America's Funniest Home Videos - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

grundoontv · 11-05-2010, 02:41 PM

The date--November 26, 1989.

21 years ago this month, the hit TV game show "America's Funniest Home Videos" debuted on the ABC Television Network.

The hour-long pilot, hosted by Bob Saget, featured the citizens of the United States of America sending in their funniest and/or most amazing home videos--most of the funny of which was purely unintentional.

7 weeks later--January 14, 1990--"America's Funniest Home Videos" made its debut as a regular series on ABC.

The format from the pilot changed somewhat--the grand prize value increased from $5,000 in the pilot to $10,000 being awarded to the night's funniest home video.

The conception period was quite interesting--a U.S. television producer named Vin Di Bona was on a work-related vacation with his wife Gina in Japan one day when he caught the eye of a variety-game show called "Fun with Kato and Ken."

On the way back, Vin thought to himself, "I've got a great idea for my next game show."

At the time, Vin was also producing "Animal Crack-Ups," a Saturday-morning game show hosted by Alan Thicke that was on its way out of network TV.

For the U.S., Vin rechristened "Fun with Kato and Ken" and rechristened his new game show idea "America's Funniest Home Videos."

Hiring Thicke's fellow ABC colleague Bob Saget (of "Full House") to host, Vin's strategy worked--by March 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" surpassed the long-running Sunday-night staple "Murder She Wrote" as the #1 rated show on Sunday nights--and in the process, Bob Saget became the 1st person since variety-show host Arthur Godfrey to have 2 successful shows on the same network twice a week in primetime on 2 different nights.

As often happens in TV Land, Vin quickly came up with a spin-off game show, "America's Funniest People," the pilot of which was broadcast May 13, 1990 and hosted by Bob's "Full House" castmate Dave Coulier.

The same prize structure on "AFP" was used--$10,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd place, and $2,000 for 3rd, with "AFP" earning its place on the ABC Sunday night schedule that fall, right after "AFHV" as part of an ABC Sunday night "videos" hour. Both shows were announced by Ernie Anderson.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" would go on to last 10 seasons on ABC; "America's Funniest People" would be cancelled in Spring 1994, with the final original episode airing August 28, 1994.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" suffered a big loss in February 1997, when announcer Ernie Anderson (whose grown son, Paul Thomas, has since gone on to become a successful movie director) died of cancer, aged 73.

The following spring, Bob Saget decided to leave "America's Funniest Home Videos" after his 15-year marriage to college sweetheart Sherri Kramer, with whom like his "Full House" character Danny Tanner had 3 daughters, ended in divorce. (Trivia: Bob Saget already had 1 infant daughter, Aubrey Michelle, when "Full House" debuted in 1987).

In January 1998, former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes and stand-up comic John Fugelsang were picked to co-host the show as Bob Saget's replacement.

Unfortunately, the show's ratings began to suffer big time, and at the end of the 1998-1999 season, ABC canceled "America's Funniest Home Videos."

The show concluded its regular run with a direct-to-video special hosted by Steve Carell called "America's Funniest Home Videos Uncensored," showing videos deemed too hot for the show to air.

All was not lost, however, as less than 2 years later, on July 20, 2001, ABC brought back "America's Funniest Home Videos," this time with talk-show host Tom Bergeron (then doing double duty as game show host with "Hollywood Squares") taking over as host--a job he's held ever since.

The current announcer on "America's Funniest Home Videos" is Jess Harnell, who's had the honor of the job since 1998, during the 9th season, a year before ABC canceled the original series.

The Tom Bergeron revival, however, remains unchanged from the original version that lasted 10 years on ABC, with the top 3 funniest home videos of the night walking away $15,000 richer--$10,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd, and $2,000 for 3rd, with the top $10,000 winners vieing for an additional $100,000 at the end of each sweeps period.

11-05-2010, 02:41 PM	#1
grundoontv Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Aug 12, 2007 Location: Long Island, New York Posts: 83	America's Funniest Home Videos The date--November 26, 1989. 21 years ago this month, the hit TV game show "America's Funniest Home Videos" debuted on the ABC Television Network. The hour-long pilot, hosted by Bob Saget, featured the citizens of the United States of America sending in their funniest and/or most amazing home videos--most of the funny of which was purely unintentional. 7 weeks later--January 14, 1990--"America's Funniest Home Videos" made its debut as a regular series on ABC. The format from the pilot changed somewhat--the grand prize value increased from $5,000 in the pilot to $10,000 being awarded to the night's funniest home video. The conception period was quite interesting--a U.S. television producer named Vin Di Bona was on a work-related vacation with his wife Gina in Japan one day when he caught the eye of a variety-game show called "Fun with Kato and Ken." On the way back, Vin thought to himself, "I've got a great idea for my next game show." At the time, Vin was also producing "Animal Crack-Ups," a Saturday-morning game show hosted by Alan Thicke that was on its way out of network TV. For the U.S., Vin rechristened "Fun with Kato and Ken" and rechristened his new game show idea "America's Funniest Home Videos." Hiring Thicke's fellow ABC colleague Bob Saget (of "Full House") to host, Vin's strategy worked--by March 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" surpassed the long-running Sunday-night staple "Murder She Wrote" as the #1 rated show on Sunday nights--and in the process, Bob Saget became the 1st person since variety-show host Arthur Godfrey to have 2 successful shows on the same network twice a week in primetime on 2 different nights. As often happens in TV Land, Vin quickly came up with a spin-off game show, "America's Funniest People," the pilot of which was broadcast May 13, 1990 and hosted by Bob's "Full House" castmate Dave Coulier. The same prize structure on "AFP" was used--$10,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd place, and $2,000 for 3rd, with "AFP" earning its place on the ABC Sunday night schedule that fall, right after "AFHV" as part of an ABC Sunday night "videos" hour. Both shows were announced by Ernie Anderson. "America's Funniest Home Videos" would go on to last 10 seasons on ABC; "America's Funniest People" would be cancelled in Spring 1994, with the final original episode airing August 28, 1994. "America's Funniest Home Videos" suffered a big loss in February 1997, when announcer Ernie Anderson (whose grown son, Paul Thomas, has since gone on to become a successful movie director) died of cancer, aged 73. The following spring, Bob Saget decided to leave "America's Funniest Home Videos" after his 15-year marriage to college sweetheart Sherri Kramer, with whom like his "Full House" character Danny Tanner had 3 daughters, ended in divorce. (Trivia: Bob Saget already had 1 infant daughter, Aubrey Michelle, when "Full House" debuted in 1987). In January 1998, former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes and stand-up comic John Fugelsang were picked to co-host the show as Bob Saget's replacement. Unfortunately, the show's ratings began to suffer big time, and at the end of the 1998-1999 season, ABC canceled "America's Funniest Home Videos." The show concluded its regular run with a direct-to-video special hosted by Steve Carell called "America's Funniest Home Videos Uncensored," showing videos deemed too hot for the show to air. All was not lost, however, as less than 2 years later, on July 20, 2001, ABC brought back "America's Funniest Home Videos," this time with talk-show host Tom Bergeron (then doing double duty as game show host with "Hollywood Squares") taking over as host--a job he's held ever since. The current announcer on "America's Funniest Home Videos" is Jess Harnell, who's had the honor of the job since 1998, during the 9th season, a year before ABC canceled the original series. The Tom Bergeron revival, however, remains unchanged from the original version that lasted 10 years on ABC, with the top 3 funniest home videos of the night walking away $15,000 richer--$10,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd, and $2,000 for 3rd, with the top $10,000 winners vieing for an additional $100,000 at the end of each sweeps period.