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TV Powww (often stylized as TV POWWW) was a television format, in which home viewers controlled a via telephone in hopes of winning prizes.

History
The TV Powww format, produced and distributed by syndicator Marvin Kempner, debuted in 1978 on station as part of A.M. Los Angeles, and by the start of the next decade was seen on 79 local television stations (including national as part of Bozo's Circus) in the United States, as well as several foreign broadcasters. While most stations had dropped TV Powww by the mid-1980s, stations in and were still using it as late as 1990.

Stations were originally supplied with games for the Fairchild Channel F console, but following Fairchild's withdrawal from the home video game market, games were used. Kempner later unsuccessfully attempted to interest both and in a TV Powww revival.

While the underlying technology was standardized across participating stations, the format of TV Powwws presentation varied from market to market. Many presented TV Powww as a series of segments that ran during the commercial breaks of television programming (a la Dialing for Dollars), while some (such as in Los Angeles) presented TV Powww as a standalone program.

Gameplay
In the video game being featured, the at-home player would give directions over the phone while watching the game on their home screen. When the viewer determined that the weapon was aiming at the target, they said "Pow!", after which that weapon would activate.

Accounts vary as to what kind of controller technology was involved. Some sources state that the gaming consoles sent to the stations were modified for voice activation., while a 2008 WPIX station retrospective reported that stations without the special voice-activation-equipped consoles would have an employee in the control room manually hit the fire button when the caller said "Pow!" (or "Pix" (pronounced picks) in WPIX's case).

One of the pitfalls of the gameplay was that, due to broadcasting technicalities, there was significant lag in the transmission of a television signal. The player would experience this lag when playing at home, which likely made playing the game somewhat more difficult. (For similar reasons, such a game would be impossible in digital television without the use of a second feed for the player, due to the time it takes to process and compress the video stream; most stations also mandate a to prevent obscenities from reaching the air.)

Featured games
Channel F
There is video evidence for the following Fairchild Channel F games being played on TV Powww:
  • Baseball
  • Bowling
  • Quadra-Doodle (used as a background)
  • Shooting Gallery

Kempner marketing documentation also supports the following games being used:

  • Dodge' It
  • Maze
  • Tic-Tac-Toe

Intellivision
There is video evidence for the following Intellivision games being played on TV Powww:
  • Football
  • Slots
  • Soccer
  • Single player Space Battle
  • Two player Space Battle

Kempner marketing documentation and Marvin Kempner's autobiography suggest the following games were available or under development:

  • Astrosmash
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Boxing
  • Frog Bog
  • Horse Racing
  • Skiing
  • Space Hawk
  • Word Fun - Word Rockets
  • Unspecified Intellivoice games

The Intellivision title Sharp Shot reportedly comprised four TV Powww games, implying that the simplified versions of the following titles found on this cartridge were also available to TV Powww customers:

  • Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
  • Sea Battle

TV Powww variants
TV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
TV Powww!Stu KerrUnknownUnknown
Battle Creek, MITV Powww!UnknownUnknown
SwitchbackUnknownUnknown1985

