Last month, Vin Di Bona was at a car show when he struck up a conversation with a fellow gearhead. When Di Bona mentioned that he was the producer behind “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” the 40-something man exclaimed, “My kid and I watch that show all the time!” — and then proceeded to sing the familiar theme. When “ AFV ” launched 35 years ago, that man would have been in elementary school.
Di Bona, who has watched his series now span multiple generations, never gets tired hearing about its impact. “We see it in the studio,” he says. “I can’t tell you how many times someone will say, ‘I watched this with my parents.
’” “AFV” launched as a special in 1989 on a bit of a lark: As video cameras had finally reached critical mass in American homes, the idea was that there must be enough hilarious footage out there to create a one-time clip show. “It was a brand-new experiment,” says Di Bona, who had been a documentarian before turning a Japanese format into “AFV.” Initially, they received about 1,800 tapes.
With the idea that if one out of 100 had a usable clip, there was enough for a show. The reviews weren’t great, but the special was a hit. ABC bosses Bob Iger and Ted Harbert immediately asked Di Bona to produce 11 more episodes.
He said yes in a panic — but then the tapes started pouring in. Soon they’d get 38 mailbags a week. “The Hollywood post office had to put on two or three extra people to handle our mail.
We had three s.