America's Funniest Home Videos


America's Funniest Home Videos, also called 'America's Funniest Videos, is an American video clip television series on ABC, based on the Japanese variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan. The show features humorous homemade videos that are submitted by viewers. The most common videos feature unintentional physical comedy, pets or children and some staged pranks.
Originally airing as a special in 1989, it later debuted as a regular weekly series in 1990. The show was hosted by comedian Bob Saget for the 1989 special and the first eight seasons of the series incarnation. After Saget's retirement from hosting in 1997, John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes later took over as co-host for its ninth and tenth seasons. After two years of being shown as occasional specials, hosted by various actors and comedians such as D.L. Hughley and Richard Kind, ABC brought the series back on Friday nights in 2001 with Tom Bergeron, who hosted the show for fifteen seasons. Alfonso Ribeiro took over as host in 2015 after Bergeron's retirement. On October 29, 2018, ABC renewed AFV for two more seasons, bringing to its 30th and 31st seasons. During the COVID-19 pandemic, host segments of episodes were filmed outside of the studio. These episodes featured quarantined individuals dealing with the lockdown and social distancing, and were called AFV@Home. The last episodes of the thirtieth season featured Ribeiro in an empty studio communicating via the large moniter.

Premise

AFV is based on the Tokyo Broadcasting System program 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; ABC, which owns half the program, pays a royalty fee to the Tokyo Broadcasting System for the use of the format. Contestants can submit their videos by uploading them on the show's official website, AFV.com, on the AFV applications for Android or iOS or on the AFV Official Facebook fan page, or by sending them via mail to a Hollywood, California post-office box address. The majority of the video clips are short and are mostly related to the host's monologues. Videos usually feature people and animals getting into humorous accidents caught on camera; while others include clever marriage proposals, people and animals displaying interesting talents, and practical jokes. A group of screeners view the submitted tapes, giving them a grade based on that particular tape's humor. The videos deemed the funniest by the screeners then go on to the show's producers and then is turned over to Di Bona and another producer for final approval. Home video material that involves staged accidents, or/and adults, children, or babies getting seriously injured or the abuse of animals, or overall does not meet ABC network standards and practices are generally not accepted and will not appear on the show. Every week, the producers choose three videos that the studio audience will vote on. The winner wins $10,000 and is in the running for the $100,000 prize at the end of a block of episodes, while the runner-up receives $3,000 and the third place video receives $2,000. The winners of the $100,000 prize then compete for a grand prize, supplied by Adventures by Disney. The program's studio segments are taped in front of a studio audience. Audience members are asked to dress in "business casual or nicer."
Show creator Vin Di Bona has produced two similar programs: America's Funniest People and World's Funniest Videos. Di Bona also created the syndicated series That's Funny, featuring home videos that were largely culled from those seen on AFHV and America's Funniest People: In 2019, Di Bona also created a spinoff Videos After Dark with more adult material. Several local television stations, even those not affiliated with ABC, also developed special funny home video segments in their newscasts during the early 1990s, inspired by the series. As noted in the closing credits of each episode, most of the videos have been edited for length due to time constraints. In addition, according to the contest plugs, family members of employees of Vin Di Bona Productions, ABC, Inc., its corporate parent The Walt Disney Company and their related subsidiaries are ineligible for the show's contests and prizes.

