Author Topic: Lingo's 4th Season (Read 24060 times)

beatlefreak84 · « **on:** August 01, 2005, 07:42:49 PM »

Well, since I'm taping the second episode of the one-hour block due to the fact that I will be without GSN for somewhere around five years starting next week, I thought I would post my comments on how the show looks (BTW, there are no spoilers in this thread, so don't worry about reading on!).

I, for one, am glad the show is basically the same. The set looks very much like Season 3, and the theme music stayed the same as well. The only difference with the set is the walls are slightly brighter and the neon flashing circles are now these neon flashing curved sticks. I like the brighter color walls, personally; they do a nice job of making, well, everything else on the set look brighter as well.

Now, for my biggest shock of all: Shandi is actually a decent sidekick! She can keep up with Chuck's banter (and even manages to dish out some herself) while at the same time keeping abreast of the game around her. I always felt that Stacey could either do only banter or the game material and never both at the same time, so I'm glad Shandi can do both. And, yes, she definitely looks better than Stacey, too, IMO...

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Another nice change: The rules discussion at the top of the show is gone, leaving more time for words in round 1. I'm surprised that it's completely gone, but, then again, this show is definitely one of those you can watch and start noticing the rules of right away. At least, that's my opinion.

Anyway, I'm rather impressed with the fact that everything is the same, there is more game material, and I think they finally found a co-host that will work well with Chuck and the game (Stacey worked well with Chuck, but not the game, IMO). Thanks GSN!

How about you? What are your thoughts?

Anthony

clemon79 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 01, 2005, 07:54:32 PM »

[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 04:42 PM\']Now, for my biggest shock of all: Shandi is actually a decent sidekick! She can keep up with Chuck's banter (and even manages to dish out some herself) while at the same time keeping abreast of the game around her.
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Wow, do I not agree with this.

The "banter" at the top of the show is ridiculous. Don't tell me about "what you did last night" when "last night" was a twenty-minute window between tapings. Further, acting like she's the one doling out the puzzles (as in "I'm gonna give you ladies an "F" to begin" just now...no, honey, the guy on the CG is givng it out, and you're Making Pretend) is still an insult to anyone halfway intelligent.

Yeah, she's plenty nice to look at, but she's still completely and totally unnecessary.

itiparanoid13 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 01, 2005, 07:56:54 PM »

I have to strongly disagree with the first poster. This 3rd season is the worst that I've seen of this show beyond the pilots from Holland. The music editing is crappy this season, along with for some reason complicating the most basic of think music cues. Not every set needs a giant color change every minute. The blue and red was much better. Shandi does less than Stacey does, but the thing is that she does not shut up. Yes, they got rid of the rule explanation in the main game in time for more words, but so much of the game is filled with mindless babble from Shandi that it barely does any good. They for some reason made the set and logo darker and that doesn't look good. This is a simple boring word guessing game, not a dark show. The set also looks gigantic now. The opening is extremely strange. The camera work this season isn't too good either. They do way too many close up shots. I honestly came in here expecting the most of the new season and I was let down. Most of what I say will probably sound trivial, but I am a critic. I over-investigate. They should have just cancelled Lingo and added two more teams to Extreme Dodgeball.

beatlefreak84 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 01, 2005, 08:07:18 PM »

Necessary? No; I agree with you there. I think Chuck could carry on the show just fine on his own; I've been saying this even when I first heard Stacey was the co-host way back when...

. Somehow, I knew that a comment on Shandi was going to come sooner or later...

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But, since GSN wants us to have a sexy co-host, I'm glad they chose Shandi. And, BTW, I know that her "typing" the words and boards onto the screen is fake; what I meant by her "keeping abreast of the game" was that she seemed to know a lot more about what was going on with it than Stacey did. Stacey essentially read off cues from people backstage (not saying Shandi doesn't...) and only commented on illegal words or what numbers were good for "Lingo." I don't get this impression from Shandi, though; while I can't comment fully on her abilities due to the fact I've seen one episode with her, I think she definitely has the ability to go beyond this and offer comments on when teams are clearly pulling words out of their rear ends, for example. And her banter, even if slightly untrue (he he), is proof to me that she has the ability to be something more on the show than just eye candy.

Again, I don't think she's necessary for the show to be good, but I don't think her addition is necessarily bad for the show, either. That's just my opinion, though...

Anthony

BrandonFG · « **Reply #4 on:** August 01, 2005, 08:12:31 PM »

It's still Lingo, so that's the plus, they didn't make any serious game changes. I notice Shandi didn't annoy me as much as Stacey, but I still say a co-hostess is really not needed*.

*Yes, Zach, I know the 1987 version had one, mainly to comply with Canadian TV policy. Sit down.

Anyway, the one gripe I have is the set. Must they change the set, every damn season, esp. when a "season" is only 65 episodes? Minor modifications, fine, but every year has been a revamped set, yet they still can't get scoreboards on the podium. Hell, the gratuitous TV monitors behind Shandi could work. Granted, it won't keep me from watching, but it's just something I noticed.

Then again, I thought the set looks like it should be the console of the Starship Enterprise.

tvwxman · « **Reply #5 on:** August 01, 2005, 08:21:20 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Aug 1 2005, 07:12 PM\']
Anyway, the one gripe I have is the set. Must they change the set, every damn season, esp. when a "season" is only 65 episodes? Minor modifications, fine, but every year has been a revamped set, yet they still can't get scoreboards on the podium. Hell, the gratuitous TV monitors behind Shandi could work. Granted, it won't keep me from watching, but it's just something I noticed.

