America's Funniest Home Videos

*America's Funniest Home Videos*
America's Funniest Home Videos
	AFV logo The America's Funniest Home Videos title screen
Created by	Vin Di Bona
Starring	Tom Bergeron; (2001–present); John Fugelsang; (1998–2000); Daisy Fuentes; (1998–2000); Bob Saget; (1989–1997)
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	343 +
Production
Running time	Approx. 30 minutes/60 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	November 26, 1989 (as a special); January 14, 1990 (regular series) –; present

America's Funniest Home Videos (often simply abbreviated to AFV) is an ABC reality TV show in which viewers are able to send in videotapes containing humorous, silly, or just plain dumb acts featuring themes such as children, pets, personal injury, frequent various injuries to the crotch, or slapstick physical comedy in the form of goofy mistakes (sometimes a set-up). It is produced by Vin Di Bona and Steve Paskay. It was 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 their home video clips. Every week, 3 videos are chosen by the producers and voted on by the studio audience. The winner wins US$10,000 and is in the running for the $100,000 prize at the end of the season, the runner-up receives $3,000, while 3rd Place banks $2,000.

The show has a long history, beginning on November 26, 1989 (as a 5-episode special, later a weekly primetime series since January 14, 1990) with actor/comedian Bob Saget as host and Ernie Anderson as announcer. Saget's trademark was to make humorous voices representing the video's subjects on the voiceover track (except for a few times by John Fugelsang, none of the following hosts have repeated this method, choosing instead to merely narrate the clips); Saget's era also produced a memorable segment called "Freeze Frame" which was a montage of videos with the song "Freeze Frame" played by the J. Geils Band. He left the show after eight seasons in 1997, but the show returned on January 9, 1998, with new hosts, model Daisy Fuentes and stand-up comedian John Fugelsang, as well as a completely new look. Their trademark was the "Good-news, Bad-news" segment in which they show a segment of videos (and something funny happens), and in the end, they say something good about it. In 2000, they both left the show after three seasons.

In 2001, it was added onto the line-up again as mid-season filler with Tom Bergeron, who continues to serve as the current host, and the show also got another new look. His trademarks are a segment called "Tom's Home Movies", which are videos with Tom's head as the person in the video, and "VS.", which has two video categories facing off, but one video category wins in the end. In 2003, the show moved from a Friday slot at 8/7c to its current time on Sundays at 7/6c, and is currently in its 16th season. The show is rerun on WGN-TV and ABC Family. Currently, Fuentes/Fugelsang and Bergeron-era episodes are seen most often on WGN-TV, while ABC Family currently only reruns Saget-era episodes.

At the height of its popularity in the early-1990s, AFV spawned a spin-off, America's Funniest People.

America's Funniest Home Videos is ABC's third-longest running primetime series, behind only 20/20 and Primetime. The show has had multiple specials including a "Best of the Best" special where they gave a trip to Hawaii away and a "Disney Dream Vacation" special where the grand prize winner won a trip to all 11 Disney theme parks around the world. Both specials were comprised of previous $100,000 winners. In 2005, the Muppets guest starred on the $100,000.00 show.

To celebrate the end of its 16th season on ABC, AFV showcased a countdown of the 20 funniest home videos of all time, with the winner receiving $250,000. This special season finale aired on May 19, 2006, and was filmed at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

AFV is also well known for the host's humorous (and often lame) wisecracking one-liners before or during the showing of a home video.

It is produced by Vin Di Bona Productions and ABC Productions. It was distributed by MTM Enterprises from 1995-1998, 20th Century Fox Television from 1998-2000, and Buena Vista Television from 2000-present.

Ernie Anderson, who was best-known as ABC's announcer who announced promos for TV shows (most notably his way of saying "The Love Boat"...he pronounced it "The Looooooove Boat"), was the announcer for AFV from the show's start in 1989 until 1995. Gary Owens then took over as announcer for the remainder of the Saget run.

Criticism

America's Funniest Home Videos has received some criticism throughout its long run on ABC. The main criticism is the airing of and awarding of prizes for videos that are clearly staged. During the Bob Saget era, the video "Guy Drops Toilet Down Stairs" came under fire by critics for being staged yet still winning $10,000. It was argued that videotaping yourself carrying a toilet up a stairwell was highly unlikely, and the man's "accidental dropping" seemed like it was purposeful.

Another example is a tape that shows a wife driving down the street and saying to her husband (who was filming) that she just got gas for the car. The camera then shows the gas nozzle and the gas pump still dangling from the car with the hose cut. This tape was criticized as having been staged since it is unlikely for one to videotape one's wife driving down the street after refueling the car.

Another criticism during the Bob Saget era was that the third nominee was always the winner. However, this is just a rumored criticism as subsequent viewings of the show have revealed that this is simply not true.

During the later years of the Saget era, the skits hosted by Saget during the show often fell flat with the audience, and Saget would frequently bring up his hatred for the producers' suggestions and ideas for skits. These bizarre skits became awkward for audience members, live and at home, as they were unsure whether these recurring segments were legitimate complaints from Saget or merely an inside joke. Some of these skits include the producers suggesting Saget time his jokes with egg-timers or, in one particularly confounding situation, Saget showing the audience a live pig that had apparently eaten one of the producers (the producer could still talk to Saget, though).

The winning movies often involve a baby and usually aren't so much funny as they are cute.

Another criticism centers on the injuries suffered by video participants, including some injured during skiing or skateboarding accidents which resulted in the victims losing consciousness or even blatant car crashes.

ABC also added a laugh track to some videos lacking the hosts' monologues.

$100,000 winners

2005: Costume Comedy- The Snell Family

External links

Criticism

$100,000 winners

See also

External links