''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 theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

featuring

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements b ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

. The show aired weekly on

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

. 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 is a Japanese variety show starring Japanese idol girl group AKB48, airing weekly on Nippon TV since April 8, 2022. It is hosted by the comedy duo Shimofuri Myojo and also features former AKB48 member Minami Minegishi as a regular. It is the s ...

''.

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 not r ...

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 July ...

'' for

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshimotozaka46, and ...

, ''

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 premiered ...

'' for

Keyakizaka46 , formerly , is a Japanese idol girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was created on August 21, 2015, becoming Nogizaka46's first sister group under the Sakamichi Series. Following the resignation of group's center Yurina Hirate and ...

and ''HinaBingo!'' for

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

, as well as

STU48 STU48 (Setouchi48) is a Japanese idol group and sister group of AKB48 named after the Setouchi Region. The group had a from 2019 to 2021. It is co-owned by the tourism board of Setouchi Region and is highly involved in their promotional efforts ...

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 city of Fukuoka Prefecture, 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 district in Nagoya of Aichi Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at SKE48 Theater on 2F of Sunshine Sakae, a s ...

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 form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". ''Owarai'' is most common on Japanese variety shows ...

'' 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'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

'' 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 is a Japanese singer and actress, represented by Avex Asunaro. She is a member of the girl group AKB48 and a former member of STU48. She has been a fixture in AKB48's major single lineups since 2016 and is considered one of the best singers in ...

, 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 Jungle Pocket ( ja, ジャングルポケット, link=no, 7 May 1998 – 2 March 2021) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from 2000 until 2002 he won five of his thirteen races and ¥704,258,000 in p ...

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 era of Japan's official calendar. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which Emperor Akihito's elder son, Naruhito, ascended the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan. The day before, Emperor Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum ...

era". It would be hosted by the comedy duo

Shimofuri Myojo is a Japanese comedy duo ''(Glossary of owarai terms#kombi, kombi)'' consisting of Seiya (せいや) and Soshina (粗品). They are employed by Yoshimoto Kogyo, and are mainly active in Tokyo and Osaka. Although they did not attend Yoshimoto NSC ...

and former AKB48 member and ''AKBingo!'' regular

Minami Minegishi is a Japanese singer and actress, represented by 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 original members from 2005 to 2021. Ca ...

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 base ...

NGT48 NGT48 (read "N.G.T. Forty-eight") is a Japanese girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. NGT48 is named after Niigata City of Niigata Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at the NGT48 Theater which is located in the fourth fl ...

;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 dozens of female members around the age of 20, who perform regularly in the group's own thea ...

, 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.

Indonesia

The Indonesian version is titled ''IClub48'' and stars

JKT48 JKT48 (read as "J. K. T. forty-eight") is an Indonesian-Japanese Japanese idol, idol girl group whose name is derived from its based city of Jakarta and the Japanese idol group AKB48. Formed in 2011, the group is the first AKB48 sister group outs ...

's Indonesian sister group, and host Brandon Nicholas. The show aired twice a weekend on

NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...

, among other Indonesian networks.

Thailand

The Thai version is titled ''Victory BNK48'' and stars

BNK48 BNK48 (read ''B.N.K. Forty-eight'') is a Thai Teen idol, idol Musical ensemble, girl group and the third international sister group of Japan's AKB48, following Indonesia's JKT48 and China's SNH48 (''former''). After holding its first audition i ...

, the Thai sister group of AKB48. It aired on

Workpoint TV Workpoint TV is Thailand's television station, owned by Workpoint Entertainment, broadcasting on channel 23 of Thailand's digital television. History Workpoint Entertainment began to test their satellite TV broadcasting Channel for Workpoints ...

. 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 MNL48 (read as ''M.N.L. Forty-eight'') is a Filipino idol girl group based in Manila, Philippines. Formed in 2018, they are the fourth international sister group of AKB48, after Indonesia's JKT48, China's SNH48 (''former''), and Thailand's BNK48 ...

, 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 TV original programming 2019 Japanese television series endings