From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption
Pardon the Interruption parts of the show, which is filmed in Washington, D.C.;
Around The Horn also originates from the same studio.
Similar in format to old Siskel and Ebert,[2] PTI is
known for its humorous and often loud tone, as well
as the "rundown" graphic which lists the topics yet to
be discussed on the right-hand side of the screen. The
Format Sports talk and debate show’s popularity has led to the creation of similar shows
on ESPN, and similar segments on other series, and the
Starring Tony Kornheiser
Michael Wilbon rundown graphic has since been implemented on the
Tony Reali morning editions of SportsCenter among many imitators.
The show won a Sports Emmy Award for best Daily Out-
Country of United States
origin standing Studio Show for 2009.[3]
PTI debuted on October 22, 2001.[4] The founding pro-
No. of episodes 2,250+ (as of November 10, 2010)[1] duction team behind PTI includes Mark Shapiro, Erik Ry-
Production dholm, Todd Mason, James Cohen and Joseph Maar. The
original deal was for two years with an option for a
Location(s) Washington, D.C. third.[2] It airs daily at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN
Running time 30 minutes (if not preempted by live events such as golf), and is re-
+ ≈3 minutes (SportsCenter segment) peated on numerous ESPN sister outlets (see "Broadcast
details" below). The show originally also aired Sunday
Broadcast
evening, but this was short-lived.
Original ESPN PTI is produced by ESPN. The show’s production man-
channel agement is led by Executive Producer, Erik Rydholm. PTI
Picture format 480i (SDTV) (October 22, 2001 - present) is sponsored by alcoholic beverage company Diageo, via
720p (HDTV) (September 27, 2010 - its brand Jeremiah Weed. It features the voicetalent of
present) Kat Cressida, who was selected also to voice ESPN cover-
Original run October 22, 2001 (2001-10-22) – present age of the 2010 NFL Draft, and provides Announcing and
Narration voiceover for Sports Center specials Jon Gru-
Chronology
den’s Quarterback Camp among others.
Preceded by Around the Horn
Followed by SportsCenter Broadcast details
Related shows The Sports Reporters Pardon the Interruption airs live at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Around the Horn on ESPN. The following outlets carry the show at other
External links times:
• ESPN 2 airs the show at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, with
Official Website the TV picks, errors and "Happy time" removed, and
adds the SportsCenter segment .
PTI)
Pardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI is a sports televi- • WXTR, ESPN Radio affiliate for Washington, DC
sion show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV chan- (where both Kornheiser and Wilbon are based), airs
nels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio the entire show at 7:05 p.m. Eastern Time and again
services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by at 5:30 a.m. the next morning.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and • WMVP, ESPN Radio affiliate in Chicago (Wilbon’s
frequently argue over, the top stories of the day in hometown) airs the show at 7:05 p.m. Central Time.
"sports... and other stuff" (as Kornheiser put it in the • The ESPN Radio network makes an edited version
show’s original promo). They had previously done this available to its affiliates, with only a few segments, at
off-air in The Washington Post newsroom.[2] Either Tony 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time. An ESPN Radio SportsCenter
Reali (host of ESPN’s Around the Horn) or the uncredited update is inserted at 6:40. (Previously ESPN Radio
"producer over the loudspeaker" serves as moderator for carried the show at 7 p.m. Eastern)
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
• TSN airs the show live at 5:30 p.m. In 2011, the such as soccer, mixed martial arts and auto racing re-
SportsCentre edition following PTI now features the ceive much less coverage, and the hosts do little to hide
final segment, but previously TSN did not air it. Tony their lack of interest or knowledge on those topics.
acknowledged this frequently at the end of the show, Segments included in the vast majority of shows are:
often signing off while waving a Canadian flag
• Since April 17, 2006, ESPN has also offered a free Segment 1: Introduction/Headlines
audio podcast which cuts out commercials and Kornheiser and Wilbon welcome viewers to the show
includes all segments. with opening banter. Wilbon usually opens the show
• ESPN America airs the show across Europe in a late with the line, "Pardon the Interruption... but I’m Mike
night slot, usually at 11:30pm unless pre-empted by Wilbon." Wilbon will then put a question to Kornheiser
live sports coverage. It is also repeated during the concerning one of the day’s sports or pop culture issues
following day at 7:30am. (which he answers sarcastically). The two will then con-
tinue a conversation while the opening title card is
Viewers shown. The theme song (as well as the commercial outro
Pardon the Interruption averages a little more than one music) thematically references the song "Cut Your Hair"
million viewers daily.[5][6][7] by Pavement.[citation needed]
Kornheiser then says "Welcome to ’PTI’, boys and
The set girls," and the hosts usually debate five or six topics. Each
issue is listed in chronological order on the right side of
Pardon the Interruption is unique in its studio layout, fea- the screen, and a countdown timer is shown indicating
turing a "wall" full of cut-out cardboard heads of athletes how much time is allotted to discuss a particular issue.
