“AFV” (f.k.a. “AFHV”) is going to the dogs. And to the cats, and probably to the elephants, the monkeys, etc. Nat Geo Wild is spinning off the long-running ABC series with “America’s Funniest Home Videos: Animal Edition,” TheWrap has learned.
The fur-focused version of the Alfonso Ribeiro-hosted broadcast staple will premiere on Sunday, June 20 at 8/7c on cable channel Nat Geo Wild.
“‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ has been a household staple since its inception, providing hilarious entertainment from some of the most happy coincidences and epic fails in television history,” Nat Geo Wild said on Tuesday as part of its new-series order. “But there’s no question that animal videos featuring furry friends and scaly celebrities are the most entertaining yet. A spinoff of the ABC hit, ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos: Animal Edition’ presents knee-slapping, tear-jerking animal humor to Nat Geo Wild!”
The original “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” which has certainly featured plenty of silly animals, launched back in 1989 with host Bob Saget.
Saget hosted the weekly series until 1997. John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes co-hosted “America’s Funniest Home Videos” for the next two seasons. Following some specials, Tom Bergeron took over as host in 2001, and enjoyed the longest run of any of the emcees. Bergeron bounced in 2015, which is when Ribeiro took over.
The Walt Disney Company now owns Nat Geo through its 2017 purchase of most of 21st Century Fox’s assets. Disney owns broadcast network ABC, but not the Fox broadcast channel.
Nat Geo had a whole bunch of news to share on Tuesday, which was its day at the virtual Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. For starters, we finally got a real trailer for the Aretha Franklin season of “Genius.” Watch that here.
Additionally, readers can find the rest of Nat Geo’s spring slate, which is also exclusive to TheWrap, here.
Finally, “Free Solo” directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin have taken over for “One Day in September” filmmaker Kevin Macdonald as the directors of National Geographic’s documentary feature about the 2018 rescue of a boys soccer team trapped deep inside a flooded cave in Thailand, and set up three other unscripted projects at the cable channel.