Series overview

History

1989–1997: Bob Saget

The show debuted on November 26, 1989 as an hour-long special, produced by Vin Di Bona and Steve Paskay, with actor/comedian Bob Saget as its host. Saget was assisted in hosting the special by actress Kellie Martin, then the star of fellow ABC series Life Goes On, a family drama which would serve as the lead-in program to AFHV for the latter show's first four seasons. Prior to the airing of the initial special, during the fall of 1989, Vin Di Bona Productions took out ads in national magazines asking people to send in their home videos featuring funny or amazing moments.
John Ritter was Vin Di Bona's first choice as host of the program, but was unavailable. Originally intended as a one-off special, it became an unexpected hit, causing ABC to place an episode order for the show turning it into a regular weekly half-hour primetime series; it made its debut as a regular series on January 14, 1990, with Saget hosting solo. Ernie Anderson, the announcer for several ABC advertisements and shows of the era, was the program's original announcer. He was replaced by radio and television actor Gary Owens in 1995, who stayed in that role until Saget left, but Anderson briefly returned shortly before his death in February 1997. Besides hosting the series, Saget also served as a member of its writing staff, alongside Todd Thicke and Bob Arnott. The success of AFHV led to a spinoff called America's Funniest People, hosted by Saget's Full House co-star Dave Coulier, focusing on videos featuring people intentionally trying to be funny by doing celebrity impressions, committing pranks, and performing short amateur comedy routines, among other things.
During the show's first four seasons, America's Funniest Home Videos aired on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time; beginning with the fifth season, the show started the Sunday primetime lineup on ABC, airing at 7:00 p.m., followed by America's Funniest People at 7:30 p.m. as part of an hour-long block of funny home videos. In season five, an animated sidekick was introduced named "Stretchy McGillicuddy", who was known for trying to tease Saget and doing other crazy things. In one episode, he was shown on the two large TV monitors on both sides of the set and Bob had to turn him off with a remote. Stretchy's catchphrase was: "Don't get a little touchy, Bob, I'm just a little stretchy!" The character was dropped from the show at the end of the seventh season.
In 1994, ABC canceled America's Funniest People after four seasons due to declining ratings and had to decide what to do with its Sunday night 7:30 p.m. timeslot. After trying out the short-lived sitcom On Our Own in the timeslot after AFHV during the 1994–95 season, ABC then later chose to expand America's Funniest Home Videos to one hour with back-to-back airings, with that week's new episode being shown in the first half-hour, followed by a repeat from a previous season to fill the remaining time.
On February 1, 1996, another spinoff of AFHV debuted called World's Funniest Videos, which was taped at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; this series was also hosted by Coulier, along with actress Eva LaRue. Paired with a weekly version of the popular Before They Were Stars specials on Thursday nights, World's Funniest Videos focused on funny and amazing home videos from around the world. However, due to low ratings, ABC put it on hiatus a few weeks after its debut, before cancelling the series outright after only one season and burning off the remaining episodes that summer. For Saget's final season on AFHV, two new episodes would be shown.
Numerous comedy skits were performed on the set during Saget's tenure as host. The set consisted of a living room design. The beginning of each episode was tied in with a skit just before the transition was made from the introduction to Saget. This usually consisted of several actors in a fake room pretending to get excited watching America's Funniest Home Videos, a technique that was scrapped at the end of the fifth season. Saget always ended each episode by saying "Keep those cameras safely rolling" and then saying something to his wife who was implied to be watching the show at home.
Saget himself soon grew tired of the repetitive format and was eager to pursue other projects as a comedian, actor and director. Producer Di Bona held him to his contract, resulting in a frustrated Saget listlessly going through the motions, constantly getting out of character and making pointed remarks on the air during his last two seasons. Saget's contract expired in May 1997 and he decided to leave the show afterward. However, according to Di Bona, the producers felt a change was needed for AFV as a result of ABC going through a change of leadership. His former Full House castmates were present in the episode prior to the $100,000 season finale, which was his final episode. Saget returned to America's Funniest Home Videos on three different occasions-- first, to co-host a 20th anniversary special edition episode alongside future host Tom Bergeron, which aired on November 29, 2009 ; a cameo appearance at the end of Bergeron's final episode on May 17, 2015, where he was driving a golf cart and to co-host a 30th anniversary special edition episode alongside Bergeron and future host Ribeiro, which aired on December 8, 2019.

1998–1999: John Fugelsang & Daisy Fuentes

After Saget's departure from the series, ABC sidelined America's Funniest Home Videos from the network's 1997–98 fall schedule, choosing to bring it back as a mid-season replacement for Timecop. The show began to be alternately called AFV at this point. The series returned for season nine on January 5, 1998, with new hosts, an overhauled look and a new rendition of the theme song, which remained in use with the guest hosts on the specials in 2000, with all episodes of Bergeron's run as host and was still heard on Ribeiro's audition tape as the new host of AFV in 2015. Comedian John Fugelsang and model-turned-television personality Daisy Fuentes took over as co-hosts of the show. Jess Harnell also succeeded Owens as the show's announcer and still holds this position to this day. They humorously narrated the clips they showed. With the Sunday night 7:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot occupied by Disney films aired as part of The Wonderful World of Disney, the show constantly changed timeslots, moving from Monday nights to Thursday nights to Saturday nights. The ratings for the show suffered during this period and both Fuentes and Fugelsang left the show after two seasons in 1999. Their last original new episode-- which aired on May 6-- was taped at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. Until "AFV: America... This Is You," showcasing footage from Fugelsang and Fuentes' tenure, as well as all of the other AFV hosts, the only honorable mention of Fugelsang, Fuentes and segments showcasing their run was the 2-part 300th episode AFV special in November 2003 during the early years of the Bergeron run, which also showcased Saget's run of episodes in select segments as well. While Fugelsang has not been seen in new recent never-before-seen footage on the road or in the studio on AFV since leaving the show in May 1999 after only two years co-hosting it together, Fuentes made a few brief cameo appearances in interview segments likely taking place at her house speaking on behalf of her and Fugelsang on the "AFV: America... This Is You" special.

