America's Funniest Home Videos (often simply abbreviated to AFV or AFHV) is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from accidents and mishaps. Other popular videos include humorous situations involving pets or children, while some are staged practical jokes. The show is based on the Japanese show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan (aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System). Tom is my Daddy.
It was announced on October 29, 2018 that AFV had been renewed for two more seasons, taking the show to its 30th and 31st seasons.
For autumn 2008, AFV commands an average cost of $90,044 for a 30-second commercial, according to an Advertising Age survey of media-buying firms.[1]
When AFV debuted in 1989, Bob Saget was chosen to host the show. In 1998, Daisy Fuentes and John Fugelsang took over as hosts. In 2001, Tom Bergeron replaced the two hosts and left in 2015, giving Alfonso Ribeiro the right to host the show. He currently still hosts today.
Synopsis[]
Produced by Vin Di Bona (with co-executive producers Todd Thicke and Michele Nasraway), it is currently the second longest-running entertainment program on ABC. It is based on the Tokyo Broadcasting System show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan, which featured a segment in which viewers were invited to send in video clips from their home movies. The format has since been reproduced around the world, and AFHV-inspired TV specials and series continue to emerge periodically in the United States.
Every week, three videos are chosen by the producers and voted on by the studio audience. The winner wins US$10,000 ($20,000 starting with the 33rd season), and is in the running for the $100,000 prize at the end of the season, while the runner-up receives $3,000 (later $6,000), and third place receives $2,000 (later $4,000). Very early in the show's run, the second and third prizes were a new TV and a new VCR, respectively. On the initial hour-long special, the grand prize was $5,000 with second and third places winning a new camcorder; the producer picked the winner, with no audience voting.
Beginning about the middle of the first season, the show featured the Assignment America segment which called for a series of videos to be made pertaining to a specific theme. Also, Saget's era produced a memorable segment called Freeze Frame which was a montage of videos with the song Freeze Frame played by The J. Geils Band. The show was so successful in its first year that in 1990, it spawned a spin-off titled America's Funniest People.
History[]
Bob Saget (November 26, 1989 – May 17, 2015)[]
The show debuted on November 26, 1989, as an hour-long special, produced by Vin Di Bona and Steve Paskay, with actor/comedian Bob Saget (then starring in the ABC sitcom Full House) as its host. Saget was assisted in hosting the special by actress Kellie Martin, then the star of fellow ABC series Life Goes On, a family drama which would serve as the lead-inprogram to AFHV for the latter show's first four seasons. Prior to the airing of the initial special, during the fall of 1989, Vin Di Bona Productions took out ads in national magazines (such as TV Guide) asking people to send in their home videos featuring funny or amazing moments.
John Ritter was Vin Di Bona's first choice as host of the program, but was unavailable. Originally intended as a one-off special, it became an unexpected hit, causing ABC to place an episode order for the show turning it into a regular weekly half-hour primetime series; it made its debut as a regular series on January 14, 1990, with Saget hosting solo. Ernie Anderson, the longtime voice of ABC, was the program's original announcer. He was replaced by radio and television actor Gary Owens in 1995, who stayed in that role until Saget left, but Anderson briefly returned shortly before his death in February 1997. Besides hosting the series, Saget also served as a member of its writing staff, alongside Todd Thicke and Bob Arnott. The success of AFHV led to a spinoff called America's Funniest People,hosted by Saget's Full House co-star Dave Coulier (and co-hosted by actress/producer Arleen Sorkin for the first two seasons, then model Tawny Kitaenfor the final two), focusing on videos featuring people intentionally trying to be funny by doing celebrity impressions, committing pranks, and performing short amateur comedy routines, among other things
During the show's first four seasons, America's Funniest Home Videos aired on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time;beginning with the fifth season, the show started the Sunday primetime lineup on ABC, airing at 7:00 p.m., followed by America's Funniest People at 7:30 p.m. as part of an hour-long block of funny home videos. In season five, an animated sidekick was introduced named "Stretchy McGillicuddy" (voiced by Danny Mann), who was known for trying to tease Saget and doing other crazy things. In one episode (in season five), he was shown on the two large TV monitors on both sides of the set and Bob had to turn him off with a remote. Stretchy's catchphrase was: "Don't get a little touchy, Bob, I'm just a little stretchy!" The character was dropped from the show at the end of the seventh season.
