It's Academic

It's Academic
It's Academic logo
Format	Game Show
Created by	Seven Network
Presented by	Simon Reeve
Country of origin	Australia
Production
Running time	30 minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network
Picture format	576i (SDTV)
Original airing	1968 - 1978 2001 - 2004 (Perth only) 2005 - present

It's Academic is an Australian children's game show airing on the Seven Network. The show is based on the long-running American version of It's Academic, and pits students from different schools against each other in a test of knowledge covering a number of diverse subjects including English, mathematics, science, geography, sport, music and popular culture.

Contents 1 History 2 Original format 3 Current format 3.1 Scoring 4 Production details 4.1 Crew 4.2 Camera setup 5 Winning schools 6 Notes 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History

The show originally aired on Seven Network from 1968 to 1978. In the years 2001 to 2004, Seven Perth revived the show, leading to a national relaunch in 2005.

The early incarnation of It's Academic was the basis for a series of sketches from The Late Show in which Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch and Tom Gleisner, who all claimed to have gone to the same school, competed on the program with incredible but humorous incompetence. Coincidentally their sometime collaborator, actor/comedian Magda Szubanski had actually captained a team while a Year 10 student at Siena College in Melbourne, in 1976.

Hosts in the 1970s included Dan Webb (HSV-7), Andrew Harwood (ATN-7 and HSV-7), Sandy Roberts (ADS-7), Alec McAskill (ADS-7), Jeff Newman (TVW-7) and John Bailey. In recent years, Jeff Newman once again hosted Perth's version of It's Academic while Simon Reeve fronts the national version.

The current version features primary school children in Grade 6 aged around 12 years old.

Original format

The 1970s version of It's Academic was conducted on a state basis with episodes featuring teams of three from three different schools. Contestants were aged around 16 years, in Year Ten at High School.

Winning teams would progress through to state semi-finals and finals. In many years, state champion teams met in a national finals series.

State contestants usually received Parker pen sets as mementos, with additional prizes (often dictionaries or encyclopedias) awarded to the winning school. National prizes differed but were of a similar financial value.

In early rounds, team captains would 'pick a packet' (a numbered pack of ten questions) from a board of numbered options. Teams could answer these questions with no penalties for incorrect answers. All team members could respond to questions; in cases where two answers were given at the same time, the host would ask the captain to confirm the team's response.

A video-clip round and 'beat the buzzer' segment completed the contest. In cases of ties, captains would pick tie-breaker packets for their team to answer.

Current format

The 2008 version features three new schools every week, the winning schools to reappear later in the season for semi-finals and Grand Finals. Each individual episode features three teams (green, red and purple), each made up of three members from each school.

The show is set out as follows:

• Segment 1
  • Green team question round
  • Red team question round and Random Spotlight
  • Purple team question round
  • Home viewer question (various formats)
  • Commercial break
• Segment 2
  • Answer to home viewer question
  • Red team question round.
  • "Random Spotlight" and Purple team question round.
  • Green team question round.
  • Beat the Buzzer
  • Commercial break
• Segment 3
  • Information segment (presented by Sally Stanton, formerly Lizzy Lovette)
  • Purple team question round.
  • Green team question round and "Random Spotlight"
  • Red team question round.
  • Unscramble this Picture Puzzle (All teams)
  • Fact or Fiction? (All teams)
  • Commercial break
• Segment 4
  • Watch This Space
  • Beat the Buzzer
• End of show

The question rounds consist of a series of 5 aimed at one team only. Players are given five seconds to answer, or longer for a spelling question, and may confer amongst themselves before giving an answer. If two students answer differently at once, the team captain is asked to select one answer.

The Random Spotlight selects a member of the team at 'random'. They are then asked a question about their chosen topic, which can be absolutely anything ranging from academic subjects such as spelling or history, to more specific topics such as capital cities or outer space, to pop culture themed topics.

Unlike the question rounds, Beat the Buzzer is open for all teams to answer. Simon Reeve reads out questions to all contestants, who buzz in to answer. This is the most competitive segment of the show as teams attempt to buzz in before other teams in order to score points (10 per correct question). Beat the Buzzer is a speed round lasting for 45 seconds.

The information segment was introduced in Season 2. It consists of Lizzy Lovette and later Sally Stanton giving a brief report on a particular topic. Teams are asked a 10 point buzz-in question on the topic to make sure they were listening. Initially the team who correctly answered the question also won the right to be the first team to get their question round, but was later dropped.

