My Signature, My Legacy

What happens when a kid who was told “no” refuses to take no for an answer?

Vin Di Bona has spent more than five decades turning unlikely ideas into television history. From his early days in local news and documentary filmmaking to Entertainment Tonight, MacGyver, and countless other productions, Di Bona built a career by following his instincts, taking risks, and finding a way forward when the odds were against him. Then came America’s Funniest Home Videos.

In 1989, Di Bona took a strange idea inspired by Japanese television—a show built around ordinary people’s homemade videos—and convinced ABC to take a chance. Critics called it “garbage.” Network executives weren’t sure it could work. Di Bona simply kept going. With Bob Saget as host and thousands of tapes arriving from across America, AFV became an unprecedented television phenomenon and one of the longest-running primetime entertainment shows in ABC history.

But My Signature, My Legacy is about far more than one hit show. With humor, candor, and behind-the-scenes stories featuring some of the biggest names in television, Di Bona looks back on the triumphs, failures, friendships, setbacks, and serendipitous encounters that shaped his remarkable career.

At its heart, this is a story about believing in yourself, recognizing opportunity, surrounding yourself with talented people, and never accepting “no” as the final answer. It is also a deeply personal story about family, friendship, generosity, and the responsibility to pass your good fortune forward.

Funny, revealing, and packed with Hollywood history, My Signature, My Legacy is the story of a life spent making people laugh—and of the people, choices, and lessons that made it possible.