America's Funniest Home Videos

[stevearino]

Dear Brian Ward,

I have a proposal for SHOUT! Factory: In Loving Memory of Bob Saget (who died at age 65 on January 9), it's my Humble Suggestion that SHOUT! Factory issue, for the first time EVER on DVD, "America's Funniest Home Videos: The Complete First Season," showcasing all 16 episodes (including the Hour-Long 1989 Pilot and the 1-Hour 1990 1st-Season Finale) of the hit TV Game Show "America's Funniest Home Videos" 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, AND 100% Unedited, just the way each episode originally aired on the ABC Television Network.

In case you've forgotten, here's the Inside Information from a life-long avid viewer.

The year is 1988. George "Daddy" Bush, age 64, is U.S. President-Elect; the War in the Gulf is in full effect; and rookie TV producer Vin Di Bona (a former staff writer for "MacGyver" and showrunner for "Entertainment Tonight"), whose Saturday-morning Game Show "Animal Crack-Ups" (Hosted by Alan Thicke) is on its way off the air, is on vacation in Tokyo, Japan.

During the vacation (where he was on vacation with then-wife Gina), Vin caught a glimpse of a Japanese variety show titled "Fun with Kato and Ken," a segment of which had ordinary Japanese citizens competing for the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. American Dollar.

Upon his return to his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, California (via Cranston, Rhode Island), where he was born on April 10, 1944, Vin decided to turn what he saw in Japan into a Prime-Time TV Game Show, eventually naming the show "America's Funniest Home Videos" and soon afterwards hiring Bob Saget (born on May 17, 1956 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), then appearing as an actor on TV's "Full House," to host the Series' Pilot.

The Hour-Long Pilot was taped in Summer 1989 at Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles and subsequently telecast on November 26, 1989 at 8 P.M. ET on ABC; 7 weeks later, on January 14, 1990, "America's Funniest Home Videos" began airing weekly every Sunday night at 8 P.M. ET on ABC in a Game Show format remaining unchanged throughout its long run.

3 Contestants per show compete against each other for a weekly Grand Prize of $10,000 by submitting and sending in their Funniest Moments caught on film; in addition, during the first 2 seasons, the 2nd and 3rd place winners won, respectively, an RCA TV Set and RCA Video Camera (later amended in Season 2 to the 2nd and 3rd place winners earning the RCA TV Set and the weekly $10,000 Grand Prize winners earning the RCA Video Camera prize).

In addition, the weekly $10,000 Grand Prize winners compete against each other for an additional $100,000 Grand Prize Game every November, February & May, respectively.

By March 1990, after becoming such a surprise hit, Vin Di Bona realized that MANY of the tapes sent in were Set-Up Clips as opposed to being spontaneous and unrehearsed.

This led to Vin quickly creating a Spin-Off Game Show called "America's Funniest People," hiring Bob's fellow "Full House" star Dave Coulier (born on September 21, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan) to host the Pilot, which subsequently aired on May 13, 1990 at 8 P.M. ET after "Videos."

"America's Funniest People" began airing weekly on September 16, 1990 at 8 P.M. ET after "America's Funniest Home Videos," with Dave Coulier paired with actress Arleen Sorkin (TV's "Days of Our Lives") in the role of host, with the show as part of an ABC "America's Funniest Hour" every Sunday night; whereas on its parent show the clips were filmed by amateurs and in most cases NOT staged, on "America's Funniest People," sequences were deliberately staged with ordinary Americans performing stunts and gags for the camera.

The same prize structure for potential contestants on both shows were used, with $10,000 for 1st place, $3,000 for 2nd place, and $2,000 for 3rd place, respectively; likewise, both shows were taped at ABC Television Center in Los Angeles until "America's Funniest People" moved permanently for Season 3 to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, with Arleen Sorkin being fired by Vin Di Bona and replaced by actress and former MTV Video Vixen Tawny Kitaen.

After its 18-show 3rd season, "America's Funniest People," along with "America's Funniest Home Videos," moved permanently to Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles, home of many other Game Shows at the time including "Jeopardy!" and "Shop 'Till You Drop."

By then, ratings for "America's Funniest People" were declining rapidly, and in May 1994, ABC cancelled the series, with its unannounced Series Finale telecast on June 5, 1994.

Meanwhile, "America's Funniest Home Videos" soldiered on--for a while, anyway: in May 1997, after 8 seasons, Bob Saget voluntarily stepped down as host of the show, and in January 1998, at the start of Season 9, he was replaced by former MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes (paired with stand-up comic John Fugelsang); by this time, however, ratings for "America's Funniest Home Videos" were also declining, and in May 1999, after 10 seasons (including 4 different time changes during Seasons 9 and 10, including Monday nights, Thursday nights and Saturday nights, respectively), ABC cancelled "America's Funniest Home Videos" due to low ratings.

Its unannounced series finale, Videotaped on location at House of Blues in Los Angeles, was telecast on August 28, 1999 (on Saturday night) at 8 P.M. ET on ABC.

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 pulling double Game Show-duty as "Hollywood Squares" host, later hosting the Reality Competition series "Dancing With the Stars" for 29 seasons in 15 years until being Fired) as sole permanent host; after initially airing Friday nights at 8 P.M. ET just prior to the 9/11 terror attacks, "America's Funniest Home Videos" moved permanently to Sunday nights at 7 P.M. ET in September 2003.

In March 2014, Tom Bergeron announced that after 15 years, 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 Bergeron announced that his successor as "America's Funniest Home Videos" host was Alfonso Ribeiro.

Alfonso began his stint as host of "America's Funniest Home Videos" on October 11, 2015 at 7 P.M. ET on ABC--a job he STILL maintains today as he prepares for his 8th season in that role; also, after 2 1/2 years, since COVID-19 hit America, the series will have a LIVE Studio Audience for the first time in 2 1/2 years--AND in addition, the weekly winners will NOW compete, starting October 2, for double the money: $20,000 for 1st place, $6,000 for 2nd place, and $4,000 for 3rd place, with the $100,000 Grand Prize competition remaining unchanged.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" is produced by ABC Entertainment (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company since 1995) in association with Vin Di Bona Productions.

"America's Funniest Home Videos" is Distributed by Disney Platform Distribution.

Sincerely,
Steve Arino