In Watch This Space, contestants are shown a one minute video clip on a certain subject, about which they are then asked three to five questions. All teams compete on the buzzer for the right to answer the questions: 10 points for a correct answer, 10 points off for a wrong answer.

In Unscramble this Picture Puzzle, a 3 by 3 or a 4 by 4 sliding puzzle is shown on the screens, later it became a 5 by 5 sliding puzzle. The puzzle can be a person, a place or an object. When a team buzzes in, the puzzle freezes. The first team to identify the puzzle gets 10 points for their team and the puzzle is instantly revealed to the audience. If they get it wrong, no points are deducted but they get locked out allowing the other teams to answer it. If all three teams fail to identify the puzzle (scrambled or not), no points are given out and the answer is revealed.

The team who answers the Unscramble this Picture Puzzle question on the buzzer has the right to choose one of three topics for Fact or Fiction, a new round in 2006 and get five seconds to make that decision. Reeve then reads five statements about the topic for which schools buzz in to answer. These questions are simply true or false questions, however in this round for some reason they are labeled fact or fiction instead, and answering with "true" or "false" is accepted.

Scoring

• Each team begins with 100 points. (When the show first returned in 2005, it was impossible to lose points at any time during the show; this made these 100 points rather useless.)
• In the individual team question rounds, 10 points are awarded for a correct answer; no points are deducted for a wrong answer.
• If a contestant correctly answers his or her Random Spotlight question, 20 points are awarded instead of 10; once again, no points are deducted for a wrong answer.
• In any buzzer rounds, 10 points are awarded for a correct answer, and 10 points are deducted for a wrong answer. When the show was introduced in 2005, no penalties were given for incorrect answers.

The school with the most aggregate points at the end of the week is the winner, progressing to the semi-finals and then the Grand Final. The winning school on any one day does not compete for more points or prizes, and should there be a tie it need not be broken. However, should there be a tie after the week, a sudden death question would be given out for the Friday's teams. The team that gives the correct answer gets 10 points for their team and go through to the next round. An incorrect answer would lose them 10 points and the opposing team go through instead.

Production details

Crew

Director - Brian Forshaw
Producer - Antoinette Dyce
Production Co-ordinator - Wendy Lalor
Production Manager - Suzie Baird
Segment Producer - Jenny Forsyth
Floor Manager - Jenny Ward
Researcher - Verity Bell
Host - Simon Reeve
Make-Up Artist - Terri Farmer
Lighting specialists - Shannon Ryan, Michael Burton
Technical producer - Scott Baldwin

Camera setup

There are normally 6 cameras on It's Academic, one for each of the schools, a jimmy jib (which flies in the air at the top of the studio,) A close-up camera, and a camera for Simon. In this seasons Grand Final, the team hired a new camera, which would come right up to the contestants desks.

Winning schools

A list of winning schools in the show. At the end of the season, winning schools will be invited back to play in the finals.

