 When I was growing up, Sunday night TV-watching was a family activity. In the 80's, we'd sit around the ol' tube, watching "The Magical World Of Disney," and be treated to G-rated Disney fare. In the mid-90's, Sunday nights were devoted to Lois & Clark. But from 1990 to 1993, Sunday night was reserved for one show: America's Funniest Home Videos. I loved watching the videos. We didn't have a video camera at the time, but I longed for one. I loved the idea of being on TV. And winning money, too. But mostly just being on TV. So we'd turn on ABC at 8 o'clock on Sunday nights and proceed to watch for the next hour. During the commercial breaks, we'd grab snacks. The hilarity of the videos themselves can be debated. People fell down. Heavy people broke fragile furniture. Stupid-in-the-first place stunts went awry. It was sophomoric humor to be sure, but hey, I was 10. It worked. There were some genuine videos, too -- videos you knew weren't staged or just out for cheap laughs. One that sticks out in my mind is the clip of a one-year-old kid toddling through a garden. All of a sudden a cat springs out of the bushes, pounces on the kid, and knocks him down. Come to think of it, I often enjoyed the funny cat videos. Toward the end of the show each week, Bob Saget would announce the three finalists of the evening. Typically, these were not the funniest clips we'd seen that night (at least not to me), but for some reason, the producers thought they were award-worthy. The audience would then vote with little electronic votermabobs, and afterwards Bob would announce the 2nd place winner ($3000!) Drumroll, please? AND THE WINNER IS... (Insert name of Video here) SENT IN BY THE (insert last name here) FAMILY, FROM (family's city and state)!!! Bob Saget always sounded so excited when he announced the $10,000 winner. Meanwhile, the third place winners, who knew they were third place by default, hung their heads in shame. (Or at least they probably did. Unless they were totally just thrilled to be on TV... hmmm, can't blame them there!) From the catchy theme song (Oh the funniest things you do / America, America, this is you!") to the perky host (gotta love TV's Danny Tanner) to the pure wackiness of the home movies -- this was once a very entertaining show. And now I have nothing to watch on Sunday nights anymore. Nothing. Return to the My TV Top 40 12/17/2008 (c)2008 AlligatorJuice.com  |
