History YMMV / AmericasFunniestHomeVideos

* BrokenBase: Who was the better host? Creator/BobSaget? Tom Bergeron? Or Alfonso Ribeiro? All anyone can agree on is that Fuentes and Fugelsang [[DorkAge were the worst.]]

** Even well into the Burgeron era, there was a ''lot'' of potshots taken at people with weight on them. Jokes about needing a salad, cruelty towards animals if they were about to ride one in the clip, and other such snark that was common in the [=90s=] to [=mid-2000s=] were common.
** One particular clip from the Burgeron era that somehow was allowed to air featured someone dressed up in a costume that was an offensive caricature of a black man from the [=70s=]. (Enormous afro, short stature, facial features construed big toothy grin)

* AccidentalNightmareFuel: Reportedly, despite their popularity with older audiences, the "Tom's Home Videos" segments ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuNbuSW3FCg videos presented as Tom Bergeron's home videos]] that featured Tom's oversized head (aka [[FanNickname Bobble-Head Tom]]) superimposed over those of people in the clips) creeped out small children and partially contributed to the segments getting slowly phased out as Tom's run continued.

* NightmareFuel: Often times, there would be a silly compilation of people reacting to Screamer Pranks such as the Scary Maze Game and K-Fee Commercials. One episode featured a compilation of reactions to 2001 flash screamer What's Wrong. This episode also features the What's Wrong video being shown to the viewers first (albeit with Bergeron's normally humorous narration), which seems a bit off for the show.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The general opinion of the Fuentes/Fugelsang era.

** One $10,000 winner featured a decapitated fish head on a plate in a sushi restaurant. ''It was still moving.''

* NightmareFuel:
** Often times, there would be a silly compilation of people reacting to Screamer Pranks such as the Scary Maze Game and K-Fee Commercials. One episode featured a compilation of reactions to 2001 flash screamer What's Wrong. This episode also features the What's Wrong video being shown to the viewers first (albeit with Bergeron's normally humorous narration), which seems a bit off for the show.
** Reportedly, despite their popularity with older audiences, the "Tom's Home Videos" segments ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuNbuSW3FCg videos presented as Tom Bergeron's home videos]] that featured Tom's oversized head (aka [[FanNickname Bobble-Head Tom]]) superimposed over those of people in the clips) were of the [[AccidentalNightmareFuel accidental]] variety to some small children and partially contributed to the segments getting slowly phased out as Tom's run continued.

** Reportedly, despite their popularity with older audiences, the "Tom's Home Videos" segments ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuNbuSW3FCg videos presented as Tom Bergeron's home videos]] that featured Tom's oversized head (aka [[FanNickname Bobble-Head Tom]]) superimposed over those of people in the clips) were of the [[AccidentalNightmareFuel accidental]] variety to some small children and partially contributed to the segments getting slowly phased out into Tom's run as host.

** Reportedly, despite their popularity with older audiences, the "Tom's Home Videos" segments ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuNbuSW3FCg videos presented as Tom Bergeron's home videos]] that featured Tom's oversized head (aka [[FanNickname Bobble-Head Tom]]) superimposed over those of people in the clips) were of the [[AccidentalNightmareFuel accidental]] variety to some small children and partially contributed to the segments getting quietly retired later on into Tom's run as host.

* SeasonalRot: The Fuentes/Fugelsang era is often considered the show's nadir, and rarely sees reruns. On the other hand, the Bergeron era is often considered at least as good as, [[GrowingTheBeard if not better than]], the original Saget episodes. Alfonso Ribeiro received a mixed reception in his first season, but by Season 29, he became well-liked too.

* NightmareFuel: The Vin Di Bona Productions VanityPlate at the end of the show, up until 2008, had a synth jingle that ''tried'' to sound cheerful but ended up sounding creepy. It was thankfully redone in 2008; some may find it a bit creepy, referring to the low pitched version, but it's far tamer to its previous counterpart.

* NightmareFuel: The Vin Di Bona Productions VanityPlate at the end of the show, up until 2008, had a synth jingle that ''tried'' to sound cheerful but ended up sounding creepy. It was thankfully redone in 2008; some may find it a bit creepy, referring to the low pitched version, but it's far tamer to it's previous counterpart.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Arguably reversed -- the Fuentes/Fugelsang DorkAge was ''also'' the era when Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' veterans Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis Weinstein joined the writing staff. The host banter and especially the video commentary was gradually revamped into more dryly observant and funny quips compared to those of Saget's era. Beaulieu and Weinstein stayed with the show through Bergeron's first few seasons, which jettisoned the elements that hadn't worked in the Dork Age and set a house style that persists to this day.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Occasionally the host segments will feature some odd goings-on that seem to go unnoticed (beyond a few observant or curious studio audience members). For example, in the opener for Season 30, at one point Alfonso is sitting next to an audience member who, for unexplained reasons, has a [[Franchise/StarWars Salacious B. Crumb]] puppet on his shoulder. Alfonso doesn't seem to even notice the puppet [[DoubleTake until just before the next montage starts]], and afterwards the puppet is not seen or acknowledged again. The montage wasn't even about "when you see it" moments, either.