and celebrities that have previously been used in the Most topics are less than 1:30, but major news stories can
"Role Play" segment, bobblehead dolls of the show’s run two or three minutes. If there is no guest for "Five
hosts and Reali, Etch-A-Sketch art of Kornheiser and Wil- Good Minutes," three or four additional headlines will
bon, and several other toys and trinkets they have re- run during the second segment.
ceived, such as Kornheiser’s beloved "Leg Lamp" from A
Christmas Story, Stewie Griffin and Elmo. Segment 2: Five Good Minutes
For different American holidays, the set will also be Kornheiser and Wilbon interview a sports figure, writer,
decorated with other props to match the theme of the or analyst typically for a period of time from three to
day. For example, on Halloween, carved jack-o’-lanterns five and a half minutes. The interview itself is actually
of the host’s heads are also present. The color of the run- recorded prior to the rest of the show and then trimmed
down graphic is also changed to mesh with the holiday down for broadcast. According to PTI’s remote producer,
theme (e.g. red, white, and blue to represent Indepen- with some exceptions, guests are booked the day of the
dence Day, green for St. Patricks Day, red and green for show as they try to obtain the most relevant news of
Christmas). the day.[9] Other times, there are two "Five Good Min-
On September 27, 2010, Pardon the Interruption and utes" segments with two different guests; there are also
Around The Horn began broadcasting in high definition shows where two related guests appear during one seg-
and moved from the Atlantic Video Washington complex ment, such as Joe Buck and Tim McCarver of Major League
to facilities in the ABC News Washington bureau, where Baseball on Fox broadcasts. There have also been occasions
high definition sets were built for both shows.[8] where Kornheiser or Wilbon, while on vacation or in an-
other city to cover an event and not hosting the show,
Segments have been the subject of "Five Good Minutes" them-
selves.
PTI is divided into several segments. It is not unusual for
Guests almost always appear from a separate loca-
the last point or topic in each section to be about a non-
tion, usually the site of an upcoming game or their home
sports-related pop-culture event. On rare occasions, the
city, appearing with the hosts via split screen. On a few
show will stray from its basic format, such as on August
occasions, the guest has appeared in studio with Korn-
9, 2005, when baseball commissioner Bud Selig was the
heiser and Wilbon. This may be the case if the guest is
guest at the very top of the show for an extended inter-
an athlete or coach in Washington to play a game that
view.
night, such as when New York Knicks guard Chauncey
Other than the pop-culture topics, most topics dis-
Billups appeared on February 6, 2009, prior to the Denver
cussed involve the The Big Four of North American team
Nuggets’ (with whom Billups was playing with at the
sports: baseball, basketball, football and hockey. Both
time) game with the Washington Wizards. When this
hosts are avid fans of tennis, golf, and boxing and discuss
happens, the guest will sit on Wilbon’s side of the table,
events in those sports frequently. However, other sports
sitting diagonally from Kornheiser.
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
On Mondays during the football season, ESPN analyst telling Wilbon on the first Role Play "Wilbon will give, I
Ron Jaworski, a former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback will receive".
(a.k.a. "Jaws" and "the Polish Rifle" - the latter usually "Psychic Hotline" and "Good Cop, Bad Cop" are seg-
rendered in a Howard Cosell-like voice), is usually the ments where the hosts take on different roles to discuss
guest, to offer analysis of the previous day’s games and a the given topics. The set is decorated with candles and
prediction for the Monday Night Football game that night. Hotline,
a plasma lamp for Psychic Hotline the latter of which a
On rare occasions, "Five Good Minutes" runs long, host will touch to hear the question in the form of a pre-
such as on June 8, 2005 when NFL agent Drew Rosen- recorded phone call. The question asks the hosts to pre-
haus’s interview ran 11 minutes, forcing the cancellation dict what will happen in regards to an upcoming sporting
of the following segment (Role Play), on March 23, 2007 event. Kornheiser wears a turban, in the style of Carnac
when USC basketball coach Tim Floyd’s interview ran 9 the Magnificent, while Wilbon does not dress up at all. In
minutes as he talked about O. J. Mayo, and on October 22, Cop,
Good Cop, Bad Cop however, both hosts dress in police
2009, as reporter Jackie MacMullan discussed the Magic hats and sometimes sunglasses. This segment is featured
Johnson/Isiah Thomas controversy, forcing the cancella- rarely, and unlike Toss Up, the hosts must take an oppo-
tion of the segment Report Card. site stand on each topic, saying it is either good or bad.
