It’s Bingo America time!

On Monday, Bingo America, GSN’s newest game show debuted, allowing another way to have viewers play along interactively to win cash right along with the players in the studio.

I really love the trivia element of this show. It combines both the excitement of playing along bingo and answering questions along at home. They’re pretty easy for the most part. I mean, for instance, one of the questions on the episode I saw was “What animal character advertises cereal by saying ‘They’re GRRRRRRREAT!’?” It’s obviously Tony the Tiger. But it’s still fun to play along.

I find Patrick Duffy to be a really good host. I never really had any doubts in the beginning when I first heard he was picked to do it, but I was thinking what an interesting choice that was. This is his first game show that he’s hosted ever and he just breezes through the program with no trouble at all like a true pro. And he looks like he’s having a good time.

I think it also has the perfect energy and volume amounts for a game show. The fun is still there without the host shouting every other word, the contestants full of fake animosity towards each other and the audience seemingly like they’re on an overdose of caffeine cheering. None of that craziness is on Bingo America. It just shows how great a game show can be these days with the right amount of energy.

And also… and I just knew I would. I enjoy this show a lot better than ABC’s attempt at bingo with National Bingo Night. My biggest problem with National Bingo Night is that they made that show WAY too cheesy. Even for me. I found that they took a fun game and made it seem way more tense than it should with the ridiculously long pauses and overly dramatic music cues. For heaven’s sake, this is a game of BINGO, not Millionaire or Greed. And in my eyes it was so unnecessary to have a referee shout out every five or ten minutes “Noooooo bingo!“ to see if someone else in the audience won in the silliest and most bizarre way ever. I think both it and a couple of other game shows they’ve launched in the past two years like Show Me The Money, would have been executed so much better if they didn’t spend so much time trying to unnecessarily up the energy. Both shows were campy to me, and not in the good way.

I’ve certainly found something at 7 PM to watch now that Alice is leaving ION again. Not only that, but this show seems to be a success for GSN already, considering how well the play-along factor is at their website. For Bingo America, all I ask of GSN now is to please, PLEASE leave it alone. Don’t make any changes to it like you did with PlayMania. It’s perfect the way it is. Again I ask, please don’t mess with it.