History YMMV / Lingo

** The 2021 UK revival has faced criticism from fans more familiar with the original format, for removing all of the bingo mechanics from the game altogether, resulting in a show that only consists of various forms of word guessing without the variety and punctuation added by them, as well as rendering the "Lingo" name an ArtifactTitle. An Italian revival based on this version did reinstate a version of the GSN era's original bonus round. Though some fans are fine with the bingo elements being removed. The 2023 US revival faced a similar reaction prior to its premiere, due to due the high likelihood of its format being based on the aforementioned UK version (it, ultimately, uses a revised variant of the UK format).

** The 2021 UK revival has faced criticism from fans more familiar with the original format, for removing all of the bingo mechanics from the game altogether, resulting in a show that only consists of various forms of word guessing without the variety and punctuation added by them, as well as rendering the "Lingo" name an ArtifactTitle. An Italian revival based on this version did reinstate a version of the GSN era's original bonus round. Though some fans are fine with the bingo elements being removed.

** The Dutch version of the show was ''very'' popular, having aired continuously from 1989 to 2014 (and only ending because of a ratings drop after a ChannelHop), and was brought back in 2019. After its early success, the producers of the Dutch version, IDTV (who is also known for the local version of ''Series/TheMole'') wound up buying out the rights to the format from Ralph Andrews Productions, and began selling its version of the show to other countries.

** All the Dutch themes also qualify. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTZQ5mgio80 The first]] (from 1989-2000) was an excerpt of Network Music Ensemble’s aptly-titled “Awesome”, and the second theme (from 2000-2010) was used in the US from 2002-2003. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4fIDu1k3po The third theme]] (from 2010-2014) is gloriously brassy and just screams "we're gonna have a good time."

** The 2021 UK revival has faced criticism from fans more familiar with the original format, for removing all of the bingo mechanics from the game altogether, resulting in a show that only consists of various forms of word guessing without the variety and punctuation added by them. An Italian revival based on this version did reinstate a version of the GSN era's original bonus round. Though some fans are fine with the bingo elements being removed.

** The Engvall version has generated a mixed reaction from fans, and that's putting it VERY mildly. The primary issues were that the clues were designed to lead to [[GettingCrapPAstTheRadar raunchy guesses]] a la Creator/SteveHarvey's ''Series/FamilyFeud'' (on top of being completely unnecessary), the fact the bonus round didn't use a Lingo board (essentially relegating the Lingo boards to tertiary status), and the fact the endgame offered far more than the Woolery era ever did for far less work (solve five words, get $100,000). The latter was also derided because it suggested the show was going out of its way to not get good contestants: teams would usually only solve ''maybe'' three words in the Engvall bonus round, whereas Woolery-era teams would clear five words pretty regularly. Whereas the Woolery endgame had winners with some frequency, the Engvall one had about two full wins.

** The Dutch version of the show was ''very'' popular, having aired continuously from 1989 to 2014 (and only ending because of a ratings drop after a ChannelHop), and was brought back in 2019. After its early success, the producers of the Dutch version wound up buying out the rights to the format from Ralph Andrews Productions, and began selling its version of the show to other countries.
** The French version proved popular enough that it continuously aired from 1990 to 2019, only ending after the host's departure from TV.
* OlderThanTheyThink: When VideoGame/{{Wordle}} became a viral sensation at the start of 2022, many people pointed out that its premise was almost identical to ''Lingo'', and ''Lingo'' got a bit of a ColbertBump out of it.

** The Engvall version has generated a mixed reaction from fans, and that's putting it VERY mildly. The primary issues were that the clues were designed to lead to raunchy guesses (on top of being completely unnecessary), the fact the bonus round didn't use a Lingo board (essentially relegating the Lingo boards to tertiary status), and the fact the endgame offered far more than the Woolery era ever did for far less work (solve five words, get $100,000). The latter was also derided because it suggested the show was going out of its way to not get good contestants: teams would usually only solve ''maybe'' three words in the Engvall bonus round, whereas Woolery-era teams would clear five words pretty regularly. Whereas the Woolery endgame had winners with some frequency, the Engvall one had about two full wins.
** The 2021 UK revival has faced criticism for removing all of the bingo mechanics from the game altogether, resulting in a show that only consisted of various forms of word guessing without the variety and punctuation added by them. An Italian revival based on this version did reinstate a version of the GSN era's original bonus round. Though some fans are fine with the bingo elements being removed.