Season	First Place	Second Place	Third Place
Season 1 Heat 1	Ryde Public 1660	Our Lady Queen of Peace 1550	St Michael's 1400
Season 1 Heat 2	Holy Spirit 1630	Birchgrove 1530	Seven Hills 1190
Season 1 Heat 4	Telopea unknown	Denistone East unknown	Bert Oldfield Public unknown
Season 1 Heat 5	Carlingford unknown	St Therese Primary unknown	Epping North unknown
Season 1 Heat 6	St Ambrose 1500	Dundas 1460	OLOL 1440
Season 1	Castle Hill 1st Place	St Gerard's unknown	St Mark's unknown
Season 1 Semi Final 2	Denistone East 1600	St Ambrose 1520	Carlingford 1410
Season 1 Semi Final 3	Balmain 1st Place	OLH unknown	Ryde unknown
Season 1 Grand Final	Castle Hill 1st Place	Denistone East	Balmain
Season 2 Heat 1	Castle Cove unknown	Matthew Pearce 1st Place	St Madeleine's unknown
Season 2 Heat 2	Chatswood 1460	MLC Burwood 1450	North Ryde 1360
Season 2 Heat 3	Quakers Hill East* 1450	Bexley North 1440	St Mary's 1220
Season 2 Heat 4	Artarmon Public 1570	Rouse Hill 1340	Ramsgate Public 1180
Season 2 Heat 5	Loreta Kirribilli unknown	Colyton 1st Place	St Michael's Lane Cove unknown
Season 2 Heat 6	Blacktown South unknown	Putney 1st Place	Gordon West unknown
Season 2 Heat 7	Knox Grammer 1490	Forestville 1390	International 1350
Season 2 Heat 8	Dural Public 1630	Westmead 1370	St Martha's 1340
Season 2 Heat 9	Mount Colah 1460	St Patrick's 1390	Sacred Heart 1290
Season 2 Semi Final 1	Matthew Pearce 1600	Artarmon Public 1520	Chatswood 1300
Season 2 Semi Final 2	Knox Grammer 1630	Colyton Public 1550	Putney Public 1340
Season 2 Semi Final 3	Dural Public 1520	Quakers Hill East 1400	Mount Colah 1300
Season 3 Heat 1	Truscott Street 1390	St Patrick's 1350	Santa Sabina 1300
Season 3 Heat 4	Redfield 1330	Lynwood Park 1300	Taren Point 1180
Season 3 Heat 5	*Patrician 1440	Kings Langley 1440	Arden 1330
Season 3 Heat 7	St Therese 1330	Masada 1320	St Peter's 1220
Season 3 Grand Final	Patrician Brothers' College, Fairfield unknown	[Good Shepherd]	Kellyville Public unknown
Season 4 Heat 1	St Euphemia 1400	Mowbray Public 1310	Coogee Boys 1280
Season 4 Heat 2	Pennant Hills 1680	Holsworthy 1260	Caves Beach 1240
Season 4 Heat 3	Star of The Sea 1420	Castle Hill 1380	Pacific Hills 1310
Season 4 Heat 4	Winston Hills 1280	Thornleigh West 1270	Sule College 1250
Season 4 Heat 5	Blakehurst 1370	Beresford Road 1360	Warrawee 1340
Season 4 Heat 6	Waverley College 1510	Northern Beaches 1280	OLR ST Mary 1270
Season 4 Heat 7	St Gertrude's 1380	Oxford Falls Grammar 1350	Meriden Junior 1300
Season 4 Heat 8	Sacred Heart Mosman 1290	Parramatta 1280	Athelstane 1070
Season 4 Heat 9	Cranbrook School 1470	Roseville College 1430	St Aloysius Cronulla 1200
Season 4 Semi-Final 1	St Euphemia 1300	Winston Hills 1280	Cranbrook 1250
Season 4 Semi-Final 2	Pennant Hills 1410	Waverley College 1290	St Gertrude's 1240
Season 4 Semi-Final 3	Our Lady Star of the Sea 1400	Blakehurst 1260	Sacred Heart Mosman 1200
Season 4 Grand Final	Pennant Hills Public School 1430	Our Lady Star of the Sea 1420	St Euphemia College School 1180
Season 5 Heat 1	Bethel Christian School unknown	Narellan unknown	Holy Family Primary unknown
Season 5 Heat 2	St Spyridon College 1520	St Mels Primary 1310	St Marys 1280
Season 5 Heat 3	Al Zahara 1350	Camden South 1240	Maitland Public 1190
Season 5 Heat 4	Alexandria Park 1380	O.L.M.C 1340	Covenant 1280
Season 5 Heat 5	SCECGS Redlands 1440	Ryde East 1330	Barnier Public 1270
Season 5 Heat 6	West Pennant Hills 1450	Ellison Public 1240	Al Noori 1210
Season 5 Heat 7	Kensington 1490	Berowra 1400	Eastwood 1360
Season 5 Heat 8	Marsden Road 1430	St Pauls Apostle 1370	St Pius X 1360
Season 5 Heat 9	Strathfield South 1430	Widemere 1300	St Kevins 1280
Season 5 Semi Final 2	Alexandria Park 1480	St Spyridon 1330	Narellan Public 1190
