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Steve Arino
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Hello Everyone,
My apologies for not having written in a few days, but as promised, as part of my series of posts about 65 Years of Walt Disney Television, I present to you info on Network TV's Longest-Running Prime-Time Game Show, celebrating 30 years this Fall on ABC: "America's Funniest Home Videos."
The year is 1988. George H.W. Bush, age 64, is elected U.S. 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" was on its way off the air) is on vacation in Japan with 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 featured ordinary Japanese citizens sending in their funniest moments caught on film in the hopes of earning the Japan equivalent of the American dollar; upon his return to Los Angeles (by way of Cranston, Rhode Island, where he was born on April 10, 1944), Vin decided to turn the segment he saw that night into a new Network TV Game Show.
Eventually naming the show "America's Funniest Home Videos," Vin hired stand-up comic Bob Saget to host the series' Hour-Long Pilot, which Videotaped at Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles, California in Summer 1989--and was immediately picked up as a mid-season replacement on the ABC Television Network; the said Pilot was telecast on ABC on November 26, 1989 at 8 P.M. ET opposite Angela Lansbury's "Murder, She Wrote" that Sunday night.
7 weeks later, on January 14, 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" began airing weekly in a half-hour format every Sunday night at 8 P.M. ET in a Game Show format that's remained unchanged in nearly 3 decades, with ordinary Americans sending in their funniest moments caught via the magic of Home Video (nowadays DVDs and/or Cell Phones) in the hopes of earning a weekly grand prize of $10,000; in addition, the weekly grand prize winners competing against each other for an additional grand prize of $100,000 at the end of each sweeps period (November, February and May, specifically).
By March 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" was such a huge hit that (upon the discovery that many of the Videos sent in were deliberate setups) Vin Di Bona quickly conceived a Game Show spin-off titled "America's Funniest People," hiring Impressionist and Stand-up Comic Dave Coulier to host the Pilot.
The Pilot of "America's Funniest People" aired Sunday, May 13, 1990 at 8 P.M. ET right after the telecast that night of parent show "America's Funniest Home Videos" and likewise was picked up to Regular Series for the Fall 1990 TV season, airing Sunday nights at 8 P.M. ET as part of an ABC "Videos" hour starting September 16, 1990 and continuing weekly every Sunday night in a Game Show format where sequences were Deliberately Staged, with ordinary Americans pulling stunts and gags for the camera. Some clips were shot by amateur filmmakers, with OTHERS Videotaped by Vin Di Bona and his crew--all in the hopes, like its parent show, of earning a weekly Grand Prize of $10,000.
After initially being paired with actress Arleen Sorkin, Dave Coulier (after Sorkin was fired by Vin Di Bona from the show) was paired with Tawny Kitaen for the rest of the series' run starting in September 1992, during which taping moved from ABC Television Center in Los Angeles to Universal Studios in Orlando.
After a year in Orlando, production of "America's Funniest People" moved back to Los Angeles, this time at Hollywood Center Studios, but in May 1994, after 4 seasons, ABC cancelled "America's Funniest People" due to Poor Ratings, with its Series Finale episode telecast on August 28, 1994.
"Videos," however, carried on--for a while, anyway. In May 1997, after 8 seasons, Bob Saget stepped down voluntarily as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," later replaced in January 1998 by former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes (paired with comic John Fugelsang) as host; however, by this time, ratings were declining, and eventually, after 10 seasons, ABC cancelled "America's Funniest Home Videos" in May 1999, with the Series Finale airing on August 28, 1999.
Thankfully, that was NOT the end, as 2 years later, ABC successfully brought back "America's Funniest Home Videos" as a weekly series, initially airing every Friday night at 8 P.M. ET starting on July 20, 2001 before moving permanently to Sunday nights at 7 P.M. ET (except for a temporary move in 2017 to Sunday nights at 8 P.M. ET) in September 2003 on ABC--a timeslot its held ever since. TV personality Tom Bergeron (then doing double Game Show duty as "Hollywood Squares" host) became sole host of "America's Funniest Home Videos"--a role he maintained for 15 years until he decided to Step Down as host in March 2014.
Tom's final episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos" was telecast on May 17, 2015--and 48 hours later, Tom announced on the Season Finale of "Dancing with the Stars" that Alfonso Ribeiro would become his successor as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," which he began in October 2015.