(Nationwide Cable)		Ray's TV Powww!, Bozo's TV Powww!, Ray Rayner and His Friends, Bozo's Circus
Superstation WGN		1979-1980
TV Powww!Bob ZappeZap!1978–1979
Candy CramerVideo Arcade1982–1984
Columbus, GATV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
TV Powww!B.J. ClevelandUnknownUnknown
Dayton, OHTV Powww!Unknown
Unknown		Clubhouse 22 (children's version)
Evening (adult version)		Unknown
Unknown
Flint, MITV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
Green Bay, WIClubhouse Powww!Gerald "Uncle Jerry" Drake
"Barney"		Weekday afternoonsc. 1979–1981
Greensboro, NCTV Powww!UnknownCaptain TriadUnknown
Hartford, CTTV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
High Point, NCTV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
, TV Powww"Jim Shoes"Saturday Fun ShowTVT61980s
TV Powww!Fred "Professor Fun" Ball (children's version)
Ron Wiley (adult version)		UnknownUnknown
TV Kid POWWWUnknownUnknownUnknown
Jacksonville, FLTV Powww!Gary RogersUnknown, 1981–1983, 1983–1984
Kingsport, TN
Knoxville, TN		TV Powww!Frances EdenUnknown
1981
TV Powww!UnknownA.M. Los Angeles1978–?
TV Powww1979
UnknownTV PowwwUnknown
New York, NYTV PixxxRalph LowensteinN/A197?–1982
Newport News, VATV Powww!UnknownTV Powww!Unknown
Oakland, CA (SF Bay Area)TV Powww!Pat McCormickSpider-Man and Tom and Jerry1970s–1980s
Regional & Remote Western AustraliaTV PowwwChris MillsN/AGWN71980s
TV PowwwVariousN/ABBC-21970s–1980s
Phoenix, AZTV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
Raleigh, NCTV Powww!"Barney"Barney's Army1979–1982
Rochester, NYTV Powww!"Ranger Bob"Ranger Bob’s Buckeroo Club1981
, TV PowwwUnknownUnknownUnknownEarly 1980s
Sacramento, CATV Powww!Mitch AgrussCap'n Mitch1980
TV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
São Paulo, TV Powww!Luis Ricardo
Mara Maravilha
Paulo Barboza
Gugu Liberato
Sérgio Mallandro
Tânia Alves
Christina Rocha		Show MaravilhaSBT1984–1989
Salt Lake City, UTTV Powww!UnknownDaily MovieUnknown
Spokane, WAQ6 Powww!Cal FankhouserUnknownUnknown
TV PowwwPeter Powell
Mark Curry		Get Set for Summer1982
, New South WalesTV PowwwUnknownUnknownRVN2Unknown
Waterbury, CTTV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown
, VictoriaTV PowwwUnknownUnknownAMV4Unknown
Youngstown, OHTV Powww!UnknownUnknownUnknown

TV Pixxx
One notable version of TV Powww was used by New York based television station , called TV-Pixxx (a play on the station's call letters). Hosted by station staff announcer Ralph Lowenstein, it was aired during the traditional weekday afternoon slot of children's TV as an interlude. Participants would be called at home to play a videogame that appeared on their screen.

Participants interacted with the game by saying the word "Pix" to perform game-related actions. Prizes included T-shirts and $10 U.S. . They could double their prize or win a bonus prize (such as advance tickets to see upcoming films) by guessing a "Magic Word" (originally common everyday words, later in the last two years one of the 50 U.S. states). For a chance at playing, children could send a postcard with their name, address, and phone number to TV Pixxx.

WPIX's program lasted until 1982; for many New York viewers, TV Pixxx was their first glimpse of the Intellivision home game system.

In the Book, claimed to be a regular viewer of the program, but was never picked to play the game, nor saw anyone actually win.

Switchback
Switchback aired on station in , in 1985, also including Intellivision games.

Zap
In Cleveland, Ohio, Zap (named after host Bob Zappe) aired in the mornings from 1978 to 1979 on station which had a feature similar to TV Powww.

International versions
Australia
In the early 1980s, Golden West Network (GWN) had a version called TV Powww (or possibly TV Pow), hosted by Chris Mills. There was a spaceship game, a game and a soccer/football game.

A basic version of Space Invaders was broadcast daily after school hours in Rockhampton, north-east coast of Australia during the early 1980s. Children would yell "Pow!" over the telephone, with the host pressing the fire button in the studio. Reaction time varied with the mood of the host. The game was often chaotic, with contestant rapid firing, and sync abandoned when the host was unable to keep up.

Brazil
The game premiered on SBT in August 1984 and its first host was Paulo Barboza. Shortly thereafter, other hosts like Tânia Alves, Mara Maravilha, Luís Ricardo, Sérgio Mallandro, Gugu Liberato and Christina Rocha presented the game. TV Powww! became a segment of the Bozo show in 1986 and continued until 1989.

The block also included foreign content, often cartoons the network had the rights to air, as fillers. On August 24, 1984, an episode of El Chavo del Ocho aired during the program, marking the arrival of the series on Brazilian television.

United Kingdom
The game had a 12 episode run as part of the Saturday morning children's show Get Set For Summer between April 1982 and July 1982.

Colombia
In 1982 there was a variation of Tv Powww called Telectronico hosted by Reynaldo More ( on ). Children could participate by sending coupons from newspaper and waiting for the right phone call. Show took place Monday to Friday at 5:30 p.m.

See also
  • with a play-at-home element

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