On very rare occasions, the second segment will be a This segment is occasionally renamed "Good Elf, Bad Elf"
bonus "game segment" (i.e. Oddsmakers, Toss Up, etc.), for the holiday.
and the third segment will be a game segment as usual. Over/Under
"Over/Under" is a segment that alternated weeks
with Odds Makers when they were first introduced, but
Segment 3 (various) is now featured only occasionally. The hosts argue over
After "Five Good Minutes", or after extended "Headlines" whether a certain sports figure or team will go over or
if there is no guest, PTI uses a variety of different seg- under a certain number (e.g. 40 home runs, 60 wins).
ments to talk about other sports news and make predic- Reali also announces the topics for this segment, holding
tions. These featured segments often end with a pop cul- cards up with the statistic, as well. In order to help pre-
ture topic. vent a "push" (a Wilbon trademark), a decimal figure
"Mail Time" and "Toss Up" are featured at least once Food Chain",
is sometimes used (e.g. 2.5 touchdowns). "Food Chain
for every full week of episodes. During Mail Time (in where the hosts rank a top five list of teams, returned
which Wilbon provides the voice of the mailbox) the in December 2008 after a long absence. Kornheiser and
hosts read and respond to viewer e-mail that they take Wilbon usually have variations in their lists, with Wilbon
out of a talking mailbox. Early in PTI’s run, an intern posting his as each team is introduced. Wilbon refers to
named Josh read the mail to the hosts. When the show his as "A real man’s board!", but when Kornheiser switch-
changed over to the talking mailbox, Wilbon would ex- es to his, he claims, "That’s it! That’s the list!" A third rare
press disgust at the mail voice, demanding it be omitted. Fair Foul".
segment is "Fair or Foul It was introduced on February
The mail read on air is no longer written by viewers, but 28, 2007 after the hosts began repeating the words "fair
rather staff of the show itself. For Toss Up the two hosts
Up, or foul" for a few episodes because of a viewer email in-
choose between two sides of a topic announced by the cluding them earlier in the week. The hosts discuss a va-
producer, Erik Rydholm, over the loudspeaker, and Korn- riety of topics and decide if each is fair or foul (acceptable
heiser always claims to be the winner. or not). If a host believes a topic is "foul", he could threw
Other frequently used segments are "Odds Makers" a yellow football penalty flag and/or blow a whistle.
and "Role Play". Odds Makers is featured weekly and in- Doctors"
Additionally, during the early run of PTI, a "Doctors
volves the hosts giving their prediction in the form of a segment was featured occasionally, in which the hosts
percentage about the likeliness of a future event occur- had to choose which head to cut off and throw in the
ring. Reali gives the topics and keeps track of responses trash out of two that were stuck together. The hosts
on a chalkboard, to which he refers at the end of the seg- dressed up as doctors for this segment, using coats and
ment in order to declare a winner. A selection at either assorted accessories. Finally, a "time-machine" game was
extreme of 100% or 0% is well-respected, with the latter played once in 2005 and never returned.
being coined by Reali as "squadoosh". Role Play featured
Play, Another early segment was called "Love Em or Leave
in almost every week but less so than earlier in PTI’s run, Em" where a female voice cooing "Ooo La-La!" was played
is referred to as "Heads on Sticks" because the hosts al- before the hosts discussed an individual (whose head was
ternate speaking as a sports figure with the person’s pic- on a stick) they were either "leaving" or "loving" and
ture on a stick in front of their faces. After a picture is keeping on their side.
