Bob Sagay
What ever happened to predictability?
The milkman, the paperboy, evening TV.
Everywhere you look , everywhere you go (there's a heart).
There's a heart
A hand to hold onto.
Everywhere you look , everywhere you go.
There's a face
Of somebody who needs you.
Everywhere you look,
When you're lost out there and you're all alone,
A light is waiting to carry you home,
Everywhere you look.
Everywhere you look
A peculiar variant of
reality-based television programming, America's Funniest Home Videos (AHFV),
first aired as a Thanksgiving special in 1989, and later debuted on 14 January
1990 as a regular series on ABC. The show still maintains respectable ratings in
its sixth season and is due for syndication in 1995 by MTM Television
Distribution. The program's simple premise--to solicit and exhibit a series of
humorous video clips shot by amateurs who compete for cash prizes--has had a
surprisingly enduring run in its half-hour slot at 7:00 P.M. in the Sunday night
schedule.
Rooted generally in the sub-genre of its comical, voyeuristic predecessors, such
as Candid Camera, TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, and Life's Most
Embarrassing Moments, AFHV more particularly owes its genesis to a weekly
variety show produced by the Tokyo Broadcasting Company, Fun with Ken and Kato
Chan, which featured a segment in which viewers were invited to mail in their
home video clips. Vin Di Bona, who had earlier success with other TBC
properties, eventually purchased U.S. rights to the Japanese concept. As
executive producer, Di Bona expanded the segment into a half-hour hybrid of home
video, variety show, stand up comedy, and audience participation synthesized to
fit the ABC profile of family viewing.
Although indebted to a prevalence of reality-based programs when it debuted,
AFHV had a far greater and more immediate impact on weekly ratings than any of
its predecessors or imitators. Cracking the Nielsen Top 5 after only six
episodes, by March of 1990 it had become the number one ranked series,
temporarily unseating CBS's 60 Minutes, a feat no other ABC program had been
able to achieve in twelve years. Since then, it has regularly won its time
period among children, teenagers, and women and men ages 18 to 34.
At the series' peak of popularity, producers reported receiving close to 2,000
video submissions a day. These tapes, eventually sorted out by screeners for
broadcast approval, must meet criteria that render them suitable for family
audiences. First and foremost, qualifying videos should portray funny, amazing,
or unexpected events in everyday life, such as animal antics, blunders at
birthday parties, bloopers during wedding ceremonies, and fouled plays at
sporting events. Because the series emphasizes the supposed universality and
spontaneity of slapstick humor, tapes that depict extreme violence, offensive
conduct, and serious physical injury, or that encourage imitative behavior, are
strictly forbidden. Deliberately staged videos, such as parodies of
advertisements or lip-synching of popular songs, may be accepted, but in general
events rigged to look accidental or spontaneous are disqualified (or were
reserved for Di Bona's follow-up program, America's Funniest People, now
defunct, but created especially to accommodate staged video performances).
Once a clip is approved, its creators and performers must sign releases for
broadcast authorization. Then follows a process during which clips are adjusted
for uniform quality and matched in terms of production values; are embellished
with sound effects and wisecracking voice-overs by host Bob Saget; are organized
as a montage related to a loose theme (e.g. dogs, talent shows, skiing); and
finally, are nestled into the format of the program. Each episode is first taped
before a live studio audience, during which the clips are broadcast upon studio
monitors so that the series' producers can gauge audience reaction. After
subsequent reviews of the taping, producers pass on their recommendations to the
staff, who edit out the less successful moments before the program is broadcast
nationwide. Although labor-intensive, this method of television production is a
relative bargain, costing less per episode than the average sitcom, and of
course was soon imitated (for example, by Fox's Totally Hidden Video).
Television critics have been somewhat puzzled by the continued success of AFHV,
many having panned the series as yet another illustration of the American
public's increasing willingness to broadcast their most private and embarrassing
moments. Several hypotheses for the series' popularity have been cited: the urge
of the viewing public to get on television in order to secure their fifteen
minutes of fame; the possibility of winning a $10,000 cash prize; the all
expenses paid weekend trip to Hollywood to attend studio tapings; the charisma
of host Bob Saget, the first performer since Arthur Godfrey to star in two
concurrent, high-rated series (the other being Full House); the universal
identification with everyday life fundamental to home movies and home video; and
the sheer fun of producing television about and for oneself. The series'
producers, however, cite the program's humor as the key to its success. Taking
the "Bullwinkle approach" that provokes different kinds of laughter
from both children and their parents, AFHV not only seeks to attract a wide
demographic, but self-consciously mocks itself as insignificant, harmless fun.
Despite its overt lack of pretension, AFHV remains significant on several
accounts, especially its international origins and appeal. Banking upon the
perceived cross-cultural universality of home video productions, Di Bona had
conceived of the series as international from its inception. AFHV can be seen in
at least 70 countries and in more than a dozen languages (it is rumored to be
the favorite show of the Sultan of Brunei). Di Bona has subsequently sold the
format rights to producers in other nations, at least 16 of which have created
their own versions, while others merely replace Saget with indigenous hosts.
Most international affiliates also have clip trade agreements; AFHV itself
liberally blends domestic and imported clips (blurring the title's emphasis on
"America" and pointing to television's partnership in global
capitalism).
Special Thanks to:
AND
yokomolotov 2006
