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Pardon the Interruption

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Pardon the Interruption Logo

Pardon the Interruption (also known as PTI), is a sports TV show on ESPN filmed in Washington, DC starring syndicated newspaper columnists and longtime friends Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post. PTI is a debate show with a similar format to CNN's former political show, Crossfire. The show is known for its humorous and often loud tone, as well as the "rundown" graphic listing the topics yet to be discussed down the right-hand side of the screen. The show's popularity has led to its format being imitated on other shows, including several on ESPN itself.

Segments

The show is divided into several segments. Segments included in all shows are:

  • The Introduction, in which Kornheiser and Wilbon welcome viewers. They can be heard continuing to banter about trivialities as the show's opening music and titles play. This banter usually consists of jokes about topical subjects or one host playfully insulting the other.
  • Headlines, the show opener where Kornheiser and Wilbon usually debate over five or six issues. Normally they are allotted up to two minutes per topic.
  • Five Good Minutes, Kornheiser and Wilbon interview a sports figure (often an analyst) for about five minutes. If there is no guest to be interviewed, either "Headlines" continues, or they'll move onto one of the segments below. "Five Good Minutes" may also be held to the slot where one of the segments below would usually take place. During football season, ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski, a former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback (a.k.a. "Jaws" and "the Polish Rifle") is usually the guest, to offer analysis of the previous day's games and a prediction for the Monday Night Football game that night. On June 8, 2005, Drew Rosenhaus, agent of such NFL stars as Terrell Owens and Willis McGahee, appeared as a guest during this segment. Kornheiser and Wilbon were so engaged in the interview that it actually ran eleven minutes and the following segment (Role Play) was canceled. The interview is usually slightly edited for broadcast
  • Between Five Good Minutes and Happy Happy Time there is always a different segment, including:
    • Mail Time (featured frequently), where they read and respond to viewer e-mail. When Wilbon is doing a remote for his part of the broadcast, Tony complains about having to remove and read all the e-mails himself. "I do it for the kids!" he says.
    • Toss Up (featured frequently), where they chose between two sides on a given topic. Tony claims to have a perfect record in this game, often finishing with the words, "Wilbon... I win!" and Wilbon disagreeing.
    • Good Cop, Bad Cop (featured occasionally), a variation of "Toss Up" played in police officer costumes with one "Good Cop" who takes the side of the person, team, or item that is being discussed and the other one being the "Bad Cop."
    • Over/Under (featured frequently), where they argue whether a certain sports figure will go over or under a certain number (40 home runs, 60 wins, etc.). They will also argue very off-beat statistics, such as the duration of Britney Spears's marriage. Wilbon is often chided by Kornheiser and Reali here for choosing "push", as the name of the game stipulates that he must select either over or under. In an effort to prevent this, a decimal figure is sometimes used (2.5 touchdowns, 30.5 points etc.). At the conclusion of this segment, Kornheiser says, "That's it! Over/Under is over!"
    • Role Play (featured occasionally), loosely referred to as "Heads on Sticks," where they argue from the perspective of a sports figure while holding a picture of him or her in front of their faces. Ostensibly, each host does not know whom he will be playing before the segment begins. The Heads On Sticks usually find themselves becoming part of the set's background.
    • Food Chain (featured rarely), where Kornheiser and Wilbon rank a set of teams or players (both current and historical) in order based on a given criteria (such as "Most Marketable Athlete", "Best NBA Point Guard" or "Biggest Disappointment of the Year"). Usually Wilbon and Kornheiser will have variations in their lists, which leads the main discussion points. Wilbon does his list first, then Kornheiser revises it, concluding with, "That's it! That's the list!"
    • Psychic Hotline (featured rarely), where Kornheiser and Wilbon field phone calls, making predictions for an upcoming sports event/tournament. Kornheiser wears a turban, in the style of Carnac the Magnificent and when he makes predictions he places his hand on a Van de Graaff electrostatic generator.
    • Oddsmakers (featured frequently), where Reali gives Kornheiser and Wilbon a possible outcome of a future sports event and they each state the percent chance that they think that will happen. A selection of "50%" is seen unfavorably, much like the "Push" option in "Over/Under".
    • Sometimes, particularly when there are guest hosts with less rapport than Wilbon and Kornheiser, this segment is simply more headline-style discussion.
  • Happy Happy Time, where they send someone a "Happy Birthday", a "Happy Anniversary" (generally an "on this date", not a marriage anniversary), and a "Happy Trails" (a departure of some sort, such as a firing, an injury, a retirement, or a death).
  • Errors/Corrections, in which, if time allows, the show's "Stat Boy," Tony Reali, corrects any factual errors that Kornheiser and Wilbon may have made. When Dan Le Batard is hosting, he refers to Reali as "Stat Face." Also, when Jay Mariotti is hosting, he calls Reali "Stat Man." Tony or Mike will sometimes jokingly "fire" Tony Reali during this segment.
  • The Big Finish, where for the final 60 seconds of the show, they make a few comments on stories they missed. Then they say goodbye with Tony saying, "We're out of time, we'll try to do better the next time," and Mike calling the viewers "knuckleheads" while Tony waves a show logo and whispers, "PTI."

