Pardon the Interruption

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Pardon the Interruption (also known as PTI), is a sports TV show on ESPN filmed in Washington, DC, and airing on ESPN or, on occasion, ESPN2, with a daily replay on ESPNEWS, ESPN2 (when there are no other sporting events to show), and the XM and Sirius satellite radio services on the ESPNEWS channel. The official name of the show is Pardon the Interruption presented by Guinness Draft It stars syndicated newspaper columnists and longtime friends Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon of The Washington Post. Tony Reali serves as moderator for parts of the show. 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.

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The Set

The show is also known for its set, featuring a "wall" full of cut-out heads of athletes and celebrities, bobbleheads of the show's hosts and Reali, Etch-a-Sketch art of Kornheiser and Wilbon, and several other toys and tchotchkes they have received. For different American holidays, the set will also be decorated with other props to match the theme of the day. For example, on Halloween, carved Jack-o-Lanterns of the host's heads are also present. The color of the rundown graphic is also changed to mesh with the holiday theme.

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Segments

The show is divided into several segments. Segments included in the vast majority of 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. Up to two minutes are allotted 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 Mondays in the 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 itself is actually recorded prior to the taping of the show and then trimmed down for broadcast.
  • Between Five Good Minutes and Happy Happy Time there is usually a different segment, including:
    • Mail Time (featured frequently), where they read and respond to viewer e-mail from a sarcastic, talking mailbox, which says "Mail this" and "More mail?" When Wilbon is doing a remote for his part of the broadcast, Kornheiser complains about having to remove and read all the e-mails himself. "I do it for the kids!" he has said.
    • Toss Up (featured frequently), where they choose between two sides on a given topic. Kornheiser claims to have a perfect record in this game, often finishing with the words, "Wilbon... I win!" and Wilbon disagreeing. Wilbon did claim victory in Toss Up on the March 28, 2006 episode of the show, however.
    • 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." This is also referred to as "The Village People talk sports." While Tony gets into the spirit of the game, wearing a police officer-style hat, complete with faux-police badge, suspenders, and dark aviator-style sunglasses, Wilbon usually only wears a hat (often a beret).
    • 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 who he will be playing before the segment begins. The Heads on Sticks usually find themselves becoming part of the set's background in subsequent episodes. The name of the segment's connection with sexual role play is not ignored, as a suggestive musical cue leads the segment, and Kornheiser ends the segment by asking Wilbon, "Was it good for you?"
    • 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, often referring to his Chain as, "A man's board!", then Kornheiser revises it, concluding with, "That's it! That's the list!"
    • Psychic Hotline (featured rarely), where Kornheiser and Wilbon field pre-recorded 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 Plasma lamp.
    • Odds Makers (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". Tony Reali often refers to a selection of 0% as "squadoosh", with repeat 0%'s as "double-" or "triple-" squadoosh. At the end, Reali places a checkmark next to the "winner", and Kornheiser frequently ends the segment with the statement "Oddsmakers is 100% over!"
      • On February 16, 2006, Michael Wilbon became the first of the two regular hosts to give a selection of "0%" for all given topics -- the fabled quintuple squadoosh.
    • 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, in which case it's a "melancholy Happy Trails"). In the segment preceding Happy Time, and before the commercial break, Kornheiser will allude to the people that will be "celebrated", usually adding the phrase, "Sounds like the hot tub at Wilbon's!". Recently, Kornheiser has opened this segment with an enthusiastic declaration of "Birthday Time!" while clapping his hands.
  • Errors/Corrections, in which, if time allows, Reali (called "Stat Boy" at this point) 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." Kornheiser or Wilbon will sometimes jokingly "fire" Reali (if he disagrees with one of them) or claim they don't need him anymore (if there are no errors) during this segment.
  • TV Picks, in which Wilbon and Kornheiser give their recommendations for television viewing for the night. Wilbon will almost always choose a sports event or simply recommend leaving the house and having fun, while Kornheiser will usually choose a pay-per-view movie or a humorous offering such as "When Animals Attack!". He is also known to be a huge fan of both American Idol and 24, both on FOX.
  • SportsCenter, which is preceded by a "Goodnight", where Kornheiser bids farewell to foreign viewers, saying "goodnight" in their native tongue, as SportsCenter begins.
  • Additional Topic, Kornheiser and Wilbon discuss one additional topic, or augment earlier discussion on the same topic, for approximately one minute. This segment may also be used to address a breaking story.
  • 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 Kornheiser saying, "We're out of time, we'll try to do better the next time," and Wilbon calling the viewers "knuckleheads" while Kornheiser waves a show logo and whispers, "PTI."