1999–2000: Specials

In May 1999, ABC announced that it would discontinue America's Funniest Home Videos as a regular weekly series, but the show returned occasionally as a series of specials hosted by various ABC sitcom stars including The Hughleys star D.L. Hughley and Spin City co-star Richard Kind. The show moved to a much smaller soundstage and the set featured various video screens and monitors placed on shelves. A special sports version of the show called AFV: The Sports Edition, that was hosted by ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, was rebroadcast every New Year's Day and aired occasionally before NBA playoff games with a post 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time tip-off until 2008. A special entitled America's Funniest Home Videos: Deluxe Uncensored was hosted by Steve Carell and taped on the set used from the 1998–99 season. These specials were not taped in front of a live studio audience, with pre-recorded applause and laugh tracks were used during commercial bumpers and just before, during, and after video packages being used instead.

2001–2015: Tom Bergeron

In October 2000, ABC announced its decision to return America's Funniest Home Videos as a regular weekly series, ordering 13 new episodes. On July 20, 2001, the show returned in its third format, this time with Bergeron, who was also hosting Hollywood Squares at the time. The show was expanded to a single full hour-long episode, instead of two consecutive half-hour episodes, and was shown Friday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern; however, it went on hiatus for two months due in part to the September 11 attacks and also because of ABC airing specials and trying a new Friday night lineup, which was ultimately short-lived and the show returned to the schedule in December 2001. In his earlier episodes, Bergeron used the set from the AFV specials that aired in 2000, until the latter part of his first season, when a new set was introduced featuring a round video screen with several monitors. In September 2003, the show returned to its former Sunday 7:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot, still an hour long. Unlike Saget, who provided voice-overs to the clips, Bergeron humorously narrated them, though he did lend his voice to some clips from time to time. Changes of the set were replacement of the round video wall by a curved video wall, changing the color of the pillars to blue, addition of curved light borders hanging through the set, lights under the center with return of the letters "AFV."
Starting with the 2007–08 season, the series began allowing viewers to upload their funny home videos online at ABC.com, but has since the 2012–13 season; launched their own website that same year and has viewers upload their videos instead to AFV.com, in addition to sending their videos via standard mail. During the 2011–12 season, the AFV iOS app was released on the App Store, allowing users of Apple mobile devices to record and upload videos for submission to the show; a version of the app was released for Android devices the following season. In the final six seasons of Bergeron's run as host, the show started its "Funny Since 1989" campaign in 2009 and had two anniversary seasons. Season 20, in 2009, had a special 20th anniversary episode that aired on November 29, with Saget returning to AFV for the first time in 12 years as a guest. Both Saget and Bergeron ended that episode with a pinata party skit and a nod to the Star Wars lightsaber fight scenes when the credits started rolling. The pinatas resembled the looks of the two hosts. On March 7, 2014, Bergeron announced on his Twitter account that his tenure as host of AFV would end after season 25. AFV aired a 25th Anniversary Celebrity Celebration special in February 2015. Bergeron's final new episode from his in-studio stage home of 15 years aired on May 10, 2015 and was the final $100,000 show of his tenure and featured at different times of the episode a look back at classic and modern funny home videos that defined the show's then-25-year run. Bergeron's "real" final new episode aired on May 17, 2015, the season finale, ending his run as host after 15 seasons. The episode-- taped on-location at Disneyland for that season's edition of the annual "Grand Prize Spectacular," AFVs 25th anniversary and the Disneyland Resort's 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration that began on May 22, 2015 -- featured an auto-tuned montage of clips and outtakes from Bergeron's run as host and closed with him being escorted after walking off the outdoor stage near Sleeping Beauty Castle following the grand prize presentation on a golf cart driven by Saget in a special cameo appearance. Bergeron made his first guest appearance in the studio on the season 26 "Grand Prize Spectacular" finale of Ribiero's AFV on May 22, 2016 and played the show's final on-air audience participation game "Who Breaks It?" and won an Ribiero AFV pillow and socks. Bergeron made his second AFV guest appearance alongside Ribiero, Saget and Fuentes for an AFV 30th anniversary special called "AFV: America...This Is You" on Sunday, December 8, 2019 to celebrate AFVs 30th anniversary.

