Powerhouse (TV series)

PowerHouse
Title card of the "PowerHouse" television series.
Created by	Mark Johnson
Developed by	Educational Film Center
Written by	Ruth Pollak
Directed by	John Gray Michael Switzer
Creative director(s)	Johnson B. Gordon
Presented by	Elizabeth Johnson
Starring	Sandra Bowie Domenica Galati Jason Kravits Michael Mack Jessica Prentice Michael Wikes
Voices of	Mark Gordon
Narrated by	Mark Johnson
Theme music composer	Richard Paul Brier (theme)
Opening theme	"The PowerHouse Is You!" (Opening Theme)
Ending theme	"The PowerHouse Is You!" (Closing Theme)
Composer(s)	Fred Karns (score)
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	18 (2 never aired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Simon Spenscer
Producer(s)	Ira H. Klugerman Martin Sonnenberg
Location(s)	Washington, DC
Cinematography	Tom Richmond
Editor(s)	Terry Halle
Camera setup	16-millimeter film
Running time	28 minutes
Release
Original network	PBS Nickelodeon
Picture format	1.37:1
Audio format	Mono
Original release	December 12, 1982 – January 3, 1983

PowerHouse is a United States television series produced by the Educational Film Center at Northern Virginia ETV and aired on PBS for 16 episodes in 1982 (two episodes never aired). It billed itself as "a 16-part series for young people and their families," with the target audience being primarily kids, preteens, teenagers,& young adults, and it was widely praised by educational groups. The series was later rerun by Nickelodeon in the mid-1980s.

Set in Washington, DC, Powerhouse is focused on the adventures of a racially and ethnically diverse group of five teenagers and one adult from the inner city, based at a former boxing and sports gym headquarters turned community center for kids and teens. The center was founded by Brenda Gaines, a woman who inherited the place from her late father, a former boxing champion. The basic theme of the series is that every person is a source of creativity and power. “We all have a Powerhouse deep down inside,” it says in the theme song of the show.

Each Powerhouse episode dealt with significant personal issues that affected both kids and teenagers such as alcoholism, peer pressure, physical fitness, and more, but they were combined with fast-paced action-adventure stories in which the group often had to solve a mystery or prevent a crime. For instance, in one episode they had to uncover the head of a racketeering operation that threatened to put Brenda and PowerHouse out of business. In another episode, they tried to track down the source of a potentially lethal food-poisoning epidemic, a task that took on even greater urgency when one of the group became infected.

One of Powerhouse's innovations was the use of what the show called Uncommercials. Since the show ran on PBS, which is commercial-free, the producers created 30- to 90-second commercial-like breaks that would air during the broadcast. Instead of selling products, uncommercials would sell a theme, often in entertaining or humorous ways.

One uncommercial, for example, featured a 12-year-old boy who asked, “How do I get a girl to like me?” Several boys and girls of around the same age then offered suggestions. Another one asked, “What is a friend?” and several teenagers answered, one of which was future Saturday Night Live star Ana Gasteyer (her answer: “Someone you can be weird with.”) in her first-ever TV appearance.