America's Funniest Home Videos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| America's Funniest Home Videos | |
|---|---|
 America's Funniest Home Videos' current title screen |
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| Genre | Variety |
| Creator(s) | Vin Di Bona |
| Starring | Tom Bergeron |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 350 (as of January 2006) |
| Production | |
| Running time | Approx. 30 minutes/60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Original run | November 26, 1989 (as a special); January 14, 1990 (regular series) – present Renewed Through The 2007-2008 Season |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
America's Funniest Home Videos (often simply abbreviated to AFV, previously AFHV), is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from accidents and mishaps. Other popular videos include humorous situations involving pets or children, while some are staged practical jokes.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Produced by Vin Di Bona, it is currently the second longest-running entertainment program on ABC. It is 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 video clips from their home movies. The format has since been reproduced around the world.
Every week, three 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 third place banks $2,000. Very early in the show's run, the second and third prizes were a new TV and a new VCR, respectively.
On January 26, 2007, ABC renewed America's Funniest Videos through the 2007-2008 Season, which will become the show's 18th season. There is speculation that actor David Arquette and former talk show host Ricki Lake will replace Tom Bergeron as the two brand new hosts beginning in the 2007-2008 season citing to the reason that Bergeron will focus more of his hosting duties on "Dancing With The Stars" that became a ratings phenomenon for the network so Arquette and Lake could utilize their hosting stints with Lake ad-libbing the video clips while Arquette provide voiceover to the clips.
[edit] Production
The show was produced by ABC Productions. The show was also produced by MTM Enterprises (1994-1998), 20th Century Fox Television (1998-2000), and Buena Vista Television (2000-present).
[edit] History
[edit] Bob Saget (1989-1997)
The show has a very long history, beginning on November 26, 1989 (as an hour-long special produced by Vin Di Bona and Steve Paskay, later a weekly half-hour primetime series since January 14, 1990) with actor/comedian Bob Saget as host and Ernie Anderson as announcer. (Once Anderson became too ill to continue, Gary Owens took over.) Saget's trademark was to make humorous voices representing the video's subjects on the voiceover track. In addition, starting with the 3rd season, Saget began the "Assignment America" segment; which called for a series of videos to be made pertaining to a specific theme. 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. The show was so successful in its first year that in 1990 it spawned a spinoff entitled America's Funniest People.
[edit] Daisy Fuentes & John Fugelsang (1998-2001)
Saget 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 (which isn't that good, like in an ATV race, one's car flipped, and the good news was:"He was in last place anyways. It doesn't matter!". In 2001, they both left the show after three seasons.
[edit] Tom Bergeron (2001- )
In 2001, the show returned again in its third format, this time with new host Tom Bergeron. Unlike Saget who provided voiceovers to the clips, Bergeron humorously narrates them. Bergeron, however, added his own new segments such as the feature where he puts his own face over top of faces on the videos. This version also ran for 60 minutes per episode instead of 30 minutes per episode like the previous two versions.
[edit] $100,000 Grand Prize
Midway through the first season, a contest was introduced called "The $100,000 Contest". Bob Saget often calls it "America's Funniest Home Videos Hundred Thousand Dollar Di Bona Palooza". This process went the same way as the usual version, except one of them is going to win $100,000.
[edit] The Voting
- (Saget Version): Two ABC Stations (5 on the first season, later reduced to 3 from 1990 to 1993) around the country were joined via satellite to cast their votes along with the Los Angeles audience.
- (Fuentes/Fugelsang Version): Only the Los Angeles Audience does the voting.
- {Bergeron Version): Viewers were logged on to abc.com to cast their votes with the LA Audience.
[edit] Dropping Objects
If the $100,000 is won:
- Saget Version: Red, White, and Blue 12" balloons
- Bergeron Version: Confetti and Streamers (from a confetti cannon)
- 2006 Bergeron Version Confetti only (From the confetti cannon)
[edit] List of Satellite Cities on the $100,000 show
- 1990: Atlanta, GA, Cleveland, OH, Houston, TX, Minneapolis, MN, Philadelphia, PA
- 1990-91 (b): Boston, MA, Indianapolis, IN, Seattle, WA
- 1991-92 (a): Milwaukee, WI, Nashville, TN, San Francisco, CA
- 1991-92 (b): Phoenix, AZ, Tampa, FL, Washington, DC
- 1991-92 (c): Hartford-New Haven, CT, Orlando, FL (Walt Disney World), San Diego, CA
- 1992-93 (a): Cincinnati, OH, New Orleans, LA, Philadelphia, PA
- 1992-93 (b): Same as 1991-92(a) but with Norfolk, VA replacing Nashville, TN
- 1992-93 (c): Providence, RI, Des Moines, IA, Phoenix, AZ
- 1993-94 (a): Baton Rouge, LA, Wichita, KS
- 1993-94 (b): Cedar Rapids, IA, Albany, NY
- 1994-95 (c): Baltimore, MD, Denver, CO
- 1995-96 (a): New Orleans, LA, Pittsburgh, PA
- 1995-96 (b): Albany, NY, Indianapolis, IN
- 1996-97 (a): Denver, CO, Cedar Rapids, IA
- 1996-97 (b): Albuquerque, NM, Cleveland, OH
At the end of the show, the $100,000 winner is announced. Three Grand Prize episodes (One in the 1990-91 Season) were done each season. A set of $10,000 winners were eligible for the grand prize.