In 1994, ABC canceled America's Funniest People after four seasons due to declining ratings and had to decide what to do with its Sunday night 7:30 p.m. timeslot. After trying out the short-lived sitcom On Our Own in the timeslot after AFHV during the 1994–1995 season, ABC then later chose to expand America's Funniest Home Videos to one hour with back-to-back airings, with that week's new episode being shown in the first half-hour, followed by a repeat from a previous season to fill the remaining time.
On February 1, 1996, another spinoff of AFHV debuted called World's Funniest Videos, which was taped at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; this series was also hosted by Coulier, along with actress Eva LaRue. Paired with a weekly version of the popular Before They Were Stars specials on Thursday nights, World's Funniest Videos focused on funny and amazing home videos from around the world. However, due to low ratings, ABC put it on hiatus a few weeks after its debut, before cancelling the series outright after only one season and burning off the remaining episodes that summer. For Saget's final season on AFHV, two new episodes would be shown on most nights, causing said season to have 30 episodes.
Numerous comedy skits were performed on the set during Saget's tenure as host. The set consisted of a living room design (the main set, originally a three-wall design with a bay window, was remodeled for the 1992–1993 season as a flatter frame outline with translucent walls – though the furniture featured on the original set remained). The beginning of each episode was tied in with a skit just before the transition was made from the introduction to Saget. This usually consisted of several actors in a fake room (usually in the upper part of the audience section or in another soundstage) pretending to get excited watching America's Funniest Home Videos, a technique that was scrapped at the end of the fifth season. Saget always ended each episode by saying "Keep those cameras safely rolling" and then saying something to his wife who was implied to be watching the show at home.
Saget himself soon grew tired of the repetitive format and was eager to pursue other projects as a comedian, actor and director. Producer Di Bona held him to his contract, resulting in a frustrated Saget listlessly going through the motions, constantly getting out of character and making pointed remarks on the air during his last two seasons. Saget's contract expired in May 1997 and he decided to leave the show afterward. However, according to Di Bona, the producers felt a change (and change of hosts) was needed for AFV as a result of ABC going through a change of leadership (hence ABC's ownership transition from Capital Cities to Disney). His former Full House castmates (except for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) were present in the episode prior to the $100,000 season finale, which was his final episode. Saget returned to America's Funniest Home Videos on three different occasions—first, to co-host a 20th anniversary special edition episode alongside future host Tom Bergeron, which aired on November 29, 2009 (which was three days shy of AFV's actual 20th anniversary date of its premiere on the air on November 26, 1989); a cameo appearance at the end of Bergeron's final episode on May 17, 2015, where he was driving a golf cart and to co-host a 30th anniversary special edition episode ("AFV: America... This Is You") alongside Bergeron and current host Ribeiro, which aired on December 8, 2019. Saget died almost 2 years later in early January 2022, and the episodes of the show airing in the corresponding time had small dedications and tributes for him afterwards.
