''AKBingo!'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese television

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

featuring

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese popular culture, Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in other performance skills such as acting, dancing, and modeling. Idol ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol musical girl group named after the Akihabara area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48 has sold more records than any other female musical act in Japanese history. AK ...

. The show aired weekly on

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

. 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'' and '' AKB48 Sayonara Mōri-san''.

History

''AKBingo!'' is the successor of two previous shows featuring AKB48 with very similar concepts, ''AKB 0ji 59fun'' and ''AKB 1ji 59fun''. The concept of the show was reused for the

Sakamichi Series refers to a Japanese idol group franchise that began with Nogizaka46, an "official" rival group of AKB48. It currently consists of four groups: Nogizaka46, Sakurazaka46, Hinatazaka46, and Yoshimotozaka46. Despite the name, the groups are n ...

groups with ''

NogiBingo! NogiBingo!, stylized as NOGIBINGO!, was a Japanese television variety show starring Japanese idol girl group Nogizaka46. Ijiri Okada, who is known for AKB48-related shows such as ''AKB48 Nemōsu TV'', hosts the program. The show first aired on Jul ...

'' for

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the "official rival" of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshim ...

, ''

KeyaBingo! KeyaBingo! (stylized as KEYABINGO!) is a Japanese television variety show starring Japanese idol group Keyakizaka46 and Hiragana Keyakizaka46 (now Hinatazaka46). The show ran for four seasons and hosted by the comedy duo Sandwichman. It premiere ...

'' for Keyakizaka46 and ''HinaBingo!'' for

Hinatazaka46 is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was established as a subgroup of Sakurazaka46, Keyakizaka46 named Hiragana Keyakizaka46 on 30 November 2015, and was renamed and spun off into its own group on 11 February 2019. ...

, as well as STU48 with ''SetoBingo!'' and

HKT48 HKT48 (read "H.K.T. Forty-eight") is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. HKT48 is named after the Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Hakata-ku ward of Fukuoka, where Akimoto originally intended to base the group. The group currently performs at ...

with ''HKTBingo!'' in 2018, and

SKE48 SKE48 (S.K.E. Forty-eight) is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. SKE48 is named after the Sakae, Nagoya, Sakae district in Nagoya of Aichi Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at SKE48 Theater on 2F of Sunshi ...

with ''SKEBingo!'' in 2019. The hosts of the show were changed in June 2016 after 395 episodes, when the ''

owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the Honorific speech in Japanese#Honorific prefixes, honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". '' ...

'' 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 2018 ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'' segment about "outrageous" Japanese game shows. On , Muramoto announced that the show would end in September after an 11-year run. The last episode aired on .

2021: ''AKBingo! NEO''

In January 2021, it was announced that a revival project for the show, later titled ''AKBingo! NEO'', would be launched. The twelve participating members would be picked from the top of the member leaderboards in the mobile card game , in which players can contribute points to support members of their choice, by the end of the month. 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 to Uno, yields around 3000 points for the winner and a few hundred points for the other three participants). The first episode of ''AKBingo! 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 trio Jungle Pocket as hosts.

2022: ''AKB48 Sayonara Mōri-san''

In March 2022, it was announced that a new AKB48 variety show, titled ''AKB48 Sayonara Mōri-san'', would start airing in April. The show was titled in honor of producer Shinobu Mōri ( 毛利忍), who had produced the ''Bingo!'' 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 the

Reiwa is the current and 232nd era of the official calendar of Japan. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which Emperor Akihito's eldest son, Naruhito, ascended the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan. The day before, Emperor Akihito abdicated ...

era". It would be hosted by the comedy duo Shimofuri Myojo and former AKB48 member and ''AKBingo!'' regular

Minami Minegishi is a Japanese singer and actress, represented by :ja:プロダクション尾木, Production Ogi. She was a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48, and its subunit no3b. She is noted for having the longest tenure among the group's origina ...

Cast

;Final * Daisuke Muramoto - * Paradise Nakagawa - *

NMB48 NMB48 (read "N.M.B. Forty-eight") is a Japanese idol group that debuted in 2011 as the second sister group to AKB48, produced by Yasushi Akimoto. NMB48 is named after the Namba district in Osaka city of Osaka Prefecture, where the group is based ...

* NGT48 * STU48 ;Former * Kiyoto Ōmizo - * Masaki Sata -

International versions

China

The Chinese version is titled ''SNHello'' 星萌学院 and consists of the members of

SNH48 SNH48 is a Chinese idol girl group based in Shanghai. Following AKB48's creator Yasushi Akimoto's concept of "idols you can meet", the group features over 200 female members around the age of 20 (15 to 30) across SNH48 and all its sister grou ...

, the former Chinese sister group of

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.

Thailand

The Thai version is titled ''Victory BNK48'' and stars BNK48, the Thai sister group of AKB48. It aired on Workpoint TV. It is the successor to a previous show featuring the group, ''BNK48 Show'', which was broadcast on Channel 3. There is also a documentary series titled ''BNK48 Senpai''.

Philippines

''MNLife'' and ''MNLaugh!'' both appeared on the official YouTube channel of MNL48, 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 by ''MNL48 I-SCHOOL'', which also appeared on the group's YouTube channel.

References

External links

* {{AKB48 AKB48 Japanese variety television shows 2008 Japanese television series debuts Nippon Television original programming 2019 Japanese television series endings