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{{work|wppage= Lingo (American game show)}}
''Lingo'' (L-I-N-G-O) is a [[Game Show]] franchise begun (B-E-G-U-N) in 1987, combining Bingo (B-I-N-G-O) with a spelling game. It was first (F-I-R-S-T) hosted by Michael Reagan (son of [[Ronald Reagan]]) and taped (T-A-P-E-D) in Canada in 1987-88, but became notorious for not paying its winning contestants. Despite this, the format became popular overseas (especially in the Netherlands beginning in 1989, originally hosted by François Boulangé and later (L-A-T-E-R) by several other (O-T-H-E-R) emcees before Lucille Werner took over in 2005). [[GSN]] produced a revival hosted by Chuck (C-H-U-C-K) Woolery from 2002-07. A re-revival began ([[Overly Long Gag|B-E-G-A-N]]) on June 6, 2011, with [[Bill Engvall]] as host.
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The original version featured a [[Bonus Round]] called "No Lingo", where the winning team got a chance to double a stake determined by how many games they had (won up to five times) by solving words given the first letter and one other letter in the word, but having to draw a ball for each try they use (as the goal was to ''avoid'' getting a line of five on a special card pattern), with a claimed maximum payout of $112,000.
Woolery's version replaced it with a new bonus game, called "[[Exactly What It Says
GSN's revival with Engvall has changed things up some, with Engvall giving clues for the words in the main game, in the style of Woolery's ''[[Scrabble (TV series)|Scrabble]]''. Also, the bonus round is now 5 words in 90 seconds for a chance at $100,000. Bonus letters have been repurposed in this version's Bonus Lingo, with only one given out automatically on the first word courtesy of the show's sponsor, and the ball board was thrown out.
For more information on the Dutch version, see [https://web.archive.org/web/20110608204255/http://buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com/weekend-replay-new-lingo-from-the-netherlands/ here].
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{{gameshowtropes}}
* [[Bonus Round]]: The Reagan/Andrews version had "No Lingo", while both GSN versions have "Bonus Lingo".
* [[Bonus Space]]: The "?" balls, which filled in a number of the team's choosing. If the number chosen by a "?" ball was drawn later, it was edited out and the team was allowed to redraw.
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** [[Game Show Host]]: Michael Reagan for most of the 1980s run, followed by series creator Ralph Andrews for the last five weeks. Chuck Woolery hosted all of the 2002-2007 version, and [[Bill Engvall]] helms the current GSN revival.
** [[Lovely Assistant]]: Dusty Martell for Reagan's tenure as host, Margaux MacKenzie during the Andrews era. Halfway through Woolery's run Stacey Hayes became co-host, later replaced by Shandi Finessey. As mentioned below, a second model named Paula Cobb assisted Stacey on two episodes of Season 3.
* [[Whammy]]: The red balls, which pass control to the opposing team. Chuck called these "Stoppers", no doubt as a [[Shout
** It came full circle with the Engvall version, with "Stopper Balls" [[Ascended Meme|now being their official term]]. These have the number circle filled in in red, rather than the whole ball, since the balls are selected from racks behind the teams instead of from a hopper.
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* [[Affectionate Parody]]: The ''[[Vliegende Panters]]'' <ref>(Flying Panthers)</ref> sketch ''Nineteen-Letter Lingo'' <ref>(Negentien-letter Lingo, in Dutch)</ref>, which features such gems as M-I-N-I-M-U-M-T-E-M-P-E-R-A-T-U-R-E-N <ref>(minimum temperatures)</ref>.
* [[April Fools' Day]]: On April 1, 2003, the then-hosts of GSN's other originals (Graham Elwood of ''[[Cram]]'' and Kennedy of ''[[Friend or Foe (TV series)|Friend or Foe]]'' vs. Marc Summers of ''[[Win Tuition]]'' and Mark L. Walberg of ''[[Russian Roulette (TV series)|Russian Roulette]]'') played each other for charity, with Todd Newton (then-host of ''[[Whammy (TV series)|Whammy]]'') as announcer.
* [[Bowdlerization]]: One early promo ended with the narrator saying, "Doesn't Chuck Woolery make you..." followed by a clip of a contestant saying "Horny, H-O-R-N-Y." This was later changed to a clip of another contestant saying "Laugh, [[Rouge Angles of Satin|L-U-G-H]]."