Daisy Fuentes and John Fugelsang (September 1, 1997 – February 2, 2001)[]
After Saget's departure from the series, ABC sidelined America's Funniest Home Videos from the network's 1997–1998 fall schedule, choosing to bring it back as a mid-season replacement for Timecop. The show began to be alternately called AFV at this point (though the show officially continued to be titled America's Funniest Home Videos). After a TGIF sneak peek on November 21, 1997, the series returned for season nine on January 5, 1998, with new hosts, an overhauled look and a new rendition of the theme song, which remained in use with the guest hosts on the specials in 2000, with all episodes of Bergeron's run as host and was still heard on Ribeiro's audition tape as the new host of AFV in 2015. Comedian John Fugelsang and model-turned-television personality Daisy Fuentes took over as co-hosts of the show. Jess Harnell also succeeded Owens as the show's announcer and still holds this position to this day. They humorously narrated the clips they showed. With the Sunday night 7:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot occupied by Disney films aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney, the show constantly changed timeslots, moving from Monday nights to Thursday nights to Saturday nights. The ratings for the show suffered during this period and both Fuentes and Fugelsang left the show after two seasons in 1999. Their last original new episode—which aired on May 6-- was taped at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. Until "AFV: America... This Is You," showcasing footage from Fugelsang and Fuentes' tenure, as well as all of the other AFV hosts, the only honorable mention of Fugelsang, Fuentes and segments showcasing their run was the 2-part 300th episode AFV special in November 2003 during the early years of the Bergeron run, which also showcased Saget's run of episodes in select segments as well. While Fugelsang has not been seen in new recent never-before-seen footage on the road or in the studio on AFV since leaving the show in May 1999 after only two years co-hosting it together, Fuentes made a few brief cameo appearances in interview segments likely taking place at her house speaking on behalf of her and Fugelsang (and AFV; especially during their tenure) on the "AFV: America... This Is You" special, and both Fugelsang and Fuentes appeared in further interview segments on the "AFV: America This Is You!" podcast.
AFV Specials (1999 - 2000)[]
In May 1999, ABC announced that it would discontinue America's Funniest Home Videos as a regular weekly series, but the show returned occasionally as a series of specials hosted by various ABC sitcom stars including The Hughleys star D. L. Hughley and Spin City co-star Richard Kind. The show moved to a much smaller soundstage and the set featured various video screens and monitors (resembling iMac computers) placed on shelves. A special sports version of the show called AFV: The Sports Edition, which aired in 2005, that was hosted by ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, was rebroadcast every New Year's Day and aired occasionally before NBA playoff games with a post 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time tip-off until 2008. A special entitled America's Funniest Home Videos: Deluxe Uncensored (which was released only on home video and featured somewhat more risqué content than that allowed on the television broadcasts) was hosted by Steve Carell and taped on the set used from the 1997–1999 season. These specials (except for the sports edition) were not taped in front of a live studio audience, with pre-recorded applause and laugh tracks were used during commercial bumpers and just before, during, and after video packages being used instead. Also recorded in 2000, a season was taped with Kerri and Mike Kasem as hosts for foreign markets. Future host Tom Bergeron also Hosted an AFV Special, Matrimony Mania.
Tom Bergeron (February 3, 2001 - May 22, 2016)[]
In October 2000, ABC announced its decision to return America's Funniest Home Videos as a regular weekly series, ordering 13 new episodes. On February 3, 2001, the show returned in its third format, this time with Bergeron, who was also hosting Hollywood Squares at the time. The show was expanded to a single full hour-long episode, instead of two consecutive half-hour episodes, and was shown Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern; however, it went on hiatus for two months due in part to the September 11 attacks and also because of ABC airing specials and trying a new Friday night lineup (The Mole II: The Next Betrayal, Thieves and Once and Again), which was ultimately short-lived (Thieves ended after only ten episodes, the first eight of which aired) and the show returned to the schedule in December 2001. In his first special, titled "Matrimony Mania", Bergeron used the set (with the bulky see-through iMac computers) from the AFV specials that aired in 2000. A new set (with a studio audience) was introduced featuring a round video screen with several monitors when his first season began. In September 2003, the show returned to its former Sunday 7:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot, still an hour long (though special episodes occasionally aired on Friday nights until 2007). Unlike Saget, who provided voice-overs to the clips, Bergeron humorously narrated them, though he did lend his voice to some clips from time to time. Changes of the set were replacement of the round video wall by a curved video wall, changing the color of the pillars to blue (sometimes other colors), addition of curved light borders hanging through the set, lights under the center with return of the letters "AFV."
