TVs, also named Television, is a large, household electronic device existing both in real life and in the Pokémon franchise.
Description[]
TVs are commonly used to watch shows for entertainment. However, TVs also provide a vital purpose of broadcasting the news, being able to inform the populace of any ongoing events or local disasters. Most TVs in the Pokémon franchise have no major difference from those in real life. However, as newer models of TVs have been introduced over time in real life, this has sometimes been reflected within newer Pokémon media, namely how only CRT TVs appear in releases up to Generation IV, while only widescreen TVs appear from Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version onward.
In terms of gameplay, TVs are interactable objects in every game of the core series. A majority of TVs display only a fixed message, usually just to quote a few lines of dialogue from the show it is playing. All TVs in Generation I and Generation II consistently show only a few lines of dialogue. In the player's house, there is typically a TV upstairs in their bedroom, with the latest Nintendo console of the time connected to it, and a television downstairs. The downstairs TV of the player's house is often unique, not by appearance, but by playing a film which references one in real life, as suggested by a few lines of dialogue.
TVs are usually objects, but they have sometimes had the role of being items. In certain games from Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version onward, the player can purchase a TV as a decoration for their Secret Base. In Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version, there is a television item named the Teachy TV, which has shows where the Poké Dude teaches some basic gameplay mechanics.
A TV has the largest role in Pokémon Channel, since a lot of the gameplay requires the player to watch TV with their Pikachu.
Appearances[]
Generation III and remakes[]
In Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version, Pokémon Emerald Version, and the remakes Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, the first TV is watched by the player in their new home in Twinleaf Town. Here, just after the player checks out their new room, their mom prompts them to come quickly since the player's father, Norman, is having a live interview on TV. However, the player misses the interview and sees only the concluding lines of dialogue.
In the original Generation III games, TVs can mostly just be interacted with only after certain actions, such as record mixing, or when a certain event occurs, such as the Blend Master arriving in Lilycove City (in Pokémon Emerald Version only), a sale at the Lilycove Department Store, or during a Pokémon Swarm.
In Cove Lily Motel, a motel within Lilycove City, there is a TV on the ground floor that the player cannot interact with because there is a man standing two squares away from it, so it the player steps between the man and the TV, he promptly pushes them out of the way, being unable to see the television screen.
In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, television broadcasts are done by TV Mauville.
Generation IV[]
In Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version, Pokémon Platinum Version, and the remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, a major television broadcasting network was added, Jubilife TV, from which shows are broadcast throughout Sinnoh.
There is one TV in the Old Chateau where the player can encounter Rotom during the night only. In Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version, the player is also required to have the National Pokédex in order for Rotom to appear.
In Pokémon Platinum Version only, the Villa has its own unique widescreen TV.