used, it is usually stuck somewhere in the background of What’s
On July 28, 2009, a segment called "What’s the Word Word"
the set until it is replaced. Recently, the sexual nature of was introduced. It consists of Reali reading a partial sen-
the title of this segment has been noticed, as a sugges- tence and the hosts using a word(s) to fill the blank(s) in
tive musical cue leads the segment as well as Kornheiser the sentence. On July 30, 2009 another new segment de-
Report Card",
buted called "Report Card in which the hosts assign let-
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
ter grades to various events suggested by Reali. Usually, makes the toss to Bristol, Connecticut, where ESPN’s stu-
Kornheiser’s name is spelled "Tiny" instead of "Tony" on dios are located, Kornheiser usually says "Goodnight,
the Report Card board. Another recent game was debuted Canada" while waving a small Canadian flag as Wilbon
Too Soon?"
called "Too Soon? where Reali asks the hosts if it’s too mentions the upcoming SportsCenter segment. (TSN
soon for a certain sports situation to possibly occur. added the extra segment to its early-evening edition of
In November of 2010, a new game entitled "’Some- SportsCentre in late 2010; nevertheless Kornheiser contin-
thing or Nothing?"’ was created. In this game, Reali asked ues with the "Goodnight, Canada" bit.)
Tony and Mike if a recent sports event was significant
(Something) or insignificant (Nothing). After both hosts SportsCenter segment
gave their answers, Reali, through uncertain logic, deter- On July 25, 2005, the format of the show was altered
mined who was correct. This game has yet to be repeat- to merge the final part of the show with the beginning
ed, likely as it’s rather similar to "Odds Makers". of the 6:00 p.m. ET SportsCenter. After the opening seg-
On the last show before Thanksgiving, the third seg- ment of SportsCenter (normally 10–14 minutes), PTI re-
ment is usually reserved for the hosts to reveal their turns to debate an additional sports-related topic, then
choices for Turkeys of the Year, usually people during end with The Big Finish where, for the final 60 seconds
the last year that have usually done notably stupid acts of the show, the hosts alternate making comments on
un-befitting of sport (funny or unfunny). As noted by several other stories, usually ending with Wilbon picking
Wilbon at the beginning of the segment, there is no cri- a winner in a sporting event later that night ("Who Ya
teria for the selection process, meaning anyone they see Got?"). The segment (and show) ends with Kornheiser
fit is eligible. Over the years, the list has vastly expanded saying, "We’re out of time, we’ll try to do better the next
from five to numerous candidates being named during time," and Wilbon saying "Same time tomorrow, knuck-
the segment. leheads." Kornheiser will wave the show logo (on a stick)
in front of his face and tell someone (usually a famous
Segment 4: Happy Happy Time, et al. person or someone he knows) to go to his/her room, in-
This segment usually starts with Kornheiser saying, spired by Betty Draper’s parenting on Mad Men.[10] Prior
"Happy Time, people." Occasionally, the segment starts to the institution of this segment, The Big Finish closed
with Kornheiser talking gossip with Wilbon, someone the show in the slot now used for shoutouts; Wilbon and
yells that they are on, and then Kornheiser acts sur- Kornheiser often had the additional debate as a part of
prised. The hosts send out a "Happy Birthday", a "Happy SC, but it was not treated as a formal part of PTI.
Anniversary" (generally something that happened on the For the re-air on ESPN2, the show moves straight
same date in the past rather than an anniversary), and a to the post-SportsCenter topic after the third commercial
"Happy Trails" (a departure of some sort, such as a firing, break, skipping segment 4. According to Nielsen ratings,
injury, retirement, or death. In the case of a death, the PTI paired with Around the Horn combined to average
hosts referred to this as a "melancholy Happy Trails" and more viewers than SportsCenter.[11]
the background music was silenced in respect of the de- During football season, Monday editions of PTI used
ceased). to air in the former (30-minute) format, with no
If time allows, Reali (nicknamed "Stat Boy") corrects shoutouts or SportsCenter segment. Until midway through
any factual errors that Kornheiser and Wilbon may have the 2008 season the show also took place at the Monday
made. From the time of the show’s expansion in July Night Football host stadium as Kornheiser was a part of
2005 until August 2009, Kornheiser and Wilbon would the Monday broadcast team; after that Kornheiser hosted
then give their recommendations for television viewing from an undisclosed location in the host city while Wil-
for the night as the last discussion segment of the show bon hosted from the PTI studios in Washington. After
before SportsCenter. Wilbon usually chooses a sporting Kornheiser’s departure from Monday Night Football, PTI re-
event, while Kornheiser will often opt for pop-culture verted to its normal format for the 2009 football season
based programming; most notably, he is a huge fan of after the first week of Monday Night Football.