* [[Catch Phrase]]: As he did on ''[[Love Connection]]'', Chuck regularly threw the show to commercial with, "We'll be back in two and two."
** Also this [[Every Episode Ending]]:
{{quote|
'''Stacy/Shandi''': It's ''Lingo''. }}
* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: Especially noticeable in the bonus round where sometimes it takes several precious seconds for the computer to register a player's response. (May be [[Justified Trope|justified]] if there's someone actually typing it in).
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* [[Downer Ending]]: One team got seven balls in Bonus Lingo, giving them about a 98% chance of winning. Incredibly, they ''failed to make a Lingo'' on all seven balls. Chuck, incredulous over what just happened, reached into the hopper himself...and against 99.9% odds, grabbed the '''only ball''' that still left no Lingos on the board.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: When asked who would draw balls first in Bonus Lingo, one contestant said "I have red balls, Chuck; it's going to [my teammate]."
{{quote|
** Another time, Shandi said that one contestant had "Lingo balls" to choose his ex-wife as his teammate.
** When a contestant tried to use "SPRRA" as a word in another episode and it wasn't accepted, Chuck said that he thought it was a word meaning "a bra that breaks."
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** BITCH was used as a response to "A major complaint". It was the correct answer!
* [[Hotter and Sexier]]: The Engvall version, as seen above.
* [[
* [[Loophole Abuse]]: Chuck repeatedly said that "it's not what you say, it's what you spell". Sometimes, players who would accidentally declare a six-letter word would save themselves ("Breath. B-R-E-A...D."). Another team abused this loophole several times, by saying one word, realizing it didn't fit right after they got a letter or two out, then "correcting" it on the fly ("Loans. L-O...U-S-Y"), much to Chuck's amusement.
* [[Missing Episode]]: A series of Hawaiian episodes was taped in June 2005, offering a trip to Hawaii to the winning contestants. These episodes were scheduled to air in October, but sat for 14 months before finally airing on New Year's Day 2007, because the original sponsor dropped out.
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* [[Obvious Rule Patch]]: Bonus letters in Bonus Lingo. Season 1 didn't have them, leading to one team getting only one ball (at the time, you needed two to make a Lingo in the bonus round) and another getting ''none''. From season 2 onward, every team gets one bonus letter for winning the game, plus one more for each Lingo scored in the main game (also, it was changed so that only one is needed to make a Lingo). Reverted with the Engvall version, where playing Bonus Lingo just earns money, but the bonus letter remains intact, albeit under different circumstances (see above).
* [[Ominous Pipe Organ]]: To intro the series, GSN created a number of ads with Chuck as a doctor treating patients afflicted with "Lingo" — the uncontrollable need to spell out five-letter words. As a parody of radio soap operas, an organ punctuated the events of the ads. This was lampshaded at the end of one ad:
{{quote|
'''Patient''': Organ! O-R-G-A-N!
'''Chuck''': You just can't stop, can you? }}
* [[Replaced the Theme Tune]]: Seasons 1 and 2 of the Woolery version used a generic looped theme, recycled from the Dutch version of the show. It was replaced in season 3 for a much longer rock theme.
* [[Rouge Angles of Satin]]: Contestants averaged at least one [[Egregious]] misspelling per game, if not more. There have also been many occasions in which someone says a six-letter word and starts spelling it out, only to make an [[Oh Crap]] reaction when they realize their error.
** Occasionally subverted in Season 2, when the judges chose to use an unabridged dictionary. As a result, obvious misspellings such as SWARE and FLUOR were accepted because they happened to be real, if obscure, words ("sware" is an archaic past-tense of "swear", and "fluor" is a type of mineral). However, they sometimes went too far in the other direction on later episodes; by 2007, their dictionary somehow wasn't recognizing ZESTY, BUSTY or FORTS, even though the first two were correct answers in earlier episodes, and FORTS was accepted in at least one Season 3 episode (and bizarrely, no explanation was given for FORTS not being accepted).
* [[Shout
** Once coming out of a break, Engvall referred to the show as "[[Pyramid|The All-New $100,000 Lingo]]"
* [[Take That]]: One Engvall puzzle clue was "what [[Jeff Foxworthy]] does every morning." The contestant's first guess was MONEY, to which Engvall mock-flippantly replied "Oh come on, I said ''every'' morning." Eventually the contestant correctly guessed MOANS.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:GSN]]
[[Category:Self Demonstrating Article]]▼
[[Category:Game Show]]
[[Category:Lingo]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
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