The last point or topic in each section is often, but not always, about a non-sports related pop-culture event.

When the show debuted Mail Time, Role Play, and Toss Up were the only regular "middle segments", with the others being added along the way. There was also a short-lived game in which two prominent athletes, often teammates, would be joined at the head in a cardboard cutout, and Tony and Mike were forced to choose which head to "cut off"

Occasionally the show will stray from its basic format, such as on August 9, 2005 when baseball commissioner Bud Selig was the guest at the very top of the show for an extended interview. A similar situation occurred two days later on August 11 with Terrell Owens and his agent Drew Rosenhaus. This change seems to only occur on special occasions.

PTI debuted October 22, 2001. It airs daily at 5:30 PM Eastern Time (if not pre-empted by live events such as golf) and is repeated at 6:30 PM Eastern Time on ESPNEWS.

On July 25, 2005, the format of the show was altered to merge the final part of the show with the beginning of the 6PM SportsCenter. The show runs from 5:30-6, ending with Kornheiser and Wilbon making TV show recommendations for the night. After the opening segment of Sportscenter (normally 7-9 minutes), they return to debate an additional sports-related topic, then end with The Big Finish. The Big Finish topics are actually listed in the run-down, which was not the case before the format change. For the 6:30PM re-air on ESPNews the show moves straight to the post-Sportscenter topic after the third commercial break, skipping the happy time and TV picks. According to ESPN research [1], PTI has been drawing higher ratings than the 6PM SportsCenter, and the format change is an attempt to increase Sportscenter's audience by tying it with a more popular program.

The segment during SportsCenter is not shown in Canada, where the program airs on TSN, so when Mike makes the toss to Bristol, Connecticut, where ESPN's studios are located, Kornheiser always says, "Goodnight, Canada," waving a Canadian flag as he says so.

Guest hosts

When one of the normal hosts is sick or on vacation, they have a guest host, usually another prominent sports writer. The months of July and August are usually full of guest hosts, as Kornheiser and Wilbon tend to take their vacations during those months.

Current

Former

Other versions

In 2004 Crackerjack Television started producing an Australian version of the show, which airs weekly on the Australian ESPN channel and features former Australian Rules footballer Sam Kekovic. ESPN Australia also broadcasts the American version of the show before SportsCenter.

The ESPN Deportes show "Cronómetro" (Spanish for "stopwatch") is similar to PTI, in that it features personalities talking about sports subjects for a set amount of time. However, unlike the American version, there are four panelists instead of two, and segments such as Role Play are not used: Five Good Minutes is kept, as a discussion of one subject between the four analysts.

Trivia

  • It has been suggested that the theme song and commercial outro music thematically reference the song "Cut Your Hair" by Pavement, but actual samples from the song are not used. This is probably meant as a joke, as both Tony and Mike are bald.

References

The CBS show Listen Up! is based on the life of Tony Kornheiser. In it, the main characters Tony Kleinman (Jason Alexander) and Bernie Widmer (Malcolm Jamal-Warner) are obviously analogues to Tony and Michael, and co-host an off-beat sports show titled "Listen Up!"