TV Powww

TV Powww

Company type	Television game show format
Industry	Television entertainment
Founded	1978
Founder	Marvin Kempner
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California , United States
Area served	United States, Australia, Brazil, United Kingdom, Colombia, Italy
Products	Interactive video game television programming

TV Powww (commonly rendered as TV POWWW) was a franchised television game show format that enabled viewers at home to control a video game through telephone interaction to compete for prizes.

History

Originating from Florida-based syndicator Marvin Kempner, TV Powww made its first appearance in 1978 on Los Angeles’ KABC-TV as part of the program A.M. Los Angeles. By the early 1980s, the show had expanded to air on 79 local stations across the United States, including the national superstation WGN during broadcasts of Bozo's Circus, alongside several international broadcasters. Although most U.S. outlets discontinued it by the mid-1980s, broadcasts persisted into the 1990s in countries such as Australia and Italy.

Initially, the format utilized games designed for the Fairchild Channel F console; following Fairchild’s exit from the market, programming shifted to titles for Intellivision. Kempner later attempted to relaunch TV Powww in partnership with both Nintendo and Sega, but these efforts did not come to fruition.

While the underlying technology remained consistent, presentation styles varied: some stations incorporated TV Powww segments within commercial breaks (akin to Dialing for Dollars), whereas others, like Los Angeles’ KTTV, presented it as a dedicated standalone show.

Gameplay

Participants directed game actions via telephone while viewing the gameplay on their television screens at home. To execute a firing command, players would say "Pow!", which would activate the in-game weapon.

Accounts differ regarding controller mechanisms: certain consoles were adapted for voice command activation; in other instances, staff members triggered firing manually upon hearing the player say "Pow!" (or "Pix" in the case of WPIX).

A significant obstacle was broadcast latency causing a delay between viewer commands and their corresponding in-game responses, complicating player control. This delay also restricts similar interactive formats on digital television without supplementary video chat capabilities, further hindered by standard broadcast delays implemented for content censorship.

Channel F

Recorded footage confirms that these Fairchild Channel F titles were featured on TV Powww:

• Baseball
• Bowling
• Quadra-Doodle (used as background)
• Shooting Gallery

Marketing materials from Kempner additionally list:

• Dodge' It
• Maze
• Tic-Tac-Toe

Intellivision

Confirmed Intellivision games played on TV Powww include:

• Football
• Slots
• Soccer
• Both single-player and two-player versions of Space Battle

According to Kempner’s promotional documents and his autobiography, these titles were either available or under development:

• Astrosmash
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Frog Bog
• Horse Racing
• Skiing
• Space Hawk
• Word Fun (also known as Word Rockets)
• Various unspecified Intellivoice games

The Intellivision game Sharp Shot reportedly contained four simplified mini-games derived from TV Powww, implying that versions of:

• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
• Sea Battle

were also offered within the format.

TV Powww variants

rowspan="2"|Kingsport, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee rowspan="3"|Los Angeles, CA

