Production
The pilot was called America's Funniest... Part II (though the opening titlecard actually said America's Funniest People).
The host of the show, Dave Coulier, like Funniest Home Videos host Bob Saget, was also one of the stars of the popular sitcom Full House which was airing at the same time as the series. The original logo (from the pilot episode) was a slight revamp of the AFHV logo. This was later changed when the series premiered.
Full House's Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made guest appearances, as they also did on America's Funniest Home Videos. The bulk of their visits to People took place once their collective popularity with kids and pre-teens took off. Their most notable appearance was in the fall of 1992, when they plugged their first single, Brother for Sale, from the release of Mary-Kate and Ashley: Our First Video.
It was produced by Vin Di Bona Productions, even though at the end of the show's closing credits, it credited the company as Gina Communications, Inc Closing credits to "America's Funniest People". The show was originally taped at The Prospect Studios, on the same soundstage used for America's Funniest Home Videos at the time. The show traveled to Universal Studios Florida in 1992, taping five shows at the Animal Actors Stage.
In 1992, Sorkin was dismissed by Vin Di Bona. In response, Sorkin filed a lawsuit against Di Bona, claiming that she was dismissed from the show due to her race, after ABC Chairman Dan Burke had suggested to Di Bona that Sorkin be replaced by an African-American or a person of another ethnic minority. Sorkin sought $450,000 for lost earnings, and an additional unspecified amount for harm to her professional reputation and emotional injury. Sorkin additionally claimed that after she denounced the move as unfair, Di Bona changed plans and hired new cohost Tawny Kitaen, who is white.
For the show's third season in 1992, production moved to Universal Studios Florida for the entire 18-episode season.
The start of the 1993-94 season modified the show's title to The New America's Funniest People, with an updated logo. Taping was then moved to Hollywood Center Studios. This reflected the addition of new themed segments and the new practice of having a guest co-host join Coulier and Kitaen each week. The guest would be a star from another ABC series. The show was cancelled in 1994.
During the latter half of the show's run, and for at most until a year after it was canceled, short 30-second segments from America's Funniest People ran in commercial breaks during ABC's Saturday morning lineup. These would usually consist of excerpts from longer segments, usually featuring young kids telling jokes or engaging in stunts.
The show's premise would later integrate to AFV.
Read more about this topic: America's Funniest People
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“To expect to increase prices and then to maintain them at a higher level by means of a plan which must of necessity increase production while decreasing consumption is to fly in the face of an economic law as well established as any law of nature.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“The growing of food and the growing of children are both vital to the family’s survival.... Who would dare make the judgment that holding your youngest baby on your lap is less important than weeding a few more yards in the maize field? Yet this is the judgment our society makes constantly. Production of autos, canned soup, advertising copy is important. Housework—cleaning, feeding, and caring—is unimportant.”
—Debbie Taylor (20th century)
“... if the production of any commodity necessitates the sacrifice of human life, society should do without that commodity, but it can not do without that life.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)