[edit] List of number of $10,000 winners
- 1990: All $10,000 winners [15]
- 1990-91: 7, 7, 8, $10K Winners
- 1991-92: 8, 7, 7, $10K Winners
- 1992-93: 6, 9, 7, $10K Winners
- 1993-94: 7, 8, 5, $10K Winners
- 1994-95: 7, 7, 6, $10K winners
- 1995-96: 7, 7, 5, $10K winners
- 1996-97 and Beyond: 3 sets of 9 $10K Winners
Ernie Anderson made an appearance in the very first $100,000 grand prize episode of the series.
When the $100,000 winner is announced. A variety of bands/singers did the AFHV theme song., or non-bands/singers were coming out of the stage. (Saget Version Only).
[edit] List of bands/singers on the Saget Version
- 1989-90 and 1990-91(a): Regular Theme Song
- 1990-91(b): Marching Band Version performed by the University of Southern California Marching Band
- 1990-91(c): 1920's Jazz Band Version
- 1991-92(a & b): Marching Band Version
- 1991-92(c): Kazoo Band Version
- 1992-93(a): Accordion Version
- 1992-93(b): Jazz Version
- 1992-93(c): Same as 1989-90 (But with Rockette-Type Dancers to dance at the end of the show)
- 1993-94(a & b): Marching Band Version
- 1994-95(a): Hawaiian Version (Steel Drums)
- 1994-95(b): Pipe Band Version performed by the Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band
- 1994-95(c): Dixie Band
- 1995-96(a): Disco Version
- 1995-96(b): Country/Bluegrass Version
- 1995-96(c): Rock and Roll Version performed by Freddy Cannon
- 1996-97(a): Choir Version performed by the Riverside Community College Choir
- 1996-97(b & c): 1997 Version of AFHV Theme (except for 1996-97(c) in which the Claddagh School of Irish Dancing danced to this theme)
[edit] Notes
- In the early $100,000 grand prize episodes, Bob shows the audience how the finalists rank before he announces the $100,000 winner. This practice was shown for the last time in 1994-95(a).
- In the Saget Version, before the audience and satilite cities cast their votes, Bob recaps the finalists in the order of the $10,000 winners from each episode. This practice was not used in 1994-95(b), and starting in 1994-95(c), Bob, recaps the finalists before he announces the $100,000 winner.
[edit] Big winners
- 2005: Costume Comedy ($100,000)
- 2006: Dancing Machine ($100,000)
- "Funniest Video of All-Time": The Quad Squad ($250,000)
[edit] Episode Status
All episodes of AFV are currently in syndication. Repeats of the show aired on TBS from 1995 to 1998. ABC Family is currently reruning the Saget episodes from 1994-97, and Nick at Nite has announced plans to begin airing the Saget shows starting in April 2007.[1]. The Fuentes-Fugelsang and Bergeron episodes are reruning on Superstation WGN. The Pax/i network, now known as ION, at one point aired reruns of the Saget episodes from 1989-93. Saget episodes are also shown in Syndication. On ABS-CBN It Will Rerun Saget, Fuentes/Fugelsang and Bergeron Episodes.
[edit] Downloads
America's Funniest Home Videos is avalible on iTunes and clips are on Google Video/YouTube.
[edit] See also
- America's Funniest People
- You've Been Framed (United Kingdom)
- Australia's Funniest Home Video Show (Australia)
- The Planet's Funniest Animals
[edit] In popular culture
- The popular cartoon Pokémon has a TV show apparently named "Funniest Pokémon Home Videos."
- On Stickin' Around, Bradley fantasizes a home video of Stacey being eaten by a librarian on a spoof show named "America's Most Gruesome Home Videos".
- Tom Bergeron had an idea for "America's Cutest Home Videos".
- In an episode of Stickin' Around has another spoof show named "Uncle Saggy's Really Really Bad Home Videos"
- In the 1999 film Varsity Blues, Charlie Tweeter makes a video of a prank in which he hits a former West Canaan football player in the groin with a baseball bat. He jokes they should submit the video to AFV, then says they should call the show "America's Funniest Shots in the Nuts", as many videos on the show feature blows to the groin.
- An episode of ABC's Head of the Class featured the students trying to make an intentionally funny video to submit to AFV.
- In an episode of The Simpsons, the family is at a film festival, and after one video Homer says it should win the $10,000.