City/Market	Local name	Host	Show Featured on	Network	Air dates
Boston, MA	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WXNE-TV	Unknown
Baltimore, MD	TV Powww!	Stu Kerr	Unknown	WMAR	Unknown
Battle Creek, MI	TV Powww!	Unknown	Star Blazers	WUHQ	Unknown
Calgary, Alberta	Switchback	Unknown	Unknown	CBRT	1985
Chicago, IL (Nationwide Cable)	Ray's TV Powww!, Bozo's TV Powww!	Ray Rayner, Frazier Thomas	Ray Rayner and His Friends, Bozo's Circus	WGN Superstation WGN	1979-1980
Cleveland, OH	TV Powww!	Bob Zappe	Zap!	WKYC-TV	1978–1979
		Candy Cramer	Video Arcade	WCLQ	1982–1984
Columbus, GA	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WYEA	Unknown
Dallas, TX	TV Powww!	B.J. Cleveland	Unknown	KXTX	Unknown
Dayton, OH	TV Powww!	Unknown Unknown	Clubhouse 22 (children's version) Evening (adult version)	WKEF	Unknown Unknown
Flint, MI	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WEYI	Unknown
Green Bay, WI	'Clubhouse Powww!'	'Gerald "Uncle Jerry" Drake' "Barney"	'Weekday afternoons'	'WLUK-TV'	'c. 1979–1981'
Greensboro, NC	TV Powww!	Unknown	Captain Triad	WGGT	Unknown
Hartford, CT	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WTXX	Unknown
High Point, NC	TV Powww!	Unknown	Unknown	WGHP	Unknown
Hobart, Tasmania	TV Powww	"Jim Shoes"	Saturday Fun Show	TVT6	1980s
Honolulu, HI	TV Powww!	Fred "Professor Fun" Ball (children's version) Ron Wiley (adult version)	Unknown	KIKU	Unknown
Houston, TX	TV Kid POWWW	Unknown	Unknown	KHTV	Unknown
Jacksonville, FL	TV Powww!	Gary Rogers	Unknown	WAWS	Unknown
'TV Powww!'	'Frances Eden'	'Unknown'	'WKPT-TV WVLT-TV'	'1981'
'TV Powww!'	'Unknown' / John Rovick / Unknown'	'A.M. Los Angeles' / 'TV Powww	'KABC-TV' / 'KTTV' / 'KCOP-TV'	'1978–?' / '1979' / 'Unknown'
				'WPIX'|
	'TV Powww!		'TV Powww!	'WAVY-TV'|
	'TV Powww!	Spider-Man (1967 TV series) and Tom and Jerry	'KTVU-TV'|
				'GWN7'|
				'Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation-2'|
				'KPNX'|
			"WRDC" |
			"WUHF" |
				"KTXL" |
				"KNSD/KCST" |
				"Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT)" |
				"KSL-TV" |
				"KHQ-TV" |
				"BBC One (BBC1)" |
				"CBN (Australian TV station) (RVN2)" |
				"WCCT-TV (WTXX)" |
				"WYTV'"	} TV Pixxx A distinctive variation of the format aired on New York’s WPIX under the title TV-Pixxx, hosted by station announcer Ralph Lowenstein. It occupied a weekday afternoon children’s timeslot as an interactive segment where viewers called in from home to participate in video games displayed on screen. Contestants issued the command "Pix" to trigger game actions and competed for rewards such as T-shirts and $10 U.S. savings bonds. They could also enhance their winnings or gain bonuses — for example advance movie tickets — by correctly guessing a "Magic Word," which initially consisted of common vocabulary but later included one of the fifty U.S. states. Entry required sending a postcard with contact information addressed to ‘’TV Pixxx’’. This program continued until 1982 and served as an introduction to Intellivision gaming for many New Yorkers. Michael Diamond of the Beastie Boys cited it as a regular viewing experience despite never participating or witnessing winners. Switchback In Calgary during 1985, CBC’s CBRT aired a show titled Switchback which incorporated Intellivision games within its programming. Zap In Cleveland from 1978 to 1979 on NBC affiliate WKYC aired Zap — hosted by Bob Zappe — which followed a gameplay format similar to that of ’’TV Powww’’. Australia During the early 1980s in Australia’s Golden West Network (GWN), a version named ‘’TV Powww’’ or ‘’TV Pow’’ was broadcast with host Chris Mills featuring games involving spaceships, boxing matches and soccer. A rudimentary version of ‘’Space Invaders’’ aired daily after school in Rockhampton where children called in shouting “Pow!” to activate game actions. Gameplay was often unpredictable due to host reaction times and rapid firing by participants. Brazil Debuting on SBT in August of 1984 with Paulo Barboza as host, ‘’TV Powww!’’ later featured presenters including Tânia Alves and Gugu Liberato. Between 1986 and 1989 it became part of the ‘’Bozo’’ show segment lineup. The show incorporated imported content such as cartoons. Notably on August 24th of 1984 an episode of ‘’El Chavo del Ocho’’ was broadcast during ‘’TV Powww!’’, marking its first airing in Brazil. United Kingdom Between April and July of 1982 a twelve-episode run aired on BBC’s Saturday morning children’s program ‘’Get Set For Summer’’ featuring this interactive game format. Colombia In 1982, a variant named Telectronico was broadcast on Inravisión Cadena 2 (RTI TV), with Reynaldo More as the presenter. The format invited children to participate by mailing in newspaper coupons and then waiting for a phone call. This program was scheduled on weekdays at 5:30 p.m. See also featuring an interactive home participation aspect References