2015–present: Alfonso Ribeiro

On May 19, 2015, two days after Bergeron's final episode aired, ABC announced that Ribeiro would take over as host of AFV beginning with the season 26 premiere on October 11, 2015. Bergeron formally introduced Ribeiro's new role as host during the latter's guest performance on the season 20 finale of Dancing with the Stars. Before becoming the current host of the show, Ribeiro made his only guest appearance in the studio on a season 25 episode of AFV playing one of the show's audience participation games with then-host Bergeron called "Who's Makin' That Racket?". While some of the Bergeron-era clip segments, the in-studio audience and background parts of the Bergeron-era set props remained intact and/or continued to air for all five years of Ribiero's tenure as host, the stage featured a metal floor layout and stairway connected to a cube screen put together like a puzzle using smaller sized flat-panel TV screens and new segments continued to be added and aired on the show. The show also introduced the Squares-era with Ribiero's entrance as host in 2015. Additional set props like the arrow screens with flat-panel monitors on them and light-up color-changing versions of the tables where some of the studio audience sit when not in the bleacher areas made their debut to the AFV set starting in 2019. Ribeiro also humorously narrates the clip, much like his predecessor, though he makes extensive use of rhyming in his speeches.
In May 2017, ABC renewed AFV for a 28th season and, in June 2017, started airing summer reruns of current season episodes of AFV on Saturday nights at 8/7 central and Sunday nights at 7/6 central. For the start of the season on October 8, 2017, instead of leading off Sunday nights, it aired Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT and was led into at the start of the season by The Toy Box. During some parts of the holiday season starting on November 26, 2017 and remaining that way for almost the first two months of 2018 through January 21, 2018, AFV aired in a 'repeat/new episode' scheduling format. AFV returned with new episodes in the 7/6 central time slot due to holiday movie presentations and specials airing on ABC on Sunday nights at 8/7 central during the holiday season on December 10, 2017, and then permanently starting on February 11, 2018. ABC repeated the 'repeat/new episode' scheduling format for AFV on January 6, 2019, with new episodes returning to the 7/6 central time slot on March 3, 2019, when American Idol premieres with AFV likely to be pre-empted in some time zones when American Idol airs the live finale episodes in May 2019. ABC renewed AFV for a 29th season on March 13, 2018, which premiered at its regular 7/6 central Sunday night timeslot on September 30, 2018.
On Sunday, December 8th, 2019, at 8:00pm local times, AFV: America, This is You! aired, a 30th anniversary special episode, with Ribeiro joined by Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron.
On Sunday, May 17th, 2020, at 7:00pm local times, AFV@Home aired, a quarantine themed special, with videos impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home quarantine isolation and socially distanced videos. The on-set segment was replaced by filming at Ribeiro's house.

$100,000 contest

After every half of the season, the $10,000 winners from the preceding episodes are brought back to participate in a contest to win an additional $100,000. Two $100,000 contests air each season, though only one aired in the first season.

Voting

  1. The Los Angeles studio audience votes to determine the winner.
  2. Viewers log onto the show's website to cast their votes.
  3. The show declares the winner by going to the Disney Parks and asking park-goers, as well inviting characters like Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, to determine the $100,000 winning clip.

    Other contests

Season averages

America's Funniest Home Videos became an instant hit with audiences, with the original special in November 1989 averaging a 17.7 rating and 25 share, finishing at ninth place in the Nielsen ratings that week. When it debuted as a weekly Sunday night series in January 1990, the show averaged an 18.0 rating/27 share, finishing at 16th place. It placed within Nielsen's Top 5 highest-rated weekly series within weeks of its debut; by March 1990, AFHV became the #1 primetime series for a short time, causing CBS' 60 Minutes to be unseated for the top spot in the Nielsen ratings for the first time in 12 years. Indeed, there was at least one week in 1990 when America's Funniest Home Videos, when put in the same time slot as 60 Minutes, actually beat 60 Minutes for a win in the time slot. AFHV finished the 1989–90 season in the Top 10 most watched shows, with an approximate average of 38 million viewers for each episode. AFHV finished the 2009–10 season in 55th place, with an approximate average of 7.52 million viewers and finished in 69th in viewers 18–49, with 2.0/6. In 2016, a study by The New York Times of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "if you could pick a safe show that appeals to almost everyone, this might be it".

