TV Powww/TV Pixxx - T.V. GAMES: EPISODE 6

[@squishlefunke]

Anybody else land here from the Beastie Boys Book?

[@GlensRetroShow]

Fantastic episode. PIXXX was what I recall as well.

[@TeeVeeGames]

Thanks! I actually made an update to this topic adding some new info, examples and more about the "voice-activation" debate. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpSrlICnaKmBbZI

[@kevinkleinhenz6511]

In Houston I believe it was channel 39 that carries this. My memory was that they called it TV Kid Pow. The only kids that did well were the ones who just yelled POW! POW! POW! Non stop. I just told my 11 year old son about this and took a chance that youtube would have something and here it is! 😂

[@moziahgarvey4514]

I watched on 39. Been trying to tell people about this for years. Nobody remembers.

[@infernonine]

I just after years and years thought of this out of the blue and searched KZbin for videos like this. I used to watch this all the time with the pixx thing on the phone.

[@TeeVeeGames]

I did recently update this topic with some more information since the original. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpSrlICnaKmBbZI

[@seanjsellscars]

Same!

[@MountainHawkPYL]

I watched channel 11's TV PIXXX when it aired.

[@matthewnorman1303]

I remember this. We watched on WTXX in Connecticut when I was growing up. It came on after school.

[@angryshoebox]

I totally remember TV Powww. We had this show weekday afternoons on KTVU channel 2 (San Francisco Bay Area). Pat McCormick hosted. There were always kids that would say "Pow!Pow!Pow!Pow!" as fast as they could, and the game's only going pow....pow.......pow.......pow, LOL. For a long time the prizes were the Fisher Space Pen, and the Eveready All Around Light.

[@joshuachristian5443]

Crazy, I remember this and I was only 3 years old. Carried these memories for 40 years never knowing what it was. I just googled what I remembered and I found this. Awesome! I was so young, the kids sounded like adults to my 3 year old ears.

[@rangers199487]

Very good documentary on this. I remember TV Pixx very well as a kid growing up in NYC on WPIX 11.

[@madmanmark8387]

11, 11 alive. Yeah this brings back memories. Let's go Rangers.

[@madmanmark8387]

A friend sent me this link. Gee the way back machine of saying pix pix pix haha 😄. I was one of those who called in back in the day. I don't think I won but was fun to do. I was sad admittedly not winning.

[@TeeVeeGames]

I never got a chance to play but I do remember it was fun to watch. Especially since games were such a new thing. Even the simple graphics were amazing to look at back then. And then it reacting to a caller's voice? Mind blowing. I updated this topic just recently. Feel free to update your links: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpSrlICnaKmBbZI

[@Wilders53]

Nicely done man. I was born in 70 and remember TV poww not the pixx. I guess I was to involved with my Atari 😊

[@TeeVeeGames]

Thanks. I've updated this topic in a newer video. Be sure to check out the link in the description if you're interested.

[@OfficialDJUnikittyYT]

PIX PIX PIX PIX PIX PIX PIX PIX PIX!!!

[@davidhyland2827]

I remember the day this died in anaheim. A kid came on and just said pow in rapid fire the whole time. No waiting, just a continuous stream of pows. That was the end.

[@andyherzman7951]

I played TV Pix!

[@johnchristie4478]

I watched it in the early 80s and listened in Boston

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

Channel 33 in Youngstown Ohio had their TV Pow program (called 33 Pow) during Filmation's He-Man and She-Ra in the early 1980s, and they used the Intellivision version.

[@patrickstewart8618]

Yes! I came here looking for 33 Pow. My brother actually played one day. We both sent in cards, but I was never chosen. He won a small yellow radio that ran on a 9v. I want to say it was AM/FM, but back then it may have only been AM.

[@QUANTRELLBISHOP]

Pow pow pow pow Mary Jo maluso I believe was the women doing it

[@LocalAitch]

I used to work at the station shown with the 615 area code (WKPT TV 19 in Kingsport, TN, not at the time of TV Powww but in the late 90s and early 00s) and I was told the same story about it not being voice activated.

[@lincolnparc8897]

we got in southeast Connecticut I love 11 ALIVE... I totally remember PIXX POW GAME....t was fun being a kid back then!!!

[@DiamondJoe]

@2:52 - Regis Philbin, is that you?

[@VicGeorge2K6]

I remember the TV PIXXX version that was on Channel 11 in New York City through Westfield, MA cable television. There was also for a brief time TV POWWW on Channel 25 in Boston.

