So about two years into the show, they said, ‘We have this variety show we’d like you to see’ called ‘Fun TV With Kato-chan and Ken-chan.’ They did a comedy sketch, they did a blackout, they did some talk, a music number, then they showed three homevideos. “The Japanese were very excited that one of their shows was on American television, albeit on Saturday morning,” Di Bona says. version of the show, titled “Animal Crack-Ups.” After numerous failed attempts, he sold it to ABC with Alan Thicke as host, and it debuted in the fall of 1987. Knowing a good concept when he saw one, Di Bona licensed the animal footage through Joe Bellon, a former CBS exec who had been trying without success to sell TBS shows internationally, and put together a pitch for a U.S. “It was like ‘Wild Kingdom’ meets ‘Hollywood Squares,’ ” Di Bona says. After four months of searching (it was pre-Internet, after all), Di Bona figured out the show was “Waku Waku Animal Word,” produced by the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS).
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