Broadcast Format

Beginning with the show's 21st-season premiere on October 3, 2010, America's Funniest Home Videos began broadcasting in high definition. Many viewer-submitted videos were recorded in standard definition and were subsequently stretched horizontally to fit screens. Since the 2012–13 season, videos recorded in 4:3 standard definitions are instead reformatted by pillarboxed. This continued to be the case for videos recorded on mobile devices recorded at a vertical angle, which would not entirely fit the 4:3 safe area of many television sets. Since the conversion to HD, the series features advisories to viewers to tilt their mobile devices horizontally when recording in order for clip submissions to fit 16:9 screens without reformatting.
In 2014, all episodes of the show originally produced in the standard definition were reformatted for widescreen and high definition broadcast compatibility.  Video clips recorded in standard definition and airing since the show began broadcasting in high definition are also reformatted for widescreen compatibility.

Syndication

All episodes of AFV are currently in syndication. Repeats of the show aired on TBS from October 2, 1995-1998, USA Network from 1998-2001, and the Hallmark Channel from August 5, 2001-2003. Until 2001, the Saget version was syndicated by 20th Television, who assumed syndication rights from their purchase of MTM Enterprises, which had syndicated the show from 1995-1998.
Currently, Disney-ABC Domestic Television distributes all versions of the series. However, the episodes from the first five seasons are aired only in off-network syndication, including PAX TV every Monday through Thursday night from 2003–2005, and Nick at Nite for a short time from April to October 2007. Also, when Nick at Nite began airing the early Saget episodes the first week the show aired, every $100,000 Grand Prize show was aired to commemorate the show joining Nick at Nite.
The Bob Saget episodes from Seasons 6-8 aired on ABC Family from January 2005 to October 2007, usually on Tuesday through Saturday mornings, and occasionally on Sunday nights if a movie was not shown on ABC Family. The Tom Bergeron episodes began airing on ABC Family on October 1, 2007, and are shown usually 4–6 nights a week, depending upon other ABC Family programming. Also, the Tom Bergeron episodes and the Daisy Fuentes/John Fugelsang episodes have all aired on WGN America, and still air to this very day, although WGN America mostly shows the Tom Bergeron episodes up to 2009, which air weekdays at 7pm, with a 3 hour block shown on Monday nights.
All America's Funniest Home Videos episodes in season 12-23 are available on Disney+.

Merchandise

VHS/DVD

ABC, Shout! Factory, and Slingshot Entertainment have released numerous compilation releases of America's Funniest Home Videos on VHS and DVD in Region 1.
TitleRelease dateStudio
The Best of America's Funniest Home VideosJune 27, 1991ABC Home Video
CBS-Fox Video
America's Funniest Pets1992ABC Home Video
CBS-Fox Video
America's Funniest Families1992ABC Home Video
CBS-Fox Video
America's Funniest Home Videos: Animal AnticsOctober 12, 1999Slingshot Entertainment
America's Funniest Home Videos: Deluxe UncensoredJune 6, 2000Slingshot Entertainment
America's Funniest Home Videos: Family FolliesJune 6, 2000Slingshot Entertainment
America's Funniest Home Videos: Volume 1 with Tom BegeronJuly 26, 2005Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Home for the HolidaysOctober 4, 2005Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: The Best of Kids and AnimalsDecember 27, 2005Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Nincompoops & BoneheadsJune 13, 2006Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Athletic SupportersAugust 1, 2006Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Battle of the BestSeptember 12, 2006Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Sports SpectacularSeptember 12, 2006Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Love and MarriageSeptember 12, 2006Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Salute to RomanceJanuary 9, 2007Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Motherhood MadnessApril 17, 2007Shout! Factory
America's Funniest Home Videos: Guide to ParentingJuly 17, 2007Shout! Factory

Games

released a board game in 1990. Graphix Zone released a hybrid CD-ROM titled America's Funniest Home Videos: Lights! Camera! InterAction! in 1995. Imagination Games released a DVD game in 2007.

Toys

An America's Funniest Home Videos micro movie viewer was released in 1990.