Season 5 Semi Final 3	Strathfield South unknown	Marsden Road unknown	Kensington unknown
Season 5 Grand Final	Strathfield South unknown	Alexandria Park unknown	West Pennant Hills unknown
Season 6 Heat 1	Rockdale* 1330	St Marks 1320	Riverview 1250
Season 6 Heat 2	St Josephs 1270	Mascot Public 1150	Ruse Public 1150
Season 6 Heat 3	Wattle Grove 1210	Cambletown East 1070	Crown Street 1050
Season 6 Heat 4	Jannali Public 1270	Leura Public 1210	Parklea Public 1180
Season 6 Heat 5	Hazelbrook* 1280	Winston Heights 1270	Clemton Park 1230
Season 6 Heat 6	Sutherland Shire 1360	Narrabeen Lakes 1290	Glenmore Road 1190
Season 6 Heat 7	Narellan Vale 1340	Bilgola Plateau 1250	Penrith Christian 1140
Season 6 Heat 8	Burnside 1290	William Stimson 1280	AIA 1130
Season 6 Semi-Final 3	Hazelbrook 1390	Sutherland Shire 1360	St Josephs 1330
Season 7 Heat 1	Woollahra 1540	Avalon 1350	Bexley North 1260
Season 7 Heat 2	St Joseph's 1340	Soldiers Point 1230	St Felix 1220
Season 7 Heat 3	St Andrews 1350	Mater Dai 1340	Shelly Public 1260
Season 7 Heat 4	Hunter Christian 1420	Narrabeen North 1210	Liverpool Public 1330
Season 7 Heat 5	Mona Vale 1420	CCAS 1340	Bonnet Bay 1230
Season 7 Heat 6	Wentworth Falls 1360	Loreto Kirribilli 1340	William Clarke 1240
Season 7 Heat 7	Wilkins Public 1540	Oakhill Drive 1370	John Warby 970
Season 7 Heat 8	Blaxland East 1280	Double Bay 1180	Maria Regina 1170
Season 7 Heat 9	St Mary St Mina 1440	OLOL 1230	TWPS 1140
Season 7 Semi Final 1	St Mary St Mina 1410	Blaxland 1400	Mona Vale 1380
Season 7 Semi Final 2	Wollarah 1460	St Joseph's 1420	Hunter Christian 1320
Season 8 Heat 1	Yagoona Public 1400	Prouille 1360	Panania Public 1190
Season 8 Heat 2	Georges Hall 1490	Blaxcell Street 1460	Ermington West 1140
Season 8 Heat 3	OLOR 1420	Cecil Hills 1180	St Francis 1030
Season 8 Heat 4	Scots Colledge 1440	Macquarie Fields 1360	Norwest 1180
Season 8 Heat 5	Pymble Ladies College 1450	Quakers Hill 1420	Busbey West 1030
Season 8 Heat 6	Cammaray 1500	Northcross 1320	Cobbity 1130
Season 8 Grand Final	Pymble Ladies College 1390	Georges Hall Public 1350	Ironbark Ridge Public 1220
Season 9 Heat 1	Oatley West Public 1470	Gwynneville Public 1280	Blaxland Public 1190
Season 9 Heat 2	Normanhurst Public 1390	Rosehill Public 1350	Bald Face Public 1240
Season 9 Heat 3	Malek Fahd Islamic 1480	Birrong Public 1240	Unity Grammar 1100
Season 9 Heat 4	Caddies Creek Public 1320	Glenwood Public 1260	Windsor Public 1170
Season 9 Heat 5	Manly West Public 1410	St Francis of Assisi 1320	Revesby Public 1170
Season 9 Heat 6	Penrith Anglican College 1310	Turramurra North Public 1300	Hannans Road Public 1020
Season 9 Heat 7	Toongabbie Public 1480	Neutral Bay Public 1440	Matraville Soldiers Settlement Public 1150
Season 9 Heat 8	Connells Point Public 1450	Tyndale Christian 1290	Briar Road Public 1070
Season 9 Heat 9	Loftus Public 1230	Killara Public 1200	Oakville Public 1150
Season 9 Semifinal 1	Malek Fahd Islamic 1410	Caddies Creek Public 1320	Manly West Public 1270

Notes

• Third Heat of Season 2 ended in a tie. A student from Quakers Hill answered correctly so they made it to the semi finals

• First Heat of season 6 ended in a tie. A student from Rockdale named Rhonda answered correctly so they made it to the semi finals.

• Fifth Heat of Season 3 ended in a tie. A student from Kings Langley answered incorrectly to allow Patrician Brothers to answer another question correctly so they made it to the semi finals.

• Fifth Heat of season 6 ended in a tie. A student from Hazelbrook answered correctly so they made it to the semi finals.

See also

• Australia's Brainiest Kid
• List of Australian television series

References

External links

• It's Academic Official Site [1]
• It's Academic at the National Film and Sound Archive

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