* EarWorm:
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEuRWLgWMjo original theme]], "The Funny Things You Do", co-written and sung by Jill Colucci.
** The music cue played while the studio audience voted for their favorite of the the three finalist videos before the last commercial break was pretty catchy, too.
** The StupidStatementDanceMix using Tom's most famous lines from the show as a send off to him was also surprisingly catchy too, despite being able to hear the auto tune.

* CreatorsPet: "'Cute' Kid" videos generally tend to be this. They're almost guaranteed to take home the first place prize in every episode one appears in, despite most of the at home audience being very vocal about disliking them. Most of them aren't even all that funny, to begin with. The worst example has to be the clip 'the crying game' which features a kid throwing a tantrum and following the camera around and immediately throwing the tantrum again once he's back on camera for attention. Despite most of the home audience loathing this video for [[BrattyHalfpint reasons you'd expect]], it ultimately ended up winning a season finale grand prize. Maybe the studio audience just felt bad for the kids parents...

** The music bed plaed while Ernie Anderson announced the three finalist videos before the last commercial break was pretty catchy, too.

* CreatorsPet: "'Cute' Kid" videos generally tend to be this. They're almost guaranteed to take home the first place prize in every episode one appears in, despite most of the at home audience being very vocal about disliking them. Most of them aren't even all that funny, to begin with. The worst example has to be the clip 'the crying game' which features a kid throwing a tantrum and following the camera around and immediately throwing the tantrum again once he's back on camera for attention. Despite most of the home audience loathing this video for [[MostAnnoyingSound reasons]] [[BrattyHalfpint you'd expect]], it ultimately ended up winning a season finale grand prize. Maybe the studio audience just felt bad for the kids parents...

* ReplacementScrappy and SeasonalRot: The Fuentes/Fugelsang era is often considered the show's nadir, and rarely sees reruns. On the other hand, the Bergeron era is often considered at least as good as, [[GrowingTheBeard if not better than]], the original Saget episodes. Alfonso Ribeiro received a mixed reception in his first season, but by Season 29, he became well-liked too.

* ReplacementScrappy and SeasonalRot: The Fuentes/Fugelsang era is often considered the show's nadir, and rarely sees reruns. On the other hand, the Bergeron era is often considered at least as good as, [[GrowingTheBeard if not better than]], the original Saget episodes. Alfonso Rebeiro has recieved a mixed reception.

** The Bergeron Era (mostly), consisted compilations of videos that featured an individual or more being victim to Screamer Pranks. The Screamer Itself is horrifying, a pale woman with no eyeballs, screaming, which probably scared many kids or at least given a minor scare, despite it's mostly just seen in computer screens. It's also reminiscent of The Maze by Jeremy Winterrowd, or the Scary Maze Game, which is what those videos were trying to replicate (they were mostly Maze reactions), but instead of using the possessed Regan MacNeil from The Exorcist, it used that other aforementioned screamer, which makes it even worse.

** The Bergeron Era (mostly), consisted compilations of videos that featured an individual or more being victim to Screamer Pranks. The Screamer Itself is horrifying, a pale woman with no eyeballs, screaming, which probably scared many kids or at least given a minor scare, despite it's mostly just seen in computer screens.
** It's also reminiscent of The Maze by Jeremy Winterrowd, or the Scary Maze Game, which is what those videos were trying to replicate (they were mostly Maze reactions), but instead of using the possessed Regan MacNeil from The Exorcist, it used that other aforementioned screamer, which makes it even worse. So basically (look down)

** The Alternate Version of The Scary Maze Game.

** But Apparently, they couldn't leave well enough alone, so one episode featured the same screamer except in full screen ON YOUR TV, via "Tom's Email" a gag used in this segment, and has Tom talking over the still picture of a house before the screamer appears, which may keep some on edge or make it Nightmare Retardant. The fact alone they needed a full screen Jump Scare.......why?
** As the Bergeron Era unfortunately had to end, and Alfonso took place, these gags suddenly stopped.

** It's also reminiscent of The Maze by Jeremy Winterrowd, or the Scary Maze Game, which is what those videos were trying to replicate (they were mostly Maze reactions), but instead of using the possessed Regan MacNeil from [[The Exorcist]], it used that other aforementioned screamer, which makes it even worse. So basically (look down)

* NightmareFuel: The Vin Di Bona Productions VanityPlate at the end of the show, up until 2008, had a synth jingle that ''tried'' to sound cheerful but ended up sounding creepy. It was thankfully redone in 2008, albeit at the cost of now sounding a tad generic. Some may find it a bit creepy, referring to the low pitched version, but it's far tamer to it's previous counterpart.

* The Bergeron Era (mostly), consisted compilations of videos that featured an individual or more being victim to Screamer Pranks. The Screamer Itself is horrifying, a pale woman with no eyeballs, screaming, which probably scared many kids or at least given a minor scare, despite it's mostly just seen in computer screens.

* But Apparently, they couldn't leave well enough alone, so one episode featured the same screamer except in full screen ON YOUR TV, via "Tom's Email" a gag used in this segment, and has Tom talking over the still picture of a house before the screamer appears, which may keep some on edge or make it Nightmare Retardant. The fact alone they needed a full screen Jump Scare.......why?
* As the Bergeron Era unfortunately had to end, and Alfonso took place, these gags suddenly stopped.

* Tom Bergeron's finale. It was very hard to see a great host go, and there was even a little girl who cried for him and kissed the camera.