Storyline
National Bingo Night is an American game show hosted by Ed Sanders which premiered on ABC on May 18, 2007 with a six-episode order. Sanders is known for his work on another ABC show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The show was cancelled by ABC and was repackaged as Bingo America on GSN, first hosted by Patrick Duffy, and in October 2008 by Richard Karn.
The creator of this program, Andrew Glassman, also created the reality television game Average Joe.
The game is an interactive experience for both the studio audience and viewers at home. On NBN, members of the studio audience attempted to win a game of bingo while competing with a solo studio contestant. For Bingo America, it is played as a straight general knowledge quiz format with two players and a home viewer bingo game within.
Home viewers play along with pre-printed game cards that are available from the network website just before each episode airs, and are also eligible to win prizes.
The show was expected to return for a five-episode run during the week of December 17, 2007, but on November 13, 2007, ABC decided to replace it instead with its new game show, Duel. In 2008, the show was cancelled and was afterward shopped to other networks. Eventually GSN acquired the rights and the game was repackaged into a five-day-a-week 30-minute version with modifications listed below.