My apologies for not having written in a few days, but as promised, as part of my series of posts about 65 Years of Walt Disney Television, I present to you info on Network TV's Longest-Running Prime-Time Game Show, celebrating 30 years this Fall on ABC: "America's Funniest Home Videos."
The year is 1988. George H.W. Bush, age 64, is elected U.S. 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" was on its way off the air) is on vacation in Japan with 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 featured ordinary Japanese citizens sending in their funniest moments caught on film in the hopes of earning the Japan equivalent of the American dollar; upon his return to Los Angeles (by way of Cranston, Rhode Island, where he was born on April 10, 1944), Vin decided to turn the segment he saw that night into a new Network TV Game Show.
Eventually naming the show "America's Funniest Home Videos," Vin hired stand-up comic Bob Saget to host the series' Hour-Long Pilot, which Videotaped at Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles, California in Summer 1989--and was immediately picked up as a mid-season replacement on the ABC Television Network; the said Pilot was telecast on ABC on November 26, 1989 at 8 P.M. ET opposite Angela Lansbury's "Murder, She Wrote" that Sunday night.
7 weeks later, on January 14, 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" began airing weekly in a half-hour format every Sunday night at 8 P.M. ET in a Game Show format that's remained unchanged in nearly 3 decades, with ordinary Americans sending in their funniest moments caught via the magic of Home Video (nowadays DVDs and/or Cell Phones) in the hopes of earning a weekly grand prize of $10,000; in addition, the weekly grand prize winners competing against each other for an additional grand prize of $100,000 at the end of each sweeps period (November, February and May, specifically).
By March 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" was such a huge hit that (upon the discovery that many of the Videos sent in were deliberate setups) Vin Di Bona quickly conceived a Game Show spin-off titled "America's Funniest People," hiring Impressionist and Stand-up Comic Dave Coulier to host the Pilot.
The Pilot of "America's Funniest People" aired Sunday, May 13, 1990 at 8 P.M. ET right after the telecast that night of parent show "America's Funniest Home Videos" and likewise was picked up to Regular Series for the Fall 1990 TV season, airing Sunday nights at 8 P.M. ET as part of an ABC "Videos" hour starting September 16, 1990 and continuing weekly every Sunday night in a Game Show format where sequences were Deliberately Staged, with ordinary Americans pulling stunts and gags for the camera. Some clips were shot by amateur filmmakers, with OTHERS Videotaped by Vin Di Bona and his crew--all in the hopes, like its parent show, of earning a weekly Grand Prize of $10,000.
After initially being paired with actress Arleen Sorkin, Dave Coulier (after Sorkin was fired by Vin Di Bona from the show) was paired with Tawny Kitaen for the rest of the series' run starting in September 1992, during which taping moved from ABC Television Center in Los Angeles to Universal Studios in Orlando.
After a year in Orlando, production of "America's Funniest People" moved back to Los Angeles, this time at Hollywood Center Studios, but in May 1994, after 4 seasons, ABC cancelled "America's Funniest People" due to Poor Ratings, with its Series Finale episode telecast on August 28, 1994.
"Videos," however, carried on--for a while, anyway. In May 1997, after 8 seasons, Bob Saget stepped down voluntarily as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," later replaced in January 1998 by former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes (paired with comic John Fugelsang) as host; however, by this time, ratings were declining, and eventually, after 10 seasons, ABC cancelled "America's Funniest Home Videos" in May 1999, with the Series Finale airing on August 28, 1999.
Thankfully, that was NOT the end, as 2 years later, ABC successfully brought back "America's Funniest Home Videos" as a weekly series, initially airing every Friday night at 8 P.M. ET starting on July 20, 2001 before moving permanently to Sunday nights at 7 P.M. ET (except for a temporary move in 2017 to Sunday nights at 8 P.M. ET) in September 2003 on ABC--a timeslot its held ever since. TV personality Tom Bergeron (then doing double Game Show duty as "Hollywood Squares" host) became sole host of "America's Funniest Home Videos"--a role he maintained for 15 years until he decided to Step Down as host in March 2014.
Tom's final episode of "America's Funniest Home Videos" was telecast on May 17, 2015--and 48 hours later, Tom announced on the Season Finale of "Dancing with the Stars" that Alfonso Ribeiro would become his successor as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos," which he began in October 2015.