YMMV / America's Funniest Home Videos

• Accidental Nightmare Fuel: Reportedly, despite their popularity with older audiences, the "Tom's Home Videos" segments (videos presented as Tom Bergeron's home videos that featured Tom's oversized head (aka 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.
• And You Thought It Would Fail:
  • There are periods when people question this show's continued significance, as the rise of YouTube, social media, and especially TikTok means people can watch funny home videos on demand rather than having to tune in once a week. Yet, it survives decades after its premiere because people find the concept and the various hosts charming and because it's insanely cheap to produce.
  • As far back as 1997, many of the show's staff all the way up to original host Bob Saget believed that the show was only a few years away by being supplanted by the internet. This was a major factor in Saget's decision to leave when his contract was up.
• Audience-Alienating Era: The general consensus of the Fuentes/Fugelsang era, due to the lack of chemistry between the hosts and the format changes that occurred, though some purists who prefer the original Saget era would say the show itself has been stuck in this since his departure.
• Awesome Music: The show has been using instrumental theme songs ever since John and Daisy hosted the series, but the most iconic version is the one used in the majority of Bob Saget's tenure, which had lyrics sung out by Jill Colucci.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: 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 Salacious B. Crumb puppet on his shoulder. Alfonso doesn't seem to even notice the puppet until just before the next montage starts, and afterwards the puppet is not seen or acknowledged again. The montage that followed wasn't even about "when you see it" moments, either.
• Broken Base: Who was the better host? Bob Saget? Tom Bergeron? Or Alfonso Ribeiro? All anyone can agree on is that Fuentes and Fugelsang were the worst.
• Creator's Pet: "'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 a tantrum again once he's back on camera for attention. Despite most of the home audience loathing this video for reasons you'd expect, it ultimately won a season finale grand prize. Maybe the studio audience just felt bad for the kid's parents...
• Ensemble Dark Horse: One episode featured a kid royally screwing up a skateboard stunt, after which another kid in a hoodie ducked into the frame making a priceless reaction to what just happened. Tom (and the audience) enjoyed the latter guy's reaction so much that the next montage of clips had the guy inserted into them reacting to the other people's painful Epic Fails. And appearing one last time later in the episode reacting to a particularly corny joke Tom made in a host segment.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Australia had its own version that ran for 24 years. It even had the same theme song with the lyrics slightly changed.
• Growing the Beard: Bergeron seemed very uncomfortable in front of the camera during his first season, but he later found his niche and became the show's most beloved host next to Bob Saget. Ribeiro started off similarly, seeming stonily formal for an AFV host, but as of season 29, he too has loosened up considerably and is more well-liked as an AFV host than he was at his debut.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During the Grand Prize Disney World episode from 2007, Tom Bergeron joked that his dog was so smart that he had his own blog. This was several years before Disney Channel debuted a show with that very premise.
• Memetic Mutation: "Oh no! Our table! It's broken!"^explanationA clip involving a boy inexplicably trying to stack house bricks on a glass table that then gives way, sending everything falling to the floor with an extremely loud noise. An audio clip of this Ribeiro-era video spread on TikTok in 2020 and 2021, spawning many other mutations out of it
  • Oh no! My bestie! Is a bad bitch!
  • Oh no! The ride! It's broken!^explanationA version said in Mickey Mouse's voice; often used in videos of rides breaking down at Disney and other theme parks
• Nausea Fuel: The Bergeron-era segments "The Naughty Files" and "A Moment of Ewwwww!" specifically showcase grosser clips than the producers were allowed to show before. Snot and vomit gags (usually via babies) have popped up elsewhere as well.
  • One $10,000 winner featured a decapitated fish head on a plate in a sushi restaurant (this is a real preparation method, by the way). It was still moving.
  • One Naughty File from early in Tom's run shows the steps a group of guys take in getting one guy to the hospital for his broken-at-a-45-degree-angle finger. The broken finger is shown on-screen repeatedly, and it's every bit as skin-crawling as it sounds.
• Nightmare Fuel: Oftentimes, there would be a 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 the 2001 flash screamer What's Wrong. This episode also features the infamous screamer video being shown to the viewers first with Tom humorously trying to figure out what’s wrong with the picture (as the title would suggest). The screamer eventually pops up, accompanied by an echoing Homer Simpson scream. After the screamer appears, Tom says “oh, that must be what these people saw.” It’s up to the viewer if it’s funny or not, but the eyeless woman is really unsettling to look at.
• Once Original, Now Common: These days with people uploading funny videos to sites like YouTube and TikTok, it's hard to see the appeal of AFV. Bob Saget said in an AMA interview once that this is one of the reasons why he quit hosting the show in the first place. As the Internet was becoming popular, people were finding more websites (even before YouTube) for uploading funny home videos. He felt the show had become pointless and he honestly didn't think the show would last much longer after he left.
• Questionable Casting: Just like with his stint on Full House, the casting of vulgar comedian Bob Saget as the host of a kiddie-safe show left many scratching their heads.
• Seasonal Rot: 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, 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 as a host, though Ribeiro still has a few detractors.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: When the theme was overhauled to the ska-era remix used in the Fuentes/Fugelsang and Bergeron versions, it sounded a lot like "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
• Sweetness Aversion:
  • If one of the finalists involves a little kid doing/saying something adorably saccharine, go ahead and change the channel.
  • You can also apply this to dogs. A lot of this is likely because the studio audience has the final vote, and it's usually filled with either grandparents or young parents. Parents are more likely to find cute videos funny.
• Tear Jerker
  • The $10,000 winner filmed her son bawling his eyes out after he accidentally stole a cup from a restaurant. Hearing him plead with her not to report him to the police is just heart-wrenching.
  • 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.
  • The January 16, 2022 episode began with a tribute to Saget (who died the week prior) by having Ribeiro introduce a series of funny moments from the Saget era set to "The Funny Things You Do", as well as a clip of Saget talking with Bergeron from the 2009 anniversary special.
• Values Dissonance: Given the series has been running since the 80s, it was inevitable some clips would end up aging like milk.
  • Even well into the Bergeron era, there were 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 Bergeron 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)

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