American Idol and former fan of 24, which he says jumped
the shark in Season 6. He rarely states that he will watch Commercial bumpers
a sporting event, saying that they are on past his bed- Beginning September 2, 2008 and for all shows except
time. Since September 2009, they use the ending of the for those taped at the site of a Monday Night Football
half-hour broadcast to give shoutouts to whoever they game, inserts of Kornheiser and Wilbon’s discussion air
deem worthy of one. for 15–20 seconds as bumpers between the commercial
This concludes the half-hour broadcast of the show, breaks of the show. One can see the two hosts having
where Kornheiser bids farewell to Canadian viewers. The their makeup fixed and discussing everything from
segment during SportsCenter was not initially shown in whom one has recently met to inside jokes between the
Canada, where the program airs on TSN, so when Wilbon hosts.
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
Running gags Kornheiser and Wilbon appeared as themselves on
PTI in the 2004 film Mr. 3000, including doing a Role Play
segment with Kornheiser posing as Stan Ross (Bernie
Mac) at one point.
On February 8, 2006, it was announced that Tony
Kornheiser would join Mike Tirico and Joe Theismann in
the broadcast booth during Monday Night Football be-
ginning in the 2006 NFL season. Kornheiser continued
to host PTI, and Wilbon joined him on the road as they
broadcast PTI each Monday from the site of the MNF
game, and there has also been an extra PTI segment in-
serted during halftime of ESPN’s Monday Night games
(although in 2008, Wilbon stayed in the DC studios, on
many Mondays). In the months leading up to the 2006
NFL season, Kornheiser would often offer self-deprecat-
Kornheiser’s beloved trampoline bear ing comments on the PTI show, saying that he’d be hor-
rible for the MNF job or that he wished that certain peo-
The longevity and popularity of the show has led to nu- ple that are topics on the show would ride the bus with
merous running jokes between Wilbon and Kornheiser him to the game, as he has an admitted fear of flying. On
that longtime viewers will recognize. Some of these in- the April 6, 2006, edition of PTI, the same day that the up-
clude such gags as The Bald Brotherhood (He’s) Ya Boy
Brotherhood, Boy, coming NFL season’s schedule was released, Kornheiser
Beatdown! Strugg-a-ling The Yanks and the Sawks! The
Beatdown!, Strugg-a-ling, Sawks!, gave a humorous insight into how he felt about his up-
Penguin Dance Let Me Axe You Something Uranus Play-
Dance, Something, Uranus, coming travel schedule, sarcastically commenting about
offs? Playoffs? Ya Gotta Get Low Bulls Corner Drew
Playoffs?, Low, Corner, how there weren’t any East Coast games on the sched-
Breeees Washington Nationals Good Night Canada Ball
Breeees, Nationals, Canada, ule. He also took the time to apologize to fans in Jack-
Night! and The Trampoline BearBear. sonville, Florida, whose city Kornheiser described in his
In addition, for the first 3½ years of the show, Korn- Washington Post column as having only Waffle Houses,[13]
heiser only hosted a few shows away from the studio, since there was a Monday Night game in Jacksonville on
with Wilbon during the week of Super Bowl XXXVI. September 18, the second week of the NFL season. Korn-
Meanwhile, Wilbon has hosted many shows at the lo- heiser said on the show that if at all possible, he would
cation of a sporting event he was attending. This has like to avoid traveling to the city of Seattle again since
resulted in much teasing of Kornheiser by Wilbon, in- each time he went there, the weather was atrocious (such
cluding Kornheiser’s fear of flying. Finally, on March 27, as the downpour and wind that was constant in week 9
2006, Kornheiser for the first time hosted the show away against Oakland and the snowstorm in week 12 against
from the studio while Wilbon remained back at the set, Green Bay).
as Kornheiser was in Orlando, Florida, covering the NFL PTI will be featured on future EA Sports video games
owners meetings. For the first time in November 2006, due to the contract between ESPN and EA. The first game
Kornheiser and Wilbon "chatted split-screen" from two to have the feature is NBA Live 07 for the Xbox 360 and the
different locations away from Washington, D.C. PlayStation 3.[14]
Usually during Report Card Tony Kornheiser’s name
Card, Beginning in 2007, Wilbon appears weekly as an ana-
is spelled as "Tiny" instead of "Tony". Another common lyst for GMC NBA Countdown show Sundays on ABC.
gag is during games such as report card, and odds-mak- Wilbon is a frequent guest on Washington, D.C. radio
ers, Dan LeBartd’s name will often be Don, rather than station WTEM’s The Tony Kornheiser Show.