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I would guess (SPECULATION) that because the shows are taped so quickly, it's not kept in storage...since there was a long time between seasons 1&2, 2&3, and 3&4, they went out and built another set.... The new set, which does look a lot like the 3rd season, does have different specs, solid pieces that had to be recreated....

And, even though I don't like the opening banter (it's too forced... I can hear my Magid consultant now : "Get to the Damn Game Already!" ) , I do like her banter throughout the show with CW.... Much better than the brit.

davemackey · « **Reply #6 on:** August 01, 2005, 08:44:34 PM »

I like Shandi better. She has a warmer personality whereas Stacey was just too goody-good to be true.

Plus Chuck pretty much keeps his mitts off her...

johnnyd1788 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 01, 2005, 10:07:51 PM »

I thought it was a good change. I think Shandi was great and interacted much with the players instead of like Stacie. She did tend to talk a lot. But she had a great personality.
I also liked the think music this time. The think music sounds a tad bit different than season 3, even though the main music stays the same. The main round think music had key changes present. The bonus round music started out like the regular think cue, but then changed about a minute in the round to a less rhytmnic version of the main theme. Really neat!

Craig Karlberg · « **Reply #8 on:** August 02, 2005, 04:19:45 AM »

I don't mind the set change at all. Sure it looks brighter than Season 3 FWIW. A few modifications is enough to take notice on it.

Shandi looks AND sounds much more reasonable than Stacey I thought(though Stacey did bring some eye candy at times). Doing some banter with Chuck while keeping her nind on her work is OK. At least she knows what she's doing.

The rule explanation was dropped simply to allow for more gameplay signals to me that those who watched the show know what goes on gamewise. I didn't like the idea that Round 2 has a "shorter" lentgh than before thanks to all those commercials inbetween segments & all. At least the think music was slighty "modified" even though the main package is still around.

I'm glad they dropped that Harrah's vacation package upon a Lingo in the 1st pull of the bonus game & instead go with the $10K(wich is cut in half starting with the 2nd pull). Cash is always good to win on a game show.

Overall, not a bad start to Season 4. This will tie me over for 6 weeks untill J! & WOF start their new seasons in September.

Don Howard · « **Reply #9 on:** August 02, 2005, 08:26:43 AM »

[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Aug 2 2005, 03:19 AM\']Stacey did bring some eye candy at times.

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At times? When didn't she? I can't recall once while watching the game that's not just letters when Stacey didn't bring on the urge to lock the door and break out the baggies.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #10 on:** August 02, 2005, 08:52:56 AM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Aug 2 2005, 07:26 AM\'][quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' date=\'Aug 2 2005, 03:19 AM\']Stacey did bring some eye candy at times.

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At times? When didn't she? I can't recall once while watching the game that's not just letters when Stacey didn't bring on the urge to lock the door and break out the baggies.

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{Average Invision poster} I don't get it. Why would you need baggies? You goin' shopping?
{ME} Yes, at Bed Bath and Beyond.

SteveRep · « **Reply #11 on:** August 02, 2005, 02:03:16 PM »

I liked the debut ep. (Didn't know it was a double run)

I guess if they haven't added a score readout to each team's podium before now, I shouldn't have been hoping for one in S4.

clemon79 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 02, 2005, 04:00:35 PM »

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' date=\'Aug 2 2005, 05:26 AM\']At times? When didn't she? I can't recall once while watching the game that's not just letters when Stacey didn't bring on the urge to lock the door and break out the baggies.
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Okay, I TOTALLY just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

CarShark · « **Reply #13 on:** August 02, 2005, 08:45:25 PM »

What I like:
* The set. The update is quite nice. The bubble motif is gone!
* The music. The Bonus Lingo cut is my favorite, with the new think music right behind.

What I don't like:
* Nothing special in the bowls. I guess I've been watching Rafferty Sharks too often.
* Shandy. She's not as good looking as Stacey. She really doesn't have much to say during the show (Neither did Stacey). I hope every story she tells at the top has
* The contestants. I don't know who predicted this. Ottinger? Lemon? Well, it was some old person that didn't like the fact that they wanted contestants younger than 40.

Well, I have to admit that the show feels artificially young. Also, the practice of picking people by how they act rather than how they play doesn't seem to work as well for Lingo as it does for Price is Right. I'm not thrilled when people run out of time...on the first guess! We're not expecting you to get it right on the first try. Any five letter word beginning with the given letter will suffice! I don't care for the way they have been using Bonus Letters, usually before making a guess at all and running out about a minute in.
* Speaking of artificially young...what with the blonde highlights? I didn't know that Ryan Seacrest's older brother was hosting the show.
* The payout. I think that the $5,000 is fine. Standard game show fare. However, I think that the First Ball Lingo is rare enough (two or three times a season) that it warrants a top prize of a car.
* The schedule: Twice a day again. It'll be in it's fourth repeat cycle by Christmas. Hoo-freakin'-ray.

I don't know how many people feel this way, but I think that the show has gotten worse as time has gone by.

MCArroyo1 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 02, 2005, 08:59:30 PM »

[quote name=\'CarShark\' date=\'Aug 2 2005, 07:45 PM\']I don't know how many people feel this way, but I think that the show has gotten worse as time has gone by.

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[/quote]I'm not one of them. Shandi is much less wooden than Stacey was, and the set is cooler than ever. More importantly, Chuck FINALLY quit wasting time reciting the rules at the top of the show, and there's more time for gameplay as a result. I think that was the most important problem, not how many thousands of dollars the contestants could possibly win.