Laff Request: "America's Funniest Home Videos"

[stevearino]

Dear Scripps Broadcasting Co., Inc.,

I have a proposal for the Digital Over-the-Air Channel Laff: to make a deal with Disney-ABC Domestic Television Distribution for Laff to have exclusivity in airing all 29 Combined Seasons (with each new Season thereafter) of Network TV's Longest-Running Prime-Time Game Show: "America's Funniest Home Videos."

In case you aren't familiar with it, here's the Inside Information.

The year is 1988. George H.W. Bush is elected President; the War of the Gulf is in full effect; and rookie TV producer Vin Di Bona (a former staff writer for "MacGyver" whose Saturday-morning Game Show "Animal Crack-Ups" is on its way off the air) is on vacation in Tokyo, Japan with his then-wife, Gina.

During the Vacation, Vin caught a glimpse of a Japanese variety show titled "Fun with Kato and Ken," a segment of which had ordinary Japanese citizens sending in their funniest moments ever caught on film in the hopes of earning the Japanese equivalent of the American dollar; upon his return to his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, California, Vin decided to turn the segment into his next TV game show, eventually naming it "America's Funniest Home Videos."

The following Spring, Vin hired stand-up comic Bob Saget to host the hour-long Series Pilot, which taped in Summer 1989 at Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles, with the Pilot soon picked up by execs at the ABC Television Network as a mid-season Replacement, with the series Pilot telecast at 8 P.M. ET on ABC on November 26, 1989 opposite "Murder She Wrote."

7 weeks later, on January 14, 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" began airing weekly every Sunday night at 8 P.M. on ABC in a format that's remained unchanged in nearly 30 years, with ordinary U.S. Citizens sending in their funniest moments ever caught on film in the hopes of earning a weekly Grand Prize of $10,000; by March 1990, Vin discovered that many of the submissions were staged stunts, so Vin quickly devised a game show spin-off titled "America's Funniest People," hiring Dave Coulier to host the Pilot, which aired on May 13, 1990 at 8 P.M. after "America's Funniest Home Videos" on ABC.

"People" was soon picked up by ABC for the Fall 1990 TV season, airing Sunday nights at 8 P.M. after "Videos" as part of an ABC "Videos" hour every Sunday night, with "Videos" leading into "People" at 8 P.M. ET Sunday nights.

Whereas on "Videos" clips were shot entirely by amateurs and in most cases NOT staged, on "People," sequences were deliberately staged, with ordinary Americans performing stunts and gags for the camera. Some sequences were shot by amateurs, and others by Vin Di Bona and his crew. The same prize structures on both shows was used: $10,000 1st place, $3,000 2nd and $2,000 3rd. In May 1994, ABC canceled "America's Funniest People."

"America's Funniest Home Videos" soldiered on--at least for a while. In May 1997, after 8 seasons, Bob Saget left "America's Funniest Home Videos."

He was replaced as host in January 1998 by former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes (paired with comic John Fugelsang), but in May 1999, after 10 seasons on air and a time-slot change to Saturday nights at 8 P.M., ABC canceled "America's Funniest Home Videos" due to low ratings, with its series finale telecast on August 28, 1999, taped at The House of Blues in Los Angeles, California.

2 years later, on July 20, 2001, ABC successfully brought back "America's Funniest Home Videos," this time with TV personality Tom Bergeron as host, pulling double-duty as Game Show host with "Hollywood Squares" at the time.

Tom hosted the show for the next 15 years until March 2014, when he announced he was stepping down as series host; Tom's final original episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos" aired at 7 P.M. on May 17, 2015 on ABC.

48 Hours later, Tom announced that Alfonso Ribeiro, best known for his role as Carlton on NBC's "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (and before that Ricky Schroder's character's best friend Alfonso Spears on NBC's "Silver Spoons"), was the new host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," a job he would assume on October 11, 2015 at 7 P.M. ET on ABC. Now in his 4th season as host, Alfonso continues to do a great job (in my opinion at least) as host of the show.

Tentatively, Laff shall welcome the Complete Series Library of "America's Funniest Home Videos" to its regular lineup, airing the first 10 seasons of the show in a half-hour format weekdays as part of its "Laffternoons" at 1 P.M. ET with 4 shows a day, with the hour-long episodes hosted by Tom Bergeron and Alfonso Ribeiro airing weeknights at 7 P.M. ET with 2 hour-long shows a day.

I hope this is taken into consideration, and thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino

[icecream]

NO! LAFF can do better, they do not need to start airing reality. AFV has been played to death on other stations. And it is not a game show either, this got posted on the wrong board.

[stevearino]

I'm sorry, catsrule, BUT I respectfully disagree with you about "AFV" not being a game show. The game, as explained in the OP, has ordinary Americans sending in their funniest moments in the hopes of earning a Grand Prize of $10,000. In other words, it's a Tournament Game Show, but nevertheless, no less a Game Show than "The Price is Right."

[MA]

AFV is fine where it is and doesn’t need to go on Laff.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by stevearino

I'm sorry, catsrule, BUT I respectfully disagree with you about "AFV" not being a game show. The game, as explained in the OP, has ordinary Americans sending in their funniest moments in the hopes of earning a Grand Prize of $10,000. In other words, it's a Tournament Game Show, but nevertheless, no less a Game Show than "The Price is Right."

Giving money as a winning prize is something reality shows do as well. That alone does not make something a game show though, they usually involve trivia, word games, or something similar. AFV is the TV predecessor of online videos made by random people and is more in that category.

[stevearino]

Not disagreeing with you there, but what qualifies as a Game Show is a Game being Played.

For instance: "The Price is Right" is a Game Show where Contestants guess how much something costs. "AFV" is a Game Show that has Contestants competing against each other for a Grand Prize by sending in their funniest moments caught on Tape (or in today's world, Cellphones and other Video Gadgets).

[stevearino]

All different forms of Game Shows exist, from trivia shows like "Jeopardy!" to solving Puzzles like "Wheel of Fortune" and stunt game shows like "Beat the Clock" and "Double Dare." "AFV" is just as much a Game Show as the aforementioned shows, though not a Quiz game like "Jeopardy!," it's still a Game Show in the sense that there are Different Contestants competing weekly against each other for the $10,000 Grand Prize.