Dan.
PTI in Other Media
Kornheiser and Wilbon in oth- On October 8, 2010 South Park spoofed PTI in the Season
er media 14 episode "Poor and Stupid" When Wilbon is on camera
you can see the cut outs of their likeness in the back
The short-lived CBS show Listen Up! was based on the round.
life of Tony Kornheiser. In it, the main characters Tony On October 30, 2010 SportsNation did their entire 1
Kleinman (Jason Alexander) and Bernie Widmer hour show in the style of PTI. At the end of the show Tony
(Malcolm-Jamal Warner) co-hosted an off-beat sports Reali ripped the show in a 1 minute rant.
show titled "Listen Up!"[12] On the day "Listen Up!" de-
buted, Warner and Alexander appeared in character on
PTI’s intro.
5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
Guest hosts NESN, in partnership with The Boston Globe, premiered
Globe 10.0 in 2007, which airs at 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday.
When one of the normal hosts is sick or on vacation, they Hosted by Globe columnist Bob Ryan and a rotating cast of
have a guest host, usually another prominent sports- other sports writers, the show has ten topics that the two
writer. Overall, there have been more than 20 guest writers debate for one and a half minutes, in the same
hosts. Typically, Kornheiser and Wilbon almost never ap- format as PTI (Ryan himself frequently fills-in on PTI on
pear together during the summer months of July and Au- nights when Globe 10.0 doesn’t air).
gust, as Major League Baseball is the only major sport in On March 25, 2008, SportsNet New York premiered
season and has barely gone past half season. The most two new half-hour shows, The Wheelhouse and Loud
frequently seen guest hosts are sportswriters Dan Le Mouths, which are similar to PTI and to each other, having
Batard of The Miami Herald, Bill Simmons of ESPN.com and two panelists debate sports topics.[19] The Wheelhouse has
Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe and ESPN’s similarly-styled a moderator and sports personalities as guests while Loud
Around The Horn. ATH panels J.A. Adande, Kevin Blacki- Mouths incorporates viewer calls and e-mails. These
stone, Tim Cowlishaw, Jay Mariotti and Jackie MacMullan shows air every weekday at 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., respec-
have all had stints as guest hosts. tively.[20]
Many other guest hosts were used in the past, includ- Prior to PTI, the Empire Sports Network had a similar
ing David Aldridge, Skip Bayless, Jay Bilas, Norman Chad, show entitled Pros and Cons. Ed Kilgore (WGRZ-TV sports
Mike Golic, Sally Jenkins, Max Kellerman, Tim Kurkjian, director, generally portraying an optimist) and Art Wan-
Patrick McEnroe, Bill Plaschke, Rick Reilly, T.J. Simers, der (then a sports talk host for WGR, portraying the an-
Dan Shaughnessy, Michael Smith, Stephen A. Smith, tagonist or pessimist view) were the primary combat-
Michele Tafoya, Mike Tirico, Bob Valvano, and Ralph Wi- ants, with former The Buffalo News columnist Larry
ley of ESPN and sportswriters Jason Whitlock of The Felser also on the panel. The program lasted from 1992 to
Kansas City Star and David Dupree and Jon Saraceno of 1996.
USA Today.[15] WBBM in Chicago once had a morning show called
Kornheiser was absent more than usual during Sum- "Monsters and Money in the Morning" in which panelists
mer 2006 for medical reasons. During a phone interview talked about news stories for a set amount of time.
on the August 15, 2006 edition of The Dan Patrick Show,
Kornheiser explained this absence in most of July by re-
vealing that he was recovering from skin cancer
References
surgery.[16] [1] ESPN: PTI podcast listing
[2] ^ http://www.rlrassociates.net/clients/
Other versions [3]
wilbon092201.html
http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/04/
Starting in the 2006 NFL season, Kornheiser and Wilbon espn-wins-seven-sports-emmy-awards/
began hosting PTI from the stadium that was hosting the [4] Atlantic Video, Inc. Welcomes ESPN’s First
Monday Night Football game. The following season, they Washington DC Daily Show: Pardon the
began staging a live 3-topic, 3-minute version of the show Interruption. (2001, November). iCOM Magazine.
during halftime of the game. Retrieved December 16, 2006.
