Students from two Arlington high schools will put their knowledge to the test in a teen quiz show airing new episodes throughout March.
Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell and Washington-Liberty High School students will compete against other high-achieving students from D.C. area schools on “It’s Academic.”
This Saturday, March 9, Bishop O’Connell students will go toe-to-toe with students from Osbourn and South Lakes high schools in Manassas and Reston. Then, on March 29, W-L students will go up against students from Thomas Alva Edison and Washington International high schools in Fairfax County and D.C.
The episodes can be viewed on Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on WETA PBS and at the same times plus 11 p.m. on WETA Metro. The episodes will also be available on the same platforms at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. the following Monday.
The students have to travel outside Arlington to compete, however, as the show is being filmed in D.C. until the Shirlington-based PBS station finishes renovating its headquarters.
WETA sold one former production building to Arlington County and made plans to expand and renovate its main space at 3939 Campbell Ave. It will produce all shows, including “It’s Academic,” at the Shirlington location sometime in the near future, though an exact date has not yet been confirmed, according to WETA spokesperson Sarah Champness.
The new permanent home conclude a few rocky years for “It’s Academic,” which is now in its 62nd season and is the world’s longest-running TV quiz show according to “The Guinness Book of World Records.”
The show halted production during the pandemic and then switched to Zoom before returning to an in-person studio last spring. Three years ago, it lost its largest sponsor, Giant, and found a new sponsor, MITRE, a few months later. After 61 years with D.C.’s local NBC station, WETA-TV added the show in the fall of 2022.