MTV plans on coming to Naugatuck this week.

Representatives from the pop-culture network are scheduled to visit Naugatuck High School on Friday and they are set to interview a group of pre-selected juniors and seniors that could become contestants on MTV’s game show, “The Substitute.”

The event is a general casting call and no schools have been chosen yet, said Brandi Albahary, MTV spokesman, although she said she would share details with Naugatuck Patch should NHS be selected.

“The Substitute,” which debuted last September and will be entering its second season in 2012, is described as a game show in which “unsuspecting students quickly find out that their substitute teacher isn’t really a substitute,” according to an MTV press release.

“Instead of class, they will be competing in a series of trivia and interactive challenges for the chance to win a cash prize of $5,000,” the release said.

How do they do win that cash? By answer a series of trivia questions related to both academics and pop culture, done so through a series of rounds. The host of the show is Jon Garbus, a comedian and writer who has been featured on Comedy Central. Embassy Row is the producer of the “The Substitute,” which airs Monday to Friday at 4:30 p.m.

(See the attached PDF for the full press release).

Just last September, Derby High School was selected as one of the locations for the game show. The Valley Independent Sentinel covered the event.

NHS Publicist Matt LaPlaca said MTV representatives are due to visit the school on Friday at 2 p.m.

LaPlaca said NHS first got in touch with MTV some three weeks ago, when the network called up Principal Janice Saam asking if the school was interested in having students on the show. 

After school officials talked it over, they decided it was a good move and passed some of the coordination efforts on to NHS science teacher Christine Gamari.

Gamari said she has since assembled a list of 80 students to try out for the show. She said she collected the names of the students after reaching out to different clubs, AP teachers and other school advisors. All of the students are juniors and seniors.

“The response was awesome,” Gamari said. “They are all a good group of kids.”

The NHS students that have been selected are scheduled to be briefed on the MTV visit today. LaPlaca said the MTV representatives are expected to pass out initial questionnaires to the students as well as have them fill out release forms.