Having been renewed for new seasons, America’s Funniest Home Videos (AFV) in the US and You’ve Been Framed (YBF) in the UK are respectively celebrating their 28th and 27th anniversaries this year. Highly successful in their markets for over a quarter-century, both programs are local versions of the hit TBS variety program Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan,which ran in Japan from January 1986 to March 1992.

 

AFV began its long US run in 1989 on major US terrestrial network ABC. In 2006, AFV entered its 17th season and became the longest-running entertainment program in the then over 60-year history of the network. With the renewal of the program and the format license agreement between TBS and ABC for another season, AFV will continue to extend this already impressive record. In the US terrestrial market, broadcasters compete fiercely for viewers, and 28 years on the air is truly an exceptional milestone.

 

Soon after the launch of AFV in the US, YBF got its start in the UK. In 1990, it began airing on ITV, the country’s largest private terrestrial TV network. YBF has been on air for 29 seasons and Season 30 is currently in production.

 

In 2012, AFV celebrated its 500th episode in prime time. In the history of US television, only three other prime time programs have reached the 500-episode milestone: “Gunsmoke,” “Lassie,” and “The Simpsons.” YBF has also attained the rare 500-episode milestone. Both programs are extremely popular and enjoy close to 100 percent name recognition among television viewers in their markets.

 

AFV producer Vin Di Bona has won four Emmy Awards, as well as a George Foster Peabody Award, one of the most coveted honors in the US broadcasting industry. In 2007, Di Bona earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009, AFV became a permanent part of the entertainment collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

 

In 2013, the Wit (World Information Tracking) selected Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan for The Wit’s Top 50 Series, a list of 50 television series since 1963 that had contributed to the history of television and had a global impact. The Wit created the list to celebrate the 50th anniversary of MIPTV, the world’s largest TV market, which is held every year in in Cannes, France.

 

For both AFV and YBF, TBS partners with its exclusive format and variety program agent, Bellon Entertainment. TBS and Bellon introduced AFV to global audiences in 1988, and the program stands as the most successful Japanese format* to date. AFV and YBF are produced using only