. It’s the same thing over and over and over. A bit of variety is always good. Don’t do what Lingo did and let the show become too stale and repetitive. All in all, though, the only major issue I had was with the presentation. I was fine with the show in general, it’s one of GSN’s better efforts in recent times, and I’m glad to see it come back.

Now to the gas promotion. Starting Monday, June 23rd, through July 7th Bingo America and GSN Live will be giving away the chance at $500 gas cards as well as free gas for a whole year which with the way it’s looking that might be more than the $100,000 top prize the show offers. At 1:00PM ET, the first person to call in to GSN Live with last night’s Bingo America winning bonus numbers will win a $500 gas card. Not only that, any person who downloads a Bingo America card is automatically entered to win free gas for a year which will be announced on July 8th during GSN Live. You have to hand it to GSN; they are really trying to get people to watch the reruns. It’s better than what they do for most other shows which is completely ignoring its existence. Bingo America airs at 7:00PM ET weekdays on GSN.

11 Responses

Brandon
1
June 19th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

I saw a Youtube clip with a $100,000 win. It was completely anti-climactic, and I think a lot of it comes from a computerized bonus board. I know technology is big nowadays, but not everything needs to be computerized, and the bonus board is one of them. Besides, with $100,000 on the line, at least you’d know the prizes are actually there on a real board, and not just a computer screen.

Instead of the 75 slots, how about a physical 5×5 Bingo grid, with 12 pairs of prizes, and the FREE space…

Off the top of my head, $100,000; $25,000; $15,000; $5,000-10,000, a trip, a car (Honda Civic or something along those lines), and another nicer prize (say, the digital camera and computer package). Have the bingo balls continue down the chute, and the first two prizes to match are a win.
Ryan
2
June 19th, 2008 at 9:50 pm

Well, personally, my only beef with the show is the fact that you’re guaranteed to win something in the bonus round. It really becomes melodramatic. What about this as a
potential bonus round concept:

You allow the contestant 2 or 3 bonus numbers for free that thay pick themself, and if you get a match, they get double the prize, making the potential top prize $200,000. If you don’t, then they start taking numbers down the chute and loking at those prizes until they get a match, and when they do, they get that prize (no doubling). But, if any number they picked in the beginning shows up, they lose and leave with just the money they already won when the game started. However, at any time, before a match, the contestant can take a bailout: The number of numbers picked already (including pre-selected numbers) x$100. So, if the contestant’s gone through 5 numbers with no match, they can take an extra $500 and leave, or keep going and risk it to try for the big money.

That’s my idea, at least.
Chad
3
June 19th, 2008 at 10:36 pm

“Give co-host Crystal a bit more work too. Her job could have easily been done by Patrick, so give her a reason to be there.”

Well, Shandi Finnessey of Lingo is really not needed. Neither are the chip girls in Duel. And let’s not forget the quintessential game show model, Vanna White. She could have easily been fired in 1997, when Wheel switched to an electronic puzzle board.

It’s just tradition to have female cohost(s) or models on a game show.
KBGUY09
4
June 20th, 2008 at 6:14 am

I like Ryan’s concept for the bonus round. But maybe eliminate the board altogether and u just keep getting #s from the shoot x100 until u decide to stop (that would add up to $275,000 if u went through the whole thing.) But if u get one of the 5 red balls in there, u lose everything.
Marc Power
5
June 20th, 2008 at 9:25 am

Ryan’s idea for the bonus is very similar to one I had, mine was more or less a combination of the current round and his round, ie. you don’t pick the numbers, you draw them from the hopper. and I’d like to see them reveal the board after the bonus round, just so that it doesn’t seem so fishy, even if they just show where the $100K spaces were, all that would take is Patrick saying “Can we see were the $100K was?” and then they reveal them. but there is a slight risk in the bonus round, people forget one guy did find a supply of hot dogs (albeit he never matched it) but maybe a few more gag prizes would make it more suspenseful, they could make bingo references if they wanted some that come to my mind: a bingo marker, $1.00, copy of the home game (one of those $5.00 bingo board games), Vitamin B12 (okay that was a stretch), heinz 57 sauce (ooh, i’m on a roll now).
devares
6
June 20th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Leave it to GSN to bring in the viewers by giving away gas card. Seeing as gas prices are going up (it’s almost $4 here in Louisiana, it’s probably $5 elsewhere), they’ll get their fair share of viewers. As for Bingo America, I’m glad it got renewed, but from the few episodes that I’ve seen, changes needed to be made, like the endgame. Let the contestant earn the square by asking them questions, and if they get one wrong before they get a match, the game’s over and they get $1000 per square. And Chad, I agree, it’s tradition to have models on game shows. Imagine The Price Is Right or Deal or No Deal without the models…..those shows wouldn’t last this long.
Damion
7
June 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

How about 5 extra Bingo Balls at the end of every main game round so the viewers (like me) will have a better chance of winning?

Bonus Round
Using the bonus board and the hopper, the contestant would have 60 seconds to answer questions that correspond to the Bingo Ball that comes out. If they get the question right, they get that Bingo Ball to pick. If the contestant gets 10 questions (10 Bingo Balls) in 60 seconds, they win $5,000 (or $10,000) plus whatever they match on the Bingo Bonus Board, even if they match more than one prize.

If the contestant misses a question, they get a strike; three strikes and that part of the round is over, and they play the Bingo Bonus Board with whatever Bingo Balls they have

The contestant gets $250 for every question that they get right.
Tim Tender
8
June 20th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

Damion,

I like your idea for the bonus round. It kinda reminds me of lingo’s end game. You would have a set period of time to answer questions. For every one you get, you get a bingo ball at the end. I’d say don’t even worry about the strikes. The :60 should be sufficient. If they get them wrong, they get them wrong… no biggie.

I don’t think they should get BOTH if they match two. It should be the first match or the ‘better’ match. If they don’t match, give them money for each question answered.

I really think that would work… nice suggestion Damian.

TT
Jordan Hass
9
June 21st, 2008 at 2:09 am

I think the contestants should win the “Bank” each round, considering $300 is not that much money, and makes for great consolation prize money… But the winner gets $500 for winning 2 out of 3.

—-

Instead of the Tie Game being “B-I-N-G-O” with the first letter being B-I-N-G-O, how about you mix it up with a 5 letter word like C-R-U-S-T or F-L-U-K-E, so you don’t run out of answers with a B I N G O…

–

In the “Bonus Round” I wouldn’t go for a final round format, as the “Fun Prizes” are a great add on to the show. I would suggest getting Crystal to read all the prizes… even if it takes 2 minutes, that way the promoters get their ad, and the “fun prizes” could be revealed.
Greg
10
June 24th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Well, I still think there should be some “Bonus Lingo”-esque bonus game. Although, I do like Brandon’s and Damien’s ideas.
Chas
11
July 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

Hey, forget gas promotions - if the price of gas stays as high as it is, GSN should do an entire gas-themed game show! I think “Road Rage” would be a good title and prizes could be gas cards and other automotive products, maybe even a new car (if the GSN accountants could line that up).