Media: 2nd season of ‘That’s Debatable’ to air Friday

If there’s one thing the sports staff of WPRB loves, it’s a good debate. From their radio show “Timeout” and from the way they talk to each other between takes, you can tell that they are excited to take this attitude to television.

The new show, “That’s Debatable,” was created last year by WPRB’s Dave Capra ’12, who hosts “Timeout” each week along with Doug Newton ’12 and Dillon Kelly ’14.

“It was a really cool project; it took a lot of work to get going and there’s a lot of moving parts,” Capra said of the new program.

“That’s Debatable” works in the same arena as ESPN’s popular “Pardon the Interruption” and “Around the Horn.” The show features several different segments in which Capra and Pete Kunze ’14 discuss questions asked by Newton, who moderates and often gives his own input.

The founders had trouble getting the show off the ground last year. In addition to experiencing fundraising difficulties, the crew had to figure out how to film and broadcast a TV show when most of them had little technical experience. With the help of the staff and facilities of the New Media Center in Lewis Library, they managed to film four episodes, two of which aired on the Princeton Television Network.

The crew is more optimistic about this season. “It’s so much more calm,” Brandon Joseph ’12, the show’s director, said of the differences between this season and the last.

Unlike the radio show, which is fairly informal, “That’s Debatable” has a much more professional feel. In addition to having flashy graphics, most of which Capra designs himself, the show is well-scripted. The back-and-forth captured by the camera may seem spontaneous, and much of it is, but it takes lots of careful writing by the show’s producers to make sure the conversation flows smoothly. Capra estimates that each show will take about 20 hours to make.

Despite the newfound professionalism, the show is plenty of fun for the viewer and for the on-air personalities. Capra and Kunze make plenty of good-natured jokes at the other’s expense, and they particularly enjoy making fun of Kelly’s NFL picks, which are featured in a new segment known as “Doctor Doctor,” in which they don stethoscopes in order to diagnose the problems of “ailing” teams and athletes. In the “Chicken or the Egg” segment, Newton asks Capra and Kunze which will come first, Tiger Woods’ next victory in a major or pigs flying.

But ultimately, “That’s Debatable” strives to put a Princeton spin on sports.

“We want to make it a more communal experience, to bring the Princeton community onto the show,” Capra said.

Coverage of University athletics comes first on the show. Along with plenty of speculation about the football team’s chances against Harvard, this week’s episode features a segment called “Average Joe Sports” in which Kelly discusses intramural sports with the week’s “I.M. MVP.” Last year, varsity basketball star Doug Davis came on the program to discuss both his famous buzzer-beater and life at Princeton in general. The crew hopes that more athletes will follow suit this year.

Other identifying signs of a Princeton production include a brief discussion of genetic engineering by Kunze in this week’s episode and an upcoming segment in which poorly performing teams are given a “Harvard award.”

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The first show, filmed on Wednesday, will begin airing on the Princeton University Television Network at 1 p.m. on Friday, if all goes according to plan. WPRB hopes to air the show at the same time in the theater in Frist Campus Center. The next show will be filmed in two weeks, and “That’s Debatable” is planned to continue for the rest of the year.

“We’re catching up to ‘The Simpsons’ in terms of total episodes,” Capra joked at the first taping of the second season. “We’ve got them in our sights.”