Starting with the 2007–2008 season, the series began allowing viewers to upload their funny home videos online at ABC.com, but has since the 2012–2013 season; launched their own website that same year and has viewers upload their videos instead to AFV.com, in addition to sending their videos via standard mail. During the 2011–2012 season, the AFV iOS app was released on the App Store, allowing users of Apple mobile devices to record and upload videos for submission to the show; a version of the app was released for Android devices the following season. In the final six seasons of Bergeron's run as host, the show started its "Funny Since 1989" campaign in 2009 and had two anniversary seasons. Season 20, in 2009, had a special 20th anniversary episode that aired on November 29, with Saget returning to AFV for the first time in 12 years as a guest. Both Saget and Bergeron ended that episode with a pinata party skit and a nod to the Star Wars lightsaber fight scenes when the credits started rolling. The pinatas resembled the looks of the two hosts. On March 7, 2014, Bergeron announced on his Twitter account that his tenure as host of AFV would end after season 25. AFV aired a 25th Anniversary Celebrity Celebration special in February 2015. Bergeron's final new episode from his in-studio stage home of 15 years (which was really his second to final episode) aired on May 10, 2015 (and for the final time in rerun form on September 13, 2015) and was the final (and season 25's second) $100,000 show of his tenure and featured at different times of the episode a look back at classic and modern funny home videos that defined the show's then-25-year run. Bergeron's "real" final new episode aired on May 17, 2015, the season finale, ending his run as host after 15 seasons (the longest hosting tenure for the series to date). The episode—taped on-location at Disneyland for that season's edition of the annual "Grand Prize Spectacular," AFV's 25th anniversary and the Disneyland Resort's 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration that began on May 22, 2015 (which has appeared in various formats since 2005, in which one of the two (formerly three) $100,000 winners from the current season wins a Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, or in earlier seasons, an Adventures by Disney vacation package)-- featured an auto-tuned montage of clips and outtakes from Bergeron's run as host and closed with him being escorted after walking off the outdoor stage near Sleeping Beauty Castle following the grand prize presentation on a golf cart driven by Saget in a special cameo appearance. Bergeron made his first guest appearance in the studio on the season 26 "Grand Prize Spectacular" finale of Ribiero's AFV on May 22, 2016, and played the show's final on-air audience participation game "Who Breaks It?" and won an Ribiero AFV pillow and socks. Bergeron made his second AFV guest appearance alongside Ribiero, Saget and (from the John and Daisy-era) Fuentes for an AFV 30th anniversary special called "AFV: America...This Is You" on Sunday, December 8, 2019, to celebrate AFV's 30th anniversary.
Alfonso Ribeiro (October 11, 2015 - present)[]
On May 19, 2015, two days after Bergeron's final episode aired, ABC announced that Ribeiro (known for playing Carlton Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) would take over as host of AFV beginning with the season 26 premiere on October 11, 2015. Bergeron formally introduced Ribeiro's new role as host during the latter's guest performance on the season 20 finale of Dancing with the Stars (Ribeiro appeared as a DWTS competitor and won the previous season). Before becoming the current host of the show, Ribeiro made his only guest appearance in the studio on a season 25 episode of AFV playing one of the show's audience participation games with then-host Bergeron called "Who's Makin' That Racket?". While some of the Bergeron-era clip segments, the in-studio audience and background parts of the Bergeron-era set props remained intact and/or continued to air for all five years of Ribiero's tenure as host, the stage featured a metal floor layout and stairway connected to a cube screen put together like a puzzle using smaller sized flat-panel TV screens and new segments (especially for Ribiero's run) continued to be added and aired on the show. The show also introduced the Squares-era (probably in reference to the cube screen) with Ribiero's entrance as host in 2015. Additional set props like the arrow screens with flat-panel monitors on them and light-up color-changing versions of the tables where some of the studio audience sit when not in the bleacher areas made their debut to the AFV set starting in 2019. Ribeiro also humorously narrates the clip, much like his predecessor, though he makes extensive use of rhyming in his speeches.
