SHOUT! Factory DVD Request: "America's Funniest Home Videos: Season One"

[stevearino]

Dear Brian Ward,

I have a proposal for SHOUT! Factory: to make a deal with Buena Vista Television (a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company) for SHOUT! Factory to issue and release, for the first time EVER on DVD, "America's Funniest Home Videos: The Complete First Season," a loving showcase of all 16 episodes (including the hour-long Pilot episode and the hour-long 1st-season $100,000 Finale) of the hit TV game show "America's Funniest Home Videos," each episode showcased 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, AND 100% Unedited, just the way each episode originally aired on the ABC Television Network.

In case you aren't familiar with it, Brian, here's the Inside Info from a life-long Avid Viewer: The year is 1988. George "Daddy" Bush, age 64, is U.S. President-Elect; the War of the Gulf is in full effect; and rookie TV producer Vin Di Bona (whose Saturday-morning game show "Animal Crack-Ups," hosted by Alan Thicke, is on its way off the air) is on vacation in Japan.

During the vacation (which he had with his then-wife Gina), Vin caught a glimpse of a Japanese variety show called "Fun with Kato and Ken," a segment of which had ordinary Japanese citizens competing against each other for the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. Dollar.

Upon his return to his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, California (by way of Cranston, Rhode Island, where he was born on April 10, 1944), Vin Di Bona decided to turn the segment he saw in Japan into his NEXT TV Game Show, eventually naming the show "America's Funniest Home Videos" and soon afterwards hired stand-up comic Bob Saget (then appearing as an actor on the hit '80s sitcom "Full House") to host the Hour-Long Pilot.

The Pilot Episode was Videotaped in Summer 1989 at Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles and was immediately picked up to series for the ABC Television Network, which telecast the Pilot on November 26, 1989 at 8 P.M. ET opposite "Murder She Wrote" that night.

7 weeks later, on January 14, 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" became a regular series airing weekly every Sunday night at 8 P.M. ET in a Unique TV Game Show format remaining little changed throughout its long run, with 3 Contestants per show competing against each other for a weekly Grand Prize of $10,000, with an additional $100,000 given away at the end of each sweeps period (November, February and May); by March 1990, the series was such a hit that, soon after realizing that MANY of the videos submitted were set-up clips, Vin Di Bona decided to create a spin-off Game Show called "America's Funniest People," hiring Dave Coulier (Bob's co-star on "Full House") to host the Pilot episode, which aired on May 13, 1990.

On September 16, 1990, "America's Funniest People" began airing weekly on Sunday nights at 8 P.M. ET as part of an ABC Television Network "Videos" hour; whereas the clips on "AFHV" were shot entirely and submitted by amateurs, on "People," however, sequences were deliberately staged, with ordinary Americans performing stunts and gags for the camera.

Some clips on "People" were shot by amateurs, while others were shot by Vin Di Bona and company; for series, Dave was joined by actress Arleen Sorkin ("Days of Our Lives") for the first 2 seasons and afterwards by former MTV Video Vixen Tawny Kitaen thereafter.

In May 1994, after 4 seasons, ABC pulled the plug on "America's Funniest People," with its unceremonious series finale telecast on June 5, 1994; meanwhile, "America's Funniest Home Videos" carried on--for a while, anyway: in May 1997, after 8 seasons, Bob Saget left "America's Funniest Home Videos" and was replaced in January 1998 by former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes (paired with stand-up comic John Fugelsang) with unfortunately disastrous results.

In May 1999, after 10 seasons and 4 different timeslot changes in a year (including Monday, Thursday & Saturday), ABC cancelled "America's Funniest Home Videos" due to low ratings, with its Series Finale (Videotaped at House of Blues in Los Angeles) telecast on August 28, 1999 at 8 P.M.; but wait, that's NOT the end: 2 years later, on July 20, 2001, ABC successfully revived "America's Funniest Home Videos," this time with TV personality Tom Bergeron (then doing double Game Show duty as "Hollywood Squares" host) becoming sole permanent host.

The revival initially aired on ABC (expanded to an Hour per episode) on Friday nights at 8 P.M. ET before moving back permanently in September 2003 to Sunday nights at 7 P.M. ET

In March 2014, Tom Bergeron announced that after 15 seasons, he was stepping down as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," with his final original episode airing on May 17, 2015; 48 hours later, on May 19, 2015, LIVE on "Dancing with the Stars," Tom announced that his "America's Funniest Home Videos" successor would be actor Alfonso Ribeiro, who made his debut as Tom's successor on October 11, 2015--a role he maintains currently in his 8th season.

In October 2022, the grand prize money given away on "America's Funniest Home Videos" doubled from $10,000 to $20,000 for the show's 33rd combined season.

Tentatively, Brian, "America's Funniest Home Videos: The Complete First Season" shall be issued and released on DVD on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at a cost of only $19.99 wherever DVDs are sold, with TONS of Bonus Features including, but not limited to, the following: "The Summit with Saget," a 20-year Retrospective of the show where then-host Tom Bergeron had Bob Saget return for one night only for the show's 20th Anniversary in 2009.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" is produced by ABC Signature (credited as ABC Entertainment and originally ABC Productions) in association with Vin Di Bona Productions.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" is Distributed by Disney's Buena Vista Television.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino