| AKBingo! | |
|---|---|
 The show's final title card, used from 2016 | |
| Genre | Variety show |
| Created by | Yasushi Akimoto |
| Directed by | Eiichiro Mori (Only One) Akihide Yoshihama Yuki Koiwai |
| Presented by | Bad Boys(2008-2016) Woman Rush Hour(2016-2019) |
| Starring | AKB48 and sister groups |
| Narrated by | Seiji Iwami (Crazy Box) |
| Opening theme | "Aitakatta" byAKB48(until November 2016) |
| Composers | Yasushi Akimoto BOUNCEBACK |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language | Japanese |
| No. of seasons | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 560 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Ryoko Ihara Takashi Watanabe Sanae Murakami Shinobu Mori Hiroyuki Nakamura Seiichi Itoi |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production companies | AKS E Company Acro Nippon Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nippon Television |
| Release | October 1, 2008 (2008-10-01) – September 24, 2019 (2019-09-24) |
| Related | |
| AKB48 Show! NogiBingo! KeyaBingo! | |
AKBingo! (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese televisionvariety show featuringJapanese idolgirl groupAKB48. The show aired weekly onNippon Television. In each episode, members of AKB48 and occasionally their sister groups participate in activities that include quizzes, games, sports, and news.
The original show was cancelled in 2019, and has been succeeded by two different shows since then:AKBingo! NEO andAKB48 Sayonara Mōri-san.
AKBingo! is the successor of two previous shows featuring AKB48 with very similar concepts,AKB 0ji 59fun andAKB 1ji 59fun. The concept of the show was reused for theSakamichi Series groups withNogiBingo! forNogizaka46,KeyaBingo! forKeyakizaka46 andHinaBingo! forHinatazaka46, as well asSTU48 withSetoBingo! andHKT48 withHKTBingo! in 2018, andSKE48 withSKEBingo! in 2019.
The hosts of the show were changed in June 2016 after 395 episodes, when theowarai comedy duo Bad Boys, consisting of Kiyoto Ōmizo & Masaki Sata, were succeeded by Woman Rush Hour, consisting of Daisuke Muramoto & Paradise Nakagawa.
From episode 414 onwards (November 1, 2016), a new intro and logo came into use.
AKBingo! is one of the shows featured on a 2018The Ellen DeGeneres Show segment about "outrageous" Japanese game shows.[1]
On August 20, 2019 (2019-08-20), Muramoto announced that the show would end in September after an 11-year run. The last episode aired on September 24, 2019 (2019-09-24).
In January 2021, it was announced that a revival project for the show, later titledAKBingo! NEO, would be launched. The twelve participating members would be picked from the top of the member leaderboards in the mobile card gameAKB48 no Dobbon! Hitorijime! (AKB48のどっぼーん！ひとりじめ！), in which players can contribute points to support members of their choice, by the end of the month.[2] The top three members (Yuiri Murayama,Nana Okada, and Haruna Hashimoto) had each accumulated more than eight billion points by the end of the contest period (each match in the game, which rules are similar toUno, yields around 3000 points for the winner and a few hundred points for the other three participants).[3]
The first episode ofAKBingo! NEO was released on March 29, 2021 on the BS Nippon satellite television channel, again hosted by Woman Rush Hour. Episode two was released on July 20, in which Muramoto announced that he would leave the show to move to the United States. The final episode was released on December 29, featuring Paradise Nakagawa and the comedy trioJungle Pocket as hosts.
In March 2022, it was announced that a new AKB48 variety show, titledAKB48 Sayonara Mōri-san, would start airing in April. The show was titled in honor of producer Shinobu Mōri (毛利忍), who had produced theBingo! series and other idol variety shows for 13 years, and would be staffed by a new production team in order to "update the show for theReiwa era".[4] It would be hosted by the comedy duoShimofuri Myojo and former AKB48 member andAKBingo! regularMinami Minegishi.[5]
The Chinese version is titledSNHello 星萌学院 and consists of the members ofSNH48, the former Chinese sister group ofAKB48 who have since become independent to AKB48. The show is telecast online every Friday starting from July 4, 2014, but the network sometimes offers some "sneak peeks", on Thursdays.
The Thai version is titledVictory BNK48 and starsBNK48, the Thai sister group of AKB48. It aired onWorkpoint TV. It is the successor to a previous show featuring the group,BNK48 Show, which was broadcast onChannel 3. There is also a documentary series titledBNK48 Senpai.
MNLife andMNLaugh! both appeared on the official YouTube channel ofMNL48, AKB48's Filipino sister group. Both shows were hosted by Luke Conde and a special co-host, who was a member of MNL48 and varied from episode to episode. They were later replaced byMNL48 I-SCHOOL, which also appeared on the group's YouTube channel.