It was ten years ago today, Sgt. Chuck taught the band to play

Yes, ten years ago today GSN debuted a little word game called Lingo. Based on a short-lived 1980s syndie and taped on the set of the show's Dutch version, nobody realized that Lingo would run continuously on GSN for ten years and counting.

By now seven seasons and two hosts and two co-hosts of the five-letter-fest have come and gone. But the reruns grind away. On the GSN Internet board I've suggested that at least the Woolery version be given a breather. Lord knows Chuck and Shandi and all the rest of 'em have given endless hours of often high-rated programming to the network.

The numbers are now wearing down, as you should expect. The new version with Bill Engvall got okay but not spectacular ratings, though it still hangs around the schedule, too.

I'm a big fan of the show in all its GSN incarnations. Just a sucker for five letters at a time, I guess. When I watched the debut ten years ago, I had a real feeling (and hope) that GSN might have its first huge success with an original. By pure dumb luck, I was right.