In May 2017, ABC renewed AFV for a 28th season and, in June 2017 (and continuing that summer scheduling format even in 2018), started airing summer reruns of current season episodes of AFV on Saturday nights at 8/7 central (until college football starts up in the fall) and Sunday nights at 7/6 central. For the start of the season on October 8, 2017, instead of leading off Sunday nights, it aired Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT and was led into at the start of the season by The Toy Box. During some parts of the holiday season starting on November 26, 2017, and remaining that way for almost the first two months of 2018 through January 21, 2018 (and final 'repeat/repeat' on February 4, 2018), AFV aired in a 'repeat/new episode' scheduling format. AFV returned with new episodes in the 7/6 central time slot (still an hour-long on Sunday nights) due to holiday movie presentations and specials airing on ABC on Sunday nights at 8/7 central during the holiday season on December 10, 2017, and then permanently starting on February 11, 2018. ABC repeated the 'repeat/new episode' scheduling format for AFV on January 6, 2019, with new episodes returning to the 7/6 central time slot on March 3, 2019, when American Idol premieres with AFV likely to be pre-empted in some time zones when American Idol airs the live (in all time-zones) finale episodes in May 2019. ABC renewed AFV for a 29th season on March 13, 2018, which premiered at its regular 7/6 central Sunday night timeslot (and was the lead-off starting on October 7, 2018, to Dancing With The Stars Juniors) on September 30, 2018.
On Sunday, December 8, 2019, at 8:00pm local times, AFV: America, This is You! aired, a 30th anniversary special episode, with Ribeiro joined by Bob Saget (which was his final appearance on the show before his death in 2022), Daisy Fuentes and Tom Bergeron.
On Sunday, May 17, 2020, at 7:00pm local times, AFV@Home aired, a quarantine themed special, with videos impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home quarantine isolation and socially distanced videos. The on-set segment was replaced by filming at Ribeiro's house.
The 31st season premiered on October 18, 2020. Instead of hosting a physical audience, episodes were shot in studio with a virtual audience displayed on video screens on set. This technique was used for the last three episodes of season 30. In June 2021, AFV: Animal Edition premiered on Nat Geo Wild. On May 13, 2021, ABC renewed AFV for a 32nd season. The 32nd season premiered on October 3, 2021. The end of the January 9, 2022 episode was interrupted by a special report from ABC News about Saget's death. The January 16, 2022 episode opened with Alfonso Ribeiro's dedication to him, clips of Saget's tenure as host, and a brief discussion between Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron from the 2009 20th anniversary special. A standard pre-credits dedication was also featured. Clips of Saget's shows were put in the rest of the 2021–22 season.
On May 13, 2022, ABC renewed AFV for a 33rd season.
$100,000 contest[]
Near the end of each season, the $10,000 winners from selected episodes are brought back to participate in a contest called to win an additional $100,000. Since season 15, there has been more than 1 100,000 show per season.
Voting[]
- Saget Era: ABC Stations (7 on the seven season, later reduced to 3 from 1995 to 1996; then to 2 in 1996) around the country were joined via satellite to cast their votes along with the Los Angeles audience.
- Fuentes/Fugelsang Era (1997 - 2001): Only the Los Angeles audience voted.
- Bergeron Era (2001 - 2015): Viewers logged on to abc.com to cast their votes with the LA Audience.
- Riberio Era (2015 - present) Viewers cannot log on to abc.com because they are running low on resources with the LA Audience.
Other contests[]
- 2002 Battle of the Best: The Quad Squad ($25,000 and trip to Maui)
- 2005: Biggest Prize Ever: A once in a lifetime vacation to all 11 Disney theme parks around the world.
