It's Academic

[CarpetCrawler]

Hi, folks!

My Uncle appeared on an episode of It's Academic in the 60's or 70's. It was the NYC version of the show (Which I believe Art James hosted?). I wanted to track down his appearance as a surprise present for him, and was basically wondering how many episodes of the show are available? Is there much of a chance of me finding his appearance? Or has most of the run been wiped? I've seen a few collectors with a few scattered episodes, but I haven't seen the name of his high school on any of them. I figured I would ask you guys anyway, in case there was a way I could get in contact with someone who happened to have his appearance, and see if there was a way I could get my Uncle a copy. I would really appreciate any leads in this hunt. I don't know if these kinds of requests are against the rules, so if I'm breaking a rule, I apologize, and the mods can delete this thread. Thank you.

[SFQuizKid]

There's probably very little chance that the full episode survives intact, as it was common practice for many years to re-use videotapes once a show had been broadcast.  

That said, surprises do turn up.  

Your best bet would be to contact Altman Productions, the company that created and still produces the show in Washington and Baltimore.  You can find their contact info at http://itsacademicquizshow.com/contact/.

Good luck!  Let us know what you find out.

[mmb5]

A name/school would be helpful.

[CarpetCrawler]

[quote name=\'SFQuizKid\' post=\'246114\' date=\'Aug 19 2010, 10:16 AM\']There's probably very little chance that the full episode survives intact, as it was common practice for many years to re-use videotapes once a show had been broadcast.  

That said, surprises do turn up.  

Your best bet would be to contact Altman Productions, the company that created and still produces the show in Washington and Baltimore.  You can find their contact info at http://itsacademicquizshow.com/contact/.

Good luck!  Let us know what you find out.[/quote]

Thank you very much! I'll definitely contact them. Should I also contact WNBC, since that was the station that aired the show, as well?

[quote name=\'mmb5\' post=\'246122\' date=\'Aug 19 2010, 12:50 PM\']A name/school would be helpful.[/quote]

Currently in the process of figuring that information out. His name is Gerard, but he often went by (and still goes by) "Gerry", to the point where it wouldn't surprise me if he used Gerry for the show. Heck, he was even accidentally referred to as "Gerald" when he appeared on Morton Downey Jr.'s show one time... LOL. The high school was Brentwood High School, but I'm looking to see if the name went through a change in the past, or anything. I highly doubt it, but it doesn't hurt to check, I guess. He would have appeared on an episode that aired between 1968-1970. My Grandmother said it most likely aired during 1968-69, as my Uncle graduated from the school in 1970. I guess it wouldn't hurt to check 1970 as well, though. She also told me that MOST LIKELY he went by the name "Gerard". I'd ask the source himself, but he's A. in the hospital (nothing serious, thankfully) and B. we were going to surprise him with it, if we did happen to find it.

Of course, if nothing is found, that's OK. Considering how obscure the New York version of the show is, apparently, I guess we shouldn't get our hopes up all that much.

Thank you everyone for your responses, and I will definitely update you all when more information becomes available. If anyone has any good leads, feel free to let me know.

Thank you,

Josh

[mbclev]

When I was in Washington on Nov. 11, 2000 to attend a taping, I basically asked the staff about existing tapes of the Washington version, and someone (I'm not totally sure if it was Sophie Altman who answered, but I think it was) said that the Washington shows up to the 1980s were destroyed.  I then mentioned a show from the first Washington season that featured former Maine governor Angus King as a contestant (playing for Francis Hammond High School in Alexandria, VA), and the staff basically said that it's a miracle that it existed.  (That show used to be on WRC-TV's web site before it was redesigned.)  I think the oldest Washington show that exists (besides the show from the first season that I mentioned) is the first show of the 1983-84 season, that featured Winston Churchill (Potomac, MD), Mount Vernon (Alexandria, VA), and Northwestern (Hyattsville, MD) high schools that is on YouTube.

If you don't have any luck with the Altmans in finding out, you might try WNBC-TV in New York, because that's the station that aired It's Academic in that market.  Their web site is http://www.nbcnewyork.com.

[rjaguar3]

Ryan Rinkerman claims to have a Washington episode from 1963, with Walter Johnson, Einstein, and W. T. Woodson.

My personal interest in It's Academic is reconstructing some of the earlier formats of the show.  It would be nice to see shows from the mid 1970s and from the 1980s and 1990s, to clarify when certain rounds existed or were discontinued.  (I've already shown most of my work on this on the Wikipedia article for It's Academic.)

