DVD Review: America’s Funniest Home Videos—Best of Kids and Animals

Take the most consistently funny show on television and combine it with the most popular segments on that show (kids and animals) and you have America’s Funniest Home Videos—Best of Kids and Animals.

I’m an animal clip man myself. I think dogs chasing laser pointers and cats getting sprayed with a water hose are funny. Good or bad, it still makes me laugh.

For what it’s worth, it must make others laugh, too. The show has been on the air for 16 seasons. I wrote a review of the first AFV collection four months ago. I received a good amount of feedback about the article, most of it about the psychology of the show. I heard comments to the effect of “people take pleasure in watching others’ misfortune.” To respond, let me just say that nothing truly terrible has ever been aired on the show. I suppose it depends on your perspective of what’s acceptable behavior. I happen to think it’s relatively harmless.

This three DVD box set includes something that the first AFV DVD set released earlier this year didn’t have (at least not more that a couple of minutes worth). That something is the genius of AFV’s original host Bob Saget! Genius may be pushing it, I know. I just wanted to stress that he’s part of the collection.

Here’s a rundown of what’s included in this three-disc set:

The first disc includes the classic episode “AFV Looks at Kids and Animals” and the 1997 $100,000 season finale, both hosted by Bob Saget.

The second disc contains “All Animal Extravaganza” and the 2004 $100,000 season finale, hosted by the Emmy-winning host Tom Bergeron.

The third disc is a departure from the kids and animals theme carried through the first two discs. The two-hour “Battle of the Best” episode (another Bergeron episode) is a sort of “greatest hits” (no pun intended) of clips from the first 12 years of the show’s history. And to spice it up, various B-list celebrities, including Coolio, Martin Mull, Picabo Street and the always annoying Kathy Griffin pick their favorite clips, with the audience voting on the best clip at the show’s conclusion. Personally, I could have done without the celebrity angle, but maybe there are a lot of “Fernwood 2Nite” fans who disagree with me.

All told, it’s about 222 minutes of family entertainment that most everyone can enjoy. You will enjoy it! The sweater-wearing poodle with masking tape stuck to her feet demands it!