[@fun_and_profit]

Cool to see this with some background. I watched this on KTVU in San Francisco, I'd always thought it started there. Really interesting.

[@DrLove0378]

Fun Fact: The cartoon “host” characters seen at 4:27 and 5:06 were known as “Aniforms”, invented by Morey Bunin. The ones seen here are from the “Barney’s Army” TV POWWW segments-other programs which used Aniforms include “Captain Kangaroo” and “Malcolm” (an unsold game show pilot from 1983, hosted by Alex Trebek, in which the titular Malcolm starred as an Aniforms character on an in-studio monitor.)

[@Mafon2]

Really good vids you do. I remember a show called Hugo (it's from the 90's), in which players controlled character with buttons on phone.

[@ronrondon9780]

It is a classic and Ralph Lowenstein and Bill Bearly always doing the show

[@laggywaggy]

POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW

[@mitranoc]

Growing up in Rochester, NY I was a huge fan of watching TV POWW on Ranger Bob's Buckaroo's Club, channel 31. As well as TV PIXX on channel 11. Hey dude, is that a Devo hat on you TV?😁

[@TeeVeeGames]

Be sure to check out the update to this video (the link is in the description). While I don't discuss it in depth, I did utilize footage of Ranger Bob. It appears he had a "two-player" version of TV-Powww running. And yes, that is the official Devo "Energy Dome" hat.

[@raygordonteacheschess5501]

Chidren 8-10 years old on live television via phone. What could go wrong?

[@christopherdunne7848]

@ Tee Vee---I saw Malcolm before. I seem to recall in the Cuba video the person actual winking his eye, and wondered how that worked.....

[@stevep8445]

Grew up watching Pix....

[@Alanzice]

Wow, TV Powww actually existed in Brazil? Never heard of that here before! Cool video! :)

[@teletranoats7491]

yes..it was broadcasted here in brazil in 1986. The copycated all the details including the intro song and stuff. Brazil does that all the time. Morons here never come up with anything orginial. Always doing exactly what their superiors tell them to do .

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I would say it's not a complete copycat if they did license the technology/format from the US guys.

[@avagromus]

Great video, very informative of a very interesting topic

[@KWAPT]

That tv in your house looks like it's from the early 80's😂🤣😂

[@HeavyFuel]

i said PIX to shut this off and it worked :)

[@seanjsellscars]

Great time to be a kid indeed!!

[@JMFabiano]

I can't be the only one who recognizes the original Jackpot! theme.

[@danlivni2097]

I remember watching this on WPIX in the early 80s. 3:44

[@jako3214]

Even when this was 'new/modern' in '80-'82 looked rough & cheesy lol. Was very little but insisted there was an 'electronic' theme song. Omg didn't know (remember) it was I Feel Love!! & that Donna or her team not just allowed it (highly likely UNaware) lol. Today..w/in minutes...seconds ANY A list star & her team would sue etc..& by day 2 would frantically 'replace' it lol

[@hayaboosta]

That's so funny @5:37.....I did that and won my prize easily......great memories....

[@EnlightnMe48]

I remember that

[@jesseleelong]

By the end of the 70's, WGN-TV tried to duplicate the success of Bozo's Grand Prize Game by adding the TV POWWW!!!!! segment, but by the dawn of the 80's, it was quietly dropped from Bozo's Circus, which, by this time, was renamed The Bozo Show.

[@danalong1237]

TV POWWW was also on WGN's Ray Rayner and his Friends as well!

[@coletanner5193]

I only liked it when the player got mad and complained about their over the phone pows not in synch or timing with the stations live video pows

[@jesseleelong]

0:37-0:43, "Pick up your phone. Let's play together. TV POWWW!!!!!"

[@danalong1237]

I wonder who composed the theme song to TV POWWW?

[@SonnyGTA]

There was always the moronic kid that would just say POW POW POW POW POW non stop! ZERO TIMING!! I was like....are you even watching the television screen??

[@kevinkleinhenz6511]

Those were the only kids who ever did well! 😂

[@2005dave]

There was a grown up version of the show that aired Sunday nights in LA, hosted by Jack Clark.

[@TeeVeeGames]

Yes. There were a few "adult" versions. I highlighted one in my updated video, as well as a few other addendums and corrections. (Link in description.)

