America's Funniest Home Videos

America's Funniest Home Videos has a perfectly ironic title. See, you tune in expecting comedy, and walk away gagging yourself with a pointy stick. It's patently ridiculous how unfunny the original series was, and yet it drew millions of viewers each week. And I ask every single one of those people, "WHY?" Bob Saget has to be the dorkiest man on the face of this planet, and yet people would laugh hysterically at all of his inane, obvious jokes. South Park definitely pinned him and this show down in one of their best episodes, bashing every element from Bob's cornball one-liners to the audience's rib busting reactions. I just don't know how people could watch footage of a man getting gruesomely injured by a household appliance/hyperactive child with a plastic bat/wooden plank and be amused to the point of joyful tears. And don't even mention the new incarnations of AFHV. The guy who hosts this version (who I'm pretty sure hosts the God-awful Hollywood Squares at the same time), is even more comedically challenged then Bob. Who writes his jokes, anyway, deranged orangutangs with a grudge against the sane portion of humanity??? And I'm sorry, but it's obvious that some of these videos, if not all of them, are staged. That leads me to this query: "How desperate for money do you have to be to set-up an insanely painful 'accident' for yourself or your family members and then videotape it for millions to see?" NO ONE should be rewarded for catching their idiot husband/wife/crazy drunk uncle getting their groins whacked or hit by a car. It's not funny. Period! These people should just be smacked, in my opinion. Cancel this show immediately, please, because it's definitely worn out it's welcome. .5/4 stars

This was TV's first true "reality show," and boy, was it a doozy! It must have been a revolutionary concept at the time; but now, twelve years later, it's become lodged in our cultural consciousness.

But enough content analysis. This show was great! Where else could people win thousands of dollars for sharing their embarrassing moments with the entire country? And host Bob Saget was the icing on the cake. The video clips just wouldn't have been as funny without his zany voiceovers, in which he imitated everybody from Jerry Lewis to Sylvester Stallone. We usually saw him as "straight man" Danny Tanner on "Full House," so it was cool to see him be goofy for a change.

Many people have condemned this show for being mean-spirited and exploitative. That is a very unfair accusation. Obviously the producers at ABC got permission to use the tapes sent in by the people in them, and you could tell from the audience's reaction that it was always in good fun. And if you can't laugh at yourself getting whacked in the crotch by a golf club, how are you supposed to laugh at the antics of the Three Stooges or Itchy and Scratchy?

Kudos to this show, which proved once and for all that real life could be more hilarious than any Hollywood comedy. I just wish that Bob hadn't turned the reins over to Daisy Fuentes and John Fugelsang.

It has definitely declined from host to host. I believe Tom Bergeron and Bob Saget were iconic compared to having Carlton host.

The humor just seems more forced from the host and it's always the same acts that win.

America conflates cute with funny. Submit a cute baby video and you could win big.

The most funny acts hardly ever win or make it to the finals.

Eventually, I lost interest in viewing regularly for this reason....

It's a classic for it's earlier years, but I'd only recommend viewing if you have absolutely nothing else to watch

6/10- Michael I.

If you're wondering which show started off the video clip format, it's definitely this show!

It first started off as a one-off special in 1989 on ABC, with the late Bob Saget, who was already known for playing clean freak Danny Tanner on Full House. The special was highly rated that it became a weekly series a few months later in January 1990. Saget hosted the show until he left in 1997, 2 years after Full House was cancelled by ABC.

The show did return in a slightly new format with dual hosts: John Fugelsang & Daisy Fuentes. They hosted from 1998 until 1999, when left after 2 seasons.

AFV would be reduced to occasional specials until 2001, when it returned to a weekly series with a new permanent host. Tom Bergeron (the first era of AFV I was exposed to), known for hosting Hollywood Squares in syndication at the time before hosting Dancing with the Stars from its inaugural season 'til Season 29, is currently the longest-tenured host of AFV, hosting for 14 years until he left at the end of the show's 25th season.

Currently, as of Season 26, Alfonso Ribeiro is the host.

Your milage may vary on your favorite era of the show, but one thing remained the same, and that's the home videos (for the most part). So, congratulations AFV, and keep on laughing!

I used to like watching this show, when I was a mindless little tyke. Now that I am much older, I caught this on a TV rerun and thought to myself, "Is this supposed to be funny?". The videos that were sent in were funny, although much of them look as if they were staged. What made them unfunny and unentertaining was the gratuitous use of Bob Saget's voiceovers and music. I had to mute the TV to find the videos funny. My brothers and sisters never liked the show. Now that I am old enough, it's hard not to see why.