R-E-V-I-E-W has one too many letters

Just watched the debut of Bill Engvall's Lingo. Bottom line, I L-I-K-E-D it. All the grumbles I heard over the past few days seemed way overblown.

Yes, there is some mildly risque humor, emphasized in the debut episode by a team that insisted on spelling D-I-C-K-S and S-E-M-E-N in response to somewhat suggestive clues. But it was hardly a raunchfest, just a little spicy.

The contestants were reasonably competent, though obviously the winners had more clue. Gross stupidity was not on display. It's not saying much, but the players sometimes guessed the word before I did.

The format changes, like the three rounds in the front game, were really pretty minor. It's still Lingo with the essential gameplay unchanged. The live audience and Engvall's humor brightened things up, which I didn't mind at all.

The bonus round is harder because only one free letter is given. But GSN clearly had to toughen the round to keep the prize budget under control. A niche cable outlet can't give away too many hundred-grand prizes.

All in all, Lingo's a lot better than GSN's other recent experiments. The gameplay remains rock-solid, Engvall is a fine host, and that terrific play-along value is still intact. Good luck to Bill and company.

U-P-D-A-T-E (oh, that has one too many letters, too): In a follow-up post at about.com Carrie Grosvenor comments about the contestants on the debut and I reply...

Carrie: I should point out that the contestants on last night’s [Lingo] premiere were brighter than those who appeared on the screener – which makes me wonder why GSN chose to send the episode I saw out to the media for review purposes.

The only real duh moment I recall was when the losing team couldn’t identify D-E-A-T-H, even though it had become pretty obvious to most everybody else in the room. Otherwise, both teams played halfway decent, though the winners had more clue. That’s why they won (duh).

An odd moment: the eventual winners got buzzed on E-M-A-I-L because of the hyphen. Seemed kind of picayune to me, and I have to wonder how long the hyphen will survive in the word, anyway. The online Merriam-Webster site accepts "email" without the hyphen, though it redirects to the entry which still uses the hyphen.