Barrington High School goes Primetime

Bright lights, video cameras and J. Peterman at the podium — that's what greeted a team of Barrington High School students when they arrived at the PBS studio in Providence on Saturday morning for the filming of High School Quiz Show: Rhode Island. 

Barrington's Daniel Sheinberg, Michael Lamontagne, Christina Curran, Clara Klugler, Brendan Fay and Jonny Zhang earned an invitation to the televised competition during a qualifying quiz last month. The Eagles — they are coached by Bob Marley and Sam Schachter — squared off against students from Exeter-West Greenwich in the quarterfinals.

John O'Hurley, the actor who played J. Peterman on the Seinfeld television series, served as host to High School Quiz Show: Rhode Island. He directed questions at the students when the filming went "live" and joked with them and members of the audience during breaks in the action.

The tournament is single elimination and features four rounds of competition — toss-up round, head-to-head round, category round, and the lightning round. Other teams to qualify for the quarterfinals include Lincoln High School, Classical, Bishop Hendricken, Lincoln School, Mt. St. Charles, and LaSalle Academy. 

"It was a great experience for the students," wrote Mr. Marley in a recent email. 

Competition organizers asked that results from the show not be shared, as the program will not be aired on Rhode Island PBS until March.