Joe Buck's 'Undeniable' gives viewers front-row seat with sports stars

A.J. Perez | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Top highlights from NFL Thanksgiving 2017 Check out the top moments that helped define the outcomes of the Thanksgiving Day games in the NFL.

Joe Buck doesn’t embrace debate or reality TV.

"I could be an outlier, but I don’t want (to) see people yell at each other," Buck told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s not a pleasurable experience... I really want to be able to add to the discussion.”

While he’s best known as the longtime lead play-by-play voice for Fox Sports, Buck’s Undeniable on AT&T’s AUDIENCE is his vehicle to delve deep into the backgrounds of star athletes. Buck sits down with his guests to chat for more than three hours in front of an audience, footage that is then edited into the hour-long show.

The show’s format mirrors more of a podcast than it does much in the current landscape of programming on sports networks, which has become overrun with debate-type shows in recent years. Buck said the move away from shows like a staple of ESPN in the 1980s through the mid-1990s -- Roy Firestone’s Up Close --- also is a byproduct of athletes’ relationships with the news media.

“There’s less trust by the actual athlete to sit down and open up,” Buck said. “Hopefully, we have been able to build some trust with the guys and gals who have sat down in the chair beside me. This isn’t a ‘gotcha’ interview. There’s no other kind of show out there that lets them explain why they are who they are.

"We want to learn what allowed somebody to evolve as a human being and to overcome their fears. There’s room for this show, and not just because we’ve had a favorable response in the ratings."

That’s not to say that Buck hasn’t drawn some headlines from guests. Recently, Hall of Fame basketball coach Bobby Knight admitted he’s not an admirer of arguably the biggest coaching legend in college hoops history.

"I’ve never been a (John) Wooden fan,” Knight said. "I have a lot of respect for Wooden as a coach, how he coached. He was a good coach. But from then on, and I don't mind saying it, I don't respect Wooden, because he allowed Sam Gilbert to do whatever it took to recruit kids.”

The concept for Undeniable, which debuted in 2015, was developed by Buck, child-actor-turned-producer Peter Billingsley -- best known for starring as Ralphie in A Christmas Story -- and actor Vince Vaughn. In the initial pitch to AUDIENCE programming chief Chris Long, Long said it was easy to recognize the format was much better suited to Buck’s personality and talents than his first national talk show on HBO, Joe Buck Live, which lasted all of three episodes in 2009.

“They didn’t know who he was personally, so they were unable to produce a show in the way where you saw the real Joe Buck,” Long said. “HBO tried to make him something that he’s not. He’s not controversial. He’s more conducive to somebody you want to go to dinner with and spend two to three hours with in a conversation. He’s affable and smart. He cares about people.”

Buck, like many broadcasters, is ridiculed regularly on social media for how he calls football, baseball and, most recently, golf on Fox. Long said those who watch Undeniable likely will come away with a different take on Buck, who followed his late father, Jack, into sports broadcasting.

“He’s not anything like the public thinks he is,” Long said. “I’m glad we have the opportunity to show that after his 20 years in broadcasting.”

Buck has talked to about 50 athletes for the show, which is usually taped in blocks in the spring and summer to avoid his Fox Sports obligations. It was easy for Long to pinpoint the guests he’d like to have Buck sit down with next.

“We still want Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant,” Long said.