In 2004, Crackerjack Television started producing an [5] Robert Seidman (March 7, 2010). "Updated: BAM!
Australian version of the show, which airs weekly on Pardon the Interruption: Dan Le Batard Doesn’t Kill
the Australian ESPN channel and features former Aus- PTI’s Ratings". TVbytheNumbers.com.
tralian Rules footballer Sam Kekovich. ESPN Australia al- http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/07/bam-
so broadcasts the American version of PTI editions before pardon-the-interruption-dan-le-batard-doesnt-
SportsCenter. kill-ptis-ratings/44105. Retrieved September 24,
In August 2010, ESPN’s British channel debuted a Bri- 2010.
tish version of PTI. The show was hosted by Mark Chap- [6] Robert Seidman (August 18, 2010). "BAM! Viewers
man and Steve Bunce.[17] Don’t Leave in Droves (Or Really At All) When Dan
The ESPN Deportes show Cronómetro (Spanish for Le Batard Hosts ‘Pardon The Interruption‘".
"stopwatch") is modeled after PTI and Sports Reporters, in TVbytheNumbers.com.
that it features personalities talking about sports subjects http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/18/bam-
for a set amount of time.[18] Unlike PTI, there are four viewers-dont-leave-in-droves-or-really-at-all-
panelists instead of two, and segments such as Role Play when-dan-le-batard-hosts-pardon-the-
are not used. Five Good Minutes is used as a discussion interruption/60409. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
of one subject between the four analysts. ESPN Brasil al- [7] Robert Seidman (August 11, 2009). "Sorry haters,
so has a version of Cronómetro called É Rapidinho (rough but the viewer numbers for VH1′s T.O. Show just
translation from Portuguese: "It’s Fast"). aren’t that bad". TVbytheNumbers.com.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Pardon the Interruption
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/08/11/sorry- [17] ESPN UK TV schedule (August 17, 2010). "ESPN
haters-but-the-viewer-numbers-for-vh1s-t-o- UK". Retrieved August 8, 2010.
show-just-arent-that-bad/24651. Retrieved [18] No Debate About ESPN Deportes Series (October 27,
September 24, 2010. 2004). Multichannel News. Retrieved December 16,
[8] Ourand, John (December 11, 2009). "ESPN’s "PTI" 2006.
and "Around The Horn" going HD next fall". [19] Best, Neil (2008-03-25). "SNY offers 90 minutes of
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/ guys yelling about sports". Newsday.
stories/2009/12/07/daily83.html. http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/watchdog/
[9] Wright, B. An insider’s look at PTI. (2006, December blog/2008/03/
1). Collegiate Times. Retrieved December 16, 2006. sny_offers_90_minutes_of_guys.html. Retrieved
[10] http://search.espn.go.com/bs-report-1112/ 2008-03-25.
[11] 2006: Best Year For All ESPN Networks. (January 4, [20] Raissman, Bob (2008-03-24). "SNY raises voice,
2007). ESPN Press Release. profile with two new shows that debut Monday".
[12] Levin, J. (2004, September 22). Kornheiser, the Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/
Scrivener: What’s with all the sportswriters on more_sports/2008/03/23/
sitcoms?. Slate. Retrieved December 16, 2006. 2008-03-23_sny_raises_voice_profile_with_two_new_sh.html.
[13] Kornheiser, T. (2005, January 26). What’s That Retrieved 2008-03-25.
Smell? Jacksonville. The Washington Post, D01.
[14]
Retrieved December 16, 2006.
Gaudiosi, John. (2006, July 26). EA Heads to the Big
External links
Show. BusinessWeek. • Official Site
[15] jessupk (2010-09-24). "Did you Know?…Wilbon and • Podcasts from ESPN.com
Kornheiser Not the Only Hosts on PTI". • Australian Pardon the Interruption
ESPNMediaZone3.com. ESPN MediaZone. • Pardon the Interruption at the Internet Movie Database
http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/09/ • Pardon the Interruption at TV.com
did-you-know-wilbon-and-kornheiser-not-the- • Pardon the Interruption on Twitter
only-hosts-on-pti/. Retrieved 2010-09-25. • Pardon the Interruption show on YouTube
[16] The Buzz. (August 20, 2006). St. Petersburg Times.
Retrieved December 16, 2006.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_the_Interruption"
Categories: ESPN network shows, American sports television series, 2000s American television series, 2010s American
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