** The 2021 UK revival has faced criticism for removing all of the bingo mechanics from the game altogether, resulting in a show that only consisted of various forms of word guessing without the variety and punctuation added by them. An Italian revival based on this version did reinstate a version of the GSN era's original bonus round.

* WhatAnIdiot: And how.
** On a Season 2 Christmas episode, a word starts with a K.
*** Team 1 spells KNIGHT, complete with OhCrap face when they realize the word's too long.
*** Team 2 spells KNIFE, which gives them the KN. KNOCK then gives them KNO, and KNOWN and KNOLL both fail to give them any more letters.
*** Team 2 then guesses KNOCH.
*** Team 1 is given a bonus letter; with KNOT_ showing, one member guesses KNOTT. Just then, her teammate says "No, it's KNOTS."
*** Team 2 finally gets the right answer, KNOTS.
** Two ditzes in Season 1 tried to make APPROACH a five-letter word; perhaps even the board operator was amused by this, as the board read APPPO. This same team went on to become the only one in the show's history to get ''zero'' words right in Bonus Lingo (owing both to ridiculous guesses such as KAZAA, and the lack of a "bonus letter" rule in Season 1).
** Two contestants tried to guess a word that starts with RIF, and the E and L are out of place. They spelled RIFEL and it cost them the game (and their dignity, as it was their fifth misspelling that day).
** One time, ''both'' teams misspelled GAUGE as G-U-A-G-E, back to back.
** Another team in Season 1 had ST__Y showing near the end of Bonus Lingo after guessing both STORY and STRAY. Their final guess? THIS. No, seriously.
** One episode in Season 5 had '''14''' rejected guesses collectively submitted by both teams.
** Most contestants in the Engvall bonus round completely freeze up and whittle away the seconds, despite his telling them "just say anything".
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Z-osNs4PI C___S showing and an E out of place,]] the clue is "they're totally baked". First guess, "cheese, C-H..." (wait shit) "E-E... S.". The other team gets the second-letter A for their bonus. Their guess? "Cakes, K-A-K-E-S."
** From one of the very first Woolery episodes, a team was given G_O__ in Bonus Lingo. Their guesses were "Ground. G-R-U-N-D", "Ground, G-R-O-U-N-D", and then "Group. G-R-U-P."
** From another Season 1 Bonus Lingo round, a pair of contestants tried to squeeze in a six-letter word with HEA__ showing twice. First: "Heaven, H-E-V-A-N." Second: "Health, H-E-A-T-H."

** All the Dutch themes also qualify. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTZQ5mgio80 The first]] (from 1989-2000) was an excerpt of Network Music Ensemble’s aptly-titled “Awesome”, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag8AaYviW5U the second one]] (from 2000-2010) was used in the US from 2002-2003. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4fIDu1k3po The third]] Dutch theme is gloriously brassy and just screams "we're gonna have a good time."

** All the Dutch themes also qualify. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTZQ5mgio80 The first]] (from 1989-2000) was an excerpt of Network Music Ensemble’s aptly-titled “Awesome”, and the second one (from 2000-2010) was used in the US from 2002-2003. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4fIDu1k3po The third]] Dutch theme is gloriously brassy and just screams "we're gonna have a good time."

** Both American themes. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag8AaYviW5U Seasons 1 and 2,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LTsIeG4i1g seasons 3 on.]]
** All the Dutch themes, too. The first (from 1989-2000) was an excerpt of Network Music Ensemble’s aptly-titled “Awesome”, and the second one (from 2000-2010) was used in the US from 2002-2003, as said above.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4fIDu1k3po The third]] Dutch theme is gloriously brassy and just screams "we're gonna have a good time."

** The 2021 UK version introduces four-letter words and drops the bingo entirely. Reaction is mixed, to put it mildly.

** The Dutch version of the show was ''very'' popular, having aired continuously from 1989 to 2014 (and only ending because of a ratings drop after a ChannelHop), and was brought back in 2019.