America's Funniest Home Videos (Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron eras; Seasons 1-8 and 11-25)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
This page is unfinished, but dedicated to Bob Saget (1956-2022), the first host of the show.
| America's Funniest Home Videos | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The funny things you do America, America, this is you! | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
America's Funniest Home Videos, often abbreviated as AFV since Season 9, is an American comedy and clip show television series created by Vin Di Bona. It is based on the "Home Videos" segment from the Japanese variety show "Kato-chan Ken-chan Gokigen TV." It first aired as a special on November 26th, 1989, hosted by comedian Bob Saget. The special was intended to be a one-off, but due to its popularity, AFV became a regular weekly show. Saget hosted the show's first eight seasons, then comedian John Fugelsang and model Daisy Fuentes hosted Seasons 9 and 10. Between Seasons 10 and 11, four specials, "Unwrapped for the Holidays," "Stupid Cupid," "A Tribute to Moms," and "Matrimony Mania" were released. The first special was hosted by comedian Richard Kind, the next two were hosted by comedian D. L. Hughley, and the last special was hosted by TV personality Tom Bergeron, who later hosted Seasons 11-25. During Season 15, a special hosted by sportscaster Stuart Scott, "AFV: The Sports Edition," was released. The current host of AFV is actor Alfonso Ribeiro, whose tenure began in Season 26.
The Saget and Bergeron eras are regarded as the best of the show.
Premise
As implied by the title, each episode is a showcase of mostly unintentionally funny clips from home videos that are submitted to the show. Examples of these videos include people falling, sports bloopers, kids saying funny things, and pets being funny. However, some videos are intentionally funny, examples of such being practical jokes and creative marriage proposals. Production videos are also shown, mostly during the Saget era.
At the end of each episode, the studio audience votes for the funniest home video of the episode out of three recently submitted videos chosen by the producers, with the video submitters in the audience.
The submitters are awarded prize money (USD) depending on the amount of votes their videos receive:
- 1st Place: $10,000
- 2nd Place: $3,000
- 3rd Place: $2,000
The 1st Place winners then compete for a prize of $100,000 in a dedicated episode after each block of episodes. Beginning in Season 15, the $100,000 winners then compete for a grand prize in the season finale.
Why These Seasons Deserve $10,000
- The idea of a show dedicated to funny home videos is original.
- Speaking of which, many of the videos are hilarious, unintentionally or not.
- Bob Saget in Seasons 1-6 especially and Tom Bergeron are entertaining hosts and tell funny jokes while the clips play.
- The themes, "The Funny Things You Do" by Jill Colucci in Seasons 1-8a and an instrumental track that sounds similar to "The Impression That I Get" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones in the Fugelsang/Fuentes and Bergeron eras are memorable.
- The music montages are creative.
- Bergeron era only: The segments and games are also creative.
Bad Qualities
- Some of the home videos are not funny but rather bland, disgusting, inappropriate, or even disturbing to some viewers. Note that submitted videos involving serious injuries and animal cruelty are typically rejected.
- Some of the home videos may also appear to be staged, although those of such nature are typically rejected as well.
- Saget era only: Saget in Seasons 7 and 8 is not as entertaining as he was in Seasons 1-6. This is due to his boredom with the show's repetitive format.
- Season 8b only: Peter Hix and Terry Wood's rendition of the theme, "The Funny Things You Do" used in Season 8b is not as memorable as the original version by Colucci.
- Saget and Bergeron's jokes can occasionally be bland, and some viewers may find the commentary overall to be annoying.
- The amounts of prize money awarded to video submitters in the "funniest home video" contest at the end of the episode were never adjusted for inflation until Season 33.
Trivia
- To date:
- Submitters from all 50 United States, Washington, DC, and 9 Canadian provinces (all except for Prince Edward Island) have had a video nominated at least once.
- Bob Winston and the Davies Family are the only submitters who have had a video nominated in more than one episode. This has happened to the latter in both the Saget and Bergeron eras.
- Winston co-submitted "Jockey Bob" from Season 3, Episode 4 with Guy Guilbert, and "Funnel Kids" from Season 4, Episode 5 with Rosemarie Bulik. The Davies Family submitted "Boy Scares Sister" from Season 6, Episode 21, "Sister Pulls Pants" from Season 7, Episode 12, and "Strike While the Iron is Hot" from Season 11, Episode 5. "Strike While the Iron is Hot" was a third-place winner, "Funnel Kids" was a first-place winner, and the rest of the videos were second-place winners. "Jockey Bob" is the only production video, and its submitters submitted another production video, "Bungee Bob" from Season 4, Episode 15. However, it was not nominated.
- "'Last Time' Macarena Boy," featured in Season 8, Episode 11 is the only video from a music montage that has been nominated.
- Some of the production music used for the segments and music montages has been featured in "SpongeBob SquarePants." Both productions use the same library, APM Music.
Comments
Loading comments...