[mbclev]

[quote name=\'rjaguar3\' post=\'246481\' date=\'Aug 27 2010, 03:36 PM\']Ryan Rinkerman claims to have a Washington episode from 1963, with Walter Johnson, Einstein, and W. T. Woodson.

My personal interest in It's Academic is reconstructing some of the earlier formats of the show.  It would be nice to see shows from the mid 1970s and from the 1980s and 1990s, to clarify when certain rounds existed or were discontinued.  (I've already shown most of my work on this on the Wikipedia article for It's Academic.)[/quote]

When I looked at the shows from the Buffalo version on Veoh, the 1978 championship game had more or less the original rules (with the 60-second opening scrimmage added on later), while the 1979 championship game had different rules (no opening scrimmage; each team getting 60 seconds to answer up to 10 questions at 10 points apiece with no penalties, then a visual round with every team playing, at +/- 10 points, then a category round [another ring-in round] at +/- 10 points, then each team getting 90 seconds to play individually, at 20 points for a right answer, 20 down for a wrong answer, and 10 down for passing a question, with a 25-point bonus for getting all 10; then the Grab Bag round [+/- 20 points]).

I have saved an old web page that featured photos of the It's Academic teams from Eleanor Roosevelt High School of Greenbelt, MD from 1977-92, and from those photos, the Washington version changed its set in the 1978-79 season, then again for the 1989-90 season.  I presume that with the 1978 set change, the rules changed in Washington as well.

An interesting note:  the clock in the Buffalo versions that I saw was the same one used in Washington from 1971 (I think) to 1978, and I think it was used in Baltimore as well.

Also, this upcoming season will be the fiftieth for the Washington version, with Mac McGarry as host the entire time (except for a couple of shows he has missed due to health or other issues).

[rjaguar3]

[quote name=\'mbclev\' post=\'246499\' date=\'Aug 28 2010, 01:55 AM\']When I looked at the shows from the Buffalo version on Veoh, the 1978 championship game had more or less the original rules (with the 60-second opening scrimmage added on later), while the 1979 championship game had different rules (no opening scrimmage; each team getting 60 seconds to answer up to 10 questions at 10 points apiece with no penalties, then a visual round with every team playing, at +/- 10 points, then a category round [another ring-in round] at +/- 10 points, then each team getting 90 seconds to play individually, at 20 points for a right answer, 20 down for a wrong answer, and 10 down for passing a question, with a 25-point bonus for getting all 10; then the Grab Bag round [+/- 20 points]).[/quote]

I've seen all of Dino Zincone's episodes on Veoh, but I do have to make a correction:  in the 1979 championship, the first round had 20-point questions.  Also, in the 1979 championship, one of each team's timed rounds was eliminated.

[mbclev]

[quote name=\'rjaguar3\' post=\'246504\' date=\'Aug 28 2010, 11:12 AM\'][quote name=\'mbclev\' post=\'246499\' date=\'Aug 28 2010, 01:55 AM\']When I looked at the shows from the Buffalo version on Veoh, the 1978 championship game had more or less the original rules (with the 60-second opening scrimmage added on later), while the 1979 championship game had different rules (no opening scrimmage; each team getting 60 seconds to answer up to 10 questions at 10 points apiece with no penalties, then a visual round with every team playing, at +/- 10 points, then a category round [another ring-in round] at +/- 10 points, then each team getting 90 seconds to play individually, at 20 points for a right answer, 20 down for a wrong answer, and 10 down for passing a question, with a 25-point bonus for getting all 10; then the Grab Bag round [+/- 20 points]).[/quote]

I've seen all of Dino Zincone's episodes on Veoh, but I do have to make a correction:  in the 1979 championship, the first round had 20-point questions.  Also, in the 1979 championship, one of each team's timed rounds was eliminated.
[/quote]

My apologies for mis-stating the first round point value.  Thanks for mentioning that.

[CarpetCrawler]

Hi, gang! I wanted to give you all an update on the situation.

A few days, ago, I received a very kind reply from someone that worked for the show, but she said that back in those days every episode was, "immediately recycled". It's unfortunate news, but this is what I thought. I will contact WNBC-TV and see if I can get any leads there, so thank you to mbclev for that tip. Thank you to everyone for helping me out in this little adventure! I certainly hope my luck will get better with this situation.