Lights, Camera, Action: 'Princeton Pundits' takes to the air

Whether because of boredom or sheer laziness to reach for the remote, many University students have spent time staring at the blue announcement channel on Princeton's cable network.

Soon, however, a new television show may provide relief to student eyes and replace the scrolling lists of events, if only for an hour a day.

Here to save viewers from the Princeton Bulletin Board Channel is Andy Luse '02 with his not-so-secret weapon — the aptly-named "Princeton Pundits."

"To be honest my mom thought of the name," Luse admitted.

"Since freshman year, I've been staring at that blue screen and I ask, 'why doesn't someone fill up that screen?'" he said.

Drawing on experience he gained through his high school's television program and an internship with the TV show "Crossfire," Luse decided to take on the task.

Luse approached F. Dok Harris '01 — now executive producer of "Princeton Pundits" — and laid out plans for his show. Harris, who founded the Princeton Broadcasting Company two years ago and has already produced his own show, took to the idea.

"Andy put together a really good proposal," Harris said. "The idea is every week, get on a couple of people who are knowledgeable about a subject important to the University and make it interesting."

The show — which Luse said was similar to both "Crossfire" and "Politically Incorrect" — taped its first program on Wednesday in the Frist Campus Center.

With co-host Seth Green '01 and guests Ryan Salvatore '02 and Josh Boak '01, Luse held a discussion on the proposed four-year residential colleges.

Boak, a member of Quipfire, spiced up the debate with his trademark humor. "At one point, it basically came across like the four-year residential college system was just an opportunity for senior guys to meet freshman girls," he said.

While Boak and Green held a more skeptical stance, Luse and Salvatore — a member of the Sixth College Program committee — support of the four-year residential colleges.

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"It was a really spirited debate — it stayed interesting the whole time," Harris said.

Luse says he already has plans for future programs on topics including workers' rights, Bicker and national politics.

"I basically wanted to discuss issues that matter to everyday average students at Princeton," Luse said.

The fledgling show is not quite ready to set out on its own, however. Harris and Luse are funding the entire show out of their own pockets and are using their own equipment, according to Harris.

Harris, for example, owns the digital cameras used to film the show — a potential problem, since Harris is a graduating senior. "It's OK for this year but once Dok leaves and takes his equipment, we will definitely need new equipment," Luse said. "Media services has cameras but they charge pretty high fees. It's not a good proposition."

For now, the show's staff remains limited to Luse, Harris and Green. However, Luse mentioned the possibility of bringing in more people. "The idea is that if students see the show and like it, more students will want to get involved," he said.

The show's air time is still uncertain, but it will probably play at night, according to Luse. Since Media Services, which is in charge of the channel, runs the same schedule for the entire week, students will be able to watch the show any night of the week, Luse said.

Don Albury, manager of Media Services, said that though he has been contacted about the show, he has not received an official request to put it on the air. "When they ask us officially we'll take care of it," he said. "It'll go through channels and it'll probably be on the air."

Whether "Princeton Pundits" will be successful remains to be seen. But the odds seem to be in its favor. After all, it can't it be hard to beat a blue screen filled with announcements.