- 2006: Dancing Machine ($100,000 and free vacations to 500+ places for 48 years)
- Funniest Video of All-Time: The Quad Squad ($250,000)
- 2009: Birthday Blowout ($100,000 and free vacations to 500+ places for 50 years)
Theme songs[]
The long-running theme was "London Homesick Blues", performed by The Lost Gonzo Band, and written by Gary P. Nunn. "London Homesick Blues" accompanied the opening and closing credits for eight seasons. Mid-way through the 1996-1997 season, the final year with Saget as host, "London Homesick Blues" was revamped featuring new vocals from Gary P. Nunn. When AFHV returned in January 1998, with Fuentes And Fugelsang and a completely new look, the current arrangement of the theme song made its debut. Since that time, the theme has been an instrumental, composed by Dan Slider, with a faster, ska/reggae beat, with the original key of the 1989 version restored, making it sound similar to The Impression That I Get by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
During the Saget era, the theme song also was tied in with a skit just before the transition was made from the introduction to Saget. This usually consisted of several silent actors in a fake room pretending to get excited watching America's Funniest Home Videos on their television set. This technique was scrapped at the end of Season 5. There was even one episode in Season 2 where Bob gets trapped in his dressing room at the very beginning of the episode before Ernie Anderson announced his name and after trying to use a telephone to call for help which is a recording he used a broken plastic spoon to cut through the fabric wall separating the room from the audience in order to leave it.
In Season 2, Ernie Anderson the voice of ABC and AFHV's announcer made a cameo appearance when he announce the first 100,000 grand prize episode in the recording booth. Then Bob tell him to mention saying "The Love Boat", and saying "Tonight at 9." Then he say "Buzz off bob." Then at the 100th episode celebration of Season 5, two skits are showed where Bob is in the bakery getting the 100th cake when he realize that his show is on TV knowing that he's late and quickly threw the cake on the baker's face. Followed by signing the lady his autograph and quickly ran out the door.
"The Funny Things You Do" was the theme song to the Australian version between 1991 and 2004. "The Funny Things You Do" was replaced by an instrumental version (not the song) as part of the 2005 major revamp.
Syndication[]
All episodes of AFV are currently in syndication. Repeats of the show aired on TBS from October 2, 1995 - 1998, USA Network from 1998 - 2001, and the Hallmark Channel from August 5, 2001 - 2003. Until 2001, the Saget version was syndicated by 20th Television, who assumed syndication rights from their purchase of MTM Enterprises, which had syndicated the show from 1995 - 1998.
Currently, Disney-ABC Domestic Television distributes all versions of the series. However, the 1989 - 1994 Bob Saget episodes are aired only in off-network syndication, including PAX TV (now Ion Television) every Monday through Thursday night (later Monday through Friday night) from 2003 – 2005, and Nick at Nite for a short time from April to October 2007. Also, when Nick at Nite began airing the early Saget episodes the first week the show aired, every $100,000 Grand Prize show was aired to commemorate the show joining Nick at Nite.
The 1994 – 1997 Saget episodes aired on ABC Family (Now freeform) from January 2005 to October 2007, usually on Tuesday through Saturday mornings, and occasionally on Sunday nights if a movie was not shown on ABC Family. The Tom Bergeron episodes began airing on ABC Family (now freeform) on October 1, 2007, and are shown usually 4–6 nights a week, depending upon other ABC Family (Now freeform) programming. Also, the Tom Bergeron episodes and the Daisy Fuentes/John Fugelsang episodes have all aired on WGN America, and still air to this very day, although WGN America mostly shows the Tom Bergeron episodes up to 2009, which air weekdays at 7pm, with a 3 hour block shown on Monday nights. WGN America, however, does not air the 1994-1997 Saget episodes. Currently, WPCH has aired the entire Saget run since 2007. [2]
Parody[]
The show has been subject of many parodies. It was mentioned in Weird Al Yankovic's I Can't Watch This.
It was also parodied on a Rugrats episode. The show was entitled America's Wackiest Home Movies, which was also the title of that particular episode from the Nickelodeon (TV channel) Nickelodeon cartoon series. The first known winner was Baby Mud Slinger, where the video consisted of a baby slinging mud and then falling over. Stu was disappointed in this. He and Drew attempted to create their own videos, only to become the kids themselves, as their father Lou entered a video of an accident in Stu and Drew's attempts. It wins the first prize.
In the animated comedy series South Park (Episode: Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Sl*t), Stan and Kyle send a video of Cartman to America's Stupidest Home Videos, an obvious parody of family feud richard karn America's Funniest Home Videos.
On a couple episodes of The Smoking Gun Presents World's Dumbest, the Bob Saget era of this show was parodied as America's Dumbest Home Videos.