[@lurkerrekrul]

I live in New England and I remember the WPIX version as well. To be honest, I never really knew any of the background of the show, so I always just assumed that it was someone pressing the button every time the caller said "PIX". As for trying to reboot the show with Nintendo or Sega, I think it's sad that in today's copyright obsessed world, you actually need the permission of the game company to use their games for something like this. After you buy a game, you should be able to do whatever you want with it, short of making and selling copies of it. Copyright was originally intended to allow authors to profit from their works for a LIMITED amount of time. Now, copyright not only gives the author/owner virtually perpetual ownership, but the ability to limit what people can do with their legally purchased copies.

[@TeeVeeGames]

lurkerrekrul They needed permission from Fairchild/Mattel as well to air TV POWWW with their games. They originally wanted Atari; Atari ignored their calls.

[@lurkerrekrul]

Well, by "today's world", I was referring to the last 50 years or so. Can you imagine if other industries were given this type of power over their products? Like you could buy a car, but there's a limit on how many people you're allowed to give rides to. Or you could buy artist's paints, but you needed permission to sell or even display anything that you paint with them. It's gotten to the point where companies now think you need their permission to even show their products in a movie or TV show. Technically you don't if the product is being used as intended and isn't portrayed negatively, but most people ask permission just to be safe because companies will sue at the drop of a hat, even if their legal arguments don't hold water.

[@kma5699]

I remember this and at the time I had a Atari2600 and Intellivision, and I pretty much had every game on Intellivision and was confused that there was no game exactly like the one on TV PIXXXX where you shoot the space ships. Closest game was Space Battle, but the one scene on the tv show there is a larger space ship going from the left to the right side of the screen 7:28 and the ship looks more like it was from the game GORF, which wasn't even Mattle Electronics.

[@gunsmoke6230]

TV kid pow in Houston 1978

[@micherickpaolodiazsantos961]

In the Philippines originated aired on BBC 2 (Banahaw Broadcasting corporation owned by Philippine government PCOO) (Now ABS CBN) in the 1980's

[@richardedwards9349]

The Coach hosted TV Powww in jacksonville florida. e

[@stephenmystery8313]

Is that a Devo cap on the TV?

[@TeeVeeGames]

Yup, their official Energy Dome.

[@leeanncotrone8369]

TV PIXX what's the magic word of the day on Eleven Alive

[@raygordonteacheschess5501]

"our BACKUP contestant is....." (if the main contestant swore.

[@cuseyeti5243]

PIX! PIX!! PIX!!!

[@perrylx]

Voice Activation then = A.I now

[@ABCEasyas--]

I heard a tone as the kid was saying "Pix". Was it the engineer pressing the button on the controller?

[@TeeVeeGames]

I've heard conflicting information. While the PIX retrospective that aired years ago reported it was an engineer playing along to the voice, the PIX website/FB page said Kaity Tong misspoke; it was voice activated. I don't know if I'll ever get a definitive answer on that considering how long ago it was. I can still see it being engineer controlled, just for money and practicality reasons.

[@ien2023]

The beginning of Twitch.

[@journeytothemosthigh5021]

Who has a time machine? I need to be dropped off in the early 80s.

[@madmanmark8387]

Take me with you so I can tell my younger self of what's going to happen with his life so that he can make some changes.

[@inter_1097]

It wouldn't be that popular today if it still worked. Why play/watch this when there are countless eSports competitions?

[@SonnyGTA]

The Magic Garden!!!!!!

[@dj2bklyn]

What game system was used for this

[@christopherdunne7848]

What do you call that kind of animation at 5:05 and 7:38? It must be trademarked somehow. I actually saw a form of it on a TV network out of Cuba (unusual reception conditions in Florida) in 1993. I have no idea how it works.

[@TeeVeeGames]

+CHRISTOPHER DUNNE I don't know the exact name of it but it seems to be a combination of cut-out and puppetry. It was also used on an unsold Alex Trebek pilot called "Malcolm". (Yes, it's on KZbin). Like puppetry, I assume there's someone manipulating the crude figure in real-time.

[@bhayes06]

The exact name of the animation is Aniforms.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It kinda was. I suppose it's like a chroma-key deal with how the character was manipulated either behind or between the camera but who knows.

[@Pisca-kk5cs]

Devo hat on the tv?

[@TeeVeeGames]

Yup!

[@Pisca-kk5cs]

@@TeeVeeGames yes!

[@KaijudoMaster11]

Twitch

[@leeanncotrone8369]

🎼DonnaSummer. 🎶IFeelLove(1979) then later they used the song from 🎼Conor🎶ImReady

[@TeeVeeGames]

I recently did an update to this video (link in desc.) and was hoping to find later eps of TV-Pixxx to include with the alternate music you mentioned. Sadly, I wasn't able to come across anything new. Still on the lookout.