VIN DI BONA
Chairman and Executive Producer
Chairman, FishBowl Worldwide Media
_______ , V10 Entertainment
February 2, 2023
A successful singing career snuffed out by the Beatles put Vin Di Bona on the road to changing the way America watches television — by watching themselves. A pioneer in comedic reality programming and a 50+ year entertainment industry veteran, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Executive Producer, Vin Di Bona shook the foundations of the television industry when he introduced America’s Funniest Home Videos in 1989. AFV is the longest-running, primetime entertainment show in the history of the ABC network and continues to be broadcast’s number one co-viewed program. As incredible as it may seem, AFV is currently in its record-breaking 33rd year on the air.
Di Bona is not only credited with bringing the reality genre to network broadcasting, over three decades later, it is evident that he also set the stage for today’s universal YouTube culture by creating an appetite and platform for user-generated content. The launch of America’s Funniest Home Videos grew to more than just a phenomenal success; it proved to be a turning point in the television industry
A native of Cranston, Rhode Island, Di Bona changed his name to Johnny Lindy before heading to Nashville to record “My Arms.” The song was a regional success in New England and gave Di Bona his first number one hit, a hint of things to come in his future television career. Two more songs recorded for Frank Sinatra’s manager, Hank Senicola, looked promising until that fateful night on The Ed Sullivan show when the Beatles stormed America and solo singers were pretty much passé. Di Bona, always the gentleman, holds no grudge.
An Emerson College education was followed by MFA degree from UCLA’s film school. Upon graduation in 1968 he returned to Boston as a producer/director at WBZ-TV. During his nine years at the station, Di Bona produced and directed major documentary specials, breakthrough public affairs programs, and the first commercially sponsored African American magazine show in the country.
In 1977 Di Bona returned to Los Angeles. Working at KNXT, now KCBS, he produced and directed public affairs specials. An eight-time Emmy Award nominee, Di Bona won four Emmys while at KNXT for the documentaries; Down at the Dunbar, for which he also received the prestigious Peabody Award; Zoot Suit: The Play and the Promise; and Streets of Anger, Streets of Hope. He garnered another Emmy for the series Project Parenting.
In 1981 Di Bona became the producer on the now iconic Entertainment Tonight. He followed that in 1983 as senior producer on Metromedia’s On Stage America which was considered the first variety/reality show to air on television. A change of pace came in 1984-when Di Bona teamed up with his Emerson fraternity brother, Henry Winkler, to work on the pilot and subsequent first year of MacGyver. Winkler executive produced and Di Bona was supervising producer and second unit director. In 1987 Di Bona was honored when asked to produce Papal Spacebridge ’87. It documented Pope John Paul II’s visit to the U.S. and his two-way satellite discussions with young adults across the country.
A special year for Di Bona was 1986, when he put out his own shingle, Vin Di Bona Productions. The first show under his banner, Animal Crack-Ups, was based on Tokyo Broadcasting System’s Waku Waku and aired on ABC Saturday morning for three years. When Di Bona created this program, he became the first television producer to import a Japanese format to the U.S.
In 1989 Di Bona made television history when America sat down on a Sunday night at 7 p.m.to watches their family, neighbors, friends, children and pets on America’s Funniest Home Videos. An instant success AFV’s first season finale garnered a 40% share. Hosted by Bob Saget, Tom Bergeron and presently by Alfonso Ribeiro, America’s Funniest Home Videos is enjoying immense popularity on the network, cable, syndication and online while its global popularity stretches over 120 territories. In 2019 America’s Funniest Home Videos began its momentous thirtieth season which was celebrated with an AFV anniversary special, America, This Is You. Another special edition of the show, “AFV @ Home,” aired during the 2020 covid pandemic. It featured videos of the imaginative ways people were passing their time during the quarantine months. This past October AFV celebrated a milestone 700th episode, an accomplishment achieved by only one other primetime entertainment show, The Simpsons.
Adding the element of performance to his concept of spontaneous “grass-roots” humor, Di Bona created a sister show, America’s Funniest People, in 1990. Hosted by Dave Coulier, the series was the only bona-fide hit of the season and ran four years on ABC.
After achieving unprecedented success in the reality arena, Di Bona branched into other areas of programming. In 2005 he was executive producer on three highly acclaimed movies-of-the-weeks; For the Love of Nancy, which was the second highest-rated movie-of-the-week that year, touched by Evil for ABC and Voices From Within for NBC.
Di Bona ventured into cable programming with a bawdy entry, Sherman Oaks, a sitcom for Showtime. It aired for two seasons and has since become a cult classic among cable devotees. He also executive produced Chicken Soup For The Soul and Maximum Drive which was nominated for an ACE Award, the industry’s top honor in the Children’s Programming Series category.
In 2010, as Chairman, Di Bona launched a second shingle, FishBowl Worldwide Media. This next generation studio is a transmedia storyteller developing properties for television, digital platforms and brands. Under this banner Di Bona produced two seasons of America’s Funniest Home Videos: Animal Edition for Nat Geo Wild and is in development on a crime series for IMDB.
Di Bona also executive produced Videos after Dark hosted by Bob Saget, three seasons of Insane Pools… Off the Deep End for Animal Planet, two seasons of the Lovely Bites for OWN and Discovery +, Trans Am for Discovery and two seasons of Caroline And Friends for the Game Show Network.
FishBowl, along with Vin Di Bona Productions, manages the world’s largest curated library of cleared user-generated content utilized worldwide by advertisers and major brands.
With the explosion of digital programming, Di Bona was well suited to jump in with that inconceivable amount of curated material. By posting video packages on the AFV website, YouTube, Facebook and various other social media platforms, AFV digital has 85 million fans and over two billion views a month. It is often in the top five shows for fan interaction, at times beating out The Voice.
In 2023 Di Bona seized a new opportunity when he sold a major stake in Vin Di Bona Productions and FishBowl Worldwide Media to an investor group led by Clarion Capital Partners, LLC. With this move, Di Bona remains CEO and President of both companies which operate within Clarion-backed V10 Entertainment which is helmed by CEO John Stevens and President Hans Schiff. This alliance allows Di Bona to continue producing reality programming while working alongside Stevens and Schiff to acquire new IP and production companies across all traditional, digital and emerging outlets.
Aside from his many accomplishments in the entertainment industry, including a local New England Emmy for Lifetime Achievement in television. Di Bona is highly recognized for his four-year stint as Chairman for The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers & Directors for which he received their prestigious Chair’s Award.
Di Bona is Vice-Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees for Emerson College, which bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters. He has been integral in the college’s expansion in Los Angeles and has worked closely with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in this endeavor. Di Bona is on the Paulist Productions Board of Directors and is a member of the Board of Trustees for the St. James Inn. He is active with Bread for the Poor, Teach for America, the Newport Historical Society, the Preservation Society of Newport and the Newport Music Festival in Rhode, Island. Most recently he joined the Board of Directors for the Petersen Automotive Museum. Di Bona’s achievements were recognized in 2011 when he was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
On August 23rd, 2007, Di Bona celebrated his lifelong television passion and career when he received a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame. Di Bona was further honored in April 6, 2009 when objects from America’s Funniest Home Videos were accepted into the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Among items elected for inclusion into the Museum’s permanent Entertainment Collection was the camcorder used to tape the first winning video of the series in 1989. At the ceremony, Di Bona accepted a Certificate of Donation and America’s Funniest Home Videos became a part of history. In 2010 the camcorder was put on display in the lobby of the Museum. In 2012 Di Bona was asked to join the Smithsonian Institute’s National Board. After serving ten years Di Bona is Emeritus.