It is not unusual for the last point or topic in each section to be 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 Kornheiser and Wilbon were forced to choose which head to "cut off". There was also another game, used only once, were Kornheiser and Wilbon looked back in time and made predictions about what would have happened had a certain event not or did take place (i.e. The infamous Chris Webber timeout). Wilbon criticized both the time machine itself and the layout of the game.

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. Another similar occurrence happened December 22, 2005, when news of Tony Dungy's son, James, committed suicide. This change seems to only occur on rare occasions.

PTI debuted October 22, 2001 [1]. It airs daily at 5:30 PM Eastern Time (if not pre-empted by live events such as golf, which usually happens later in the week), 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 6:00 PM SportsCenter. The show runs from 5:30-6:00, 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 6:30 PM 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 [2], PTI has been drawing higher ratings than the 6:00 PM 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 Wilbon makes the toss to Bristol, Connecticut, where ESPN's studios are located, Kornheiser usually says, "Goodnight, Canada," or "Goodnight, Hosers," waving a Canadian flag as he says so. Recently, Tony has flipped to the other side of the continent, waving a Mexican flag and closing with, "Buenos noches, Mexico!" before the toss. He also adds a humorous tag after the "Goodnight". Tony also says "Goodnight" to other people and places, from time to time. For example, he once said a "Goodnight" to Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she became a topic on the show. He also recently sent a "Goodnight" to Chuck Norris with "Stay strong" and a thumbs-up, similar to what Norris' character would do at the end of episodes of "Walker, Texas Ranger"

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Running Gags

The longevity and popularity of the show has led to numerous running jokes between Wilbon and Kornheiser that longtime viewers will recognize. Some of these are:

  • The Trampoline Bear A video clip of a large brown bear in a tree in a residential area being show with a tranquilizer gun and falling onto a large trampoline before landing head-first on the ground.
  • The hot tub at Wilbon's When listing three personalities that will be discussed in the next segment, Kornheiser will usually follow up by stating "now that sounds like the hot tub at Wilbon's!"
  • "Your boy" When discussing a personality that Wilbon is known to dislike, Kornheiser will often precede the person's name with "Wilbon's boy"
  • Man vs. Beast" In 2002, FOX aired a one-night reality special "Man vs. Beast". Kornheiser loved the program and even spent three segments of the show discussing and reviewing it. He pines for a "Man vs. Beast 2" to this day.
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Kornheiser and Wilbon on Other Shows

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 beginning in the 2006 NFL season. Kornheiser will continue to host PTI, and Mike Wilbon will join him on the road as they broadcast PTI each Monday from the site of the MNF football game. Kornheiser often comments about his new gig on the show, saying that he'll be horrible for the job or that he wishes that certain people that are topics on the show would ride the bus with him to the game, as he has an admitted fear of flying. On the April 6, 2006 edition of PTI, the same day that the upcoming NFL season's schedule[3] was released, Tony gave a humorous insight into how he felt about his upcoming travel schedule, sarcastically commenting about how there weren't any East Coast games on the schedule. He also took the time to apologize to fans in Jacksonville, Florida, whose city Tony described in his column in the Washington Post as having only "waffle houses".

Michael Wilbon, occasionally, can be seen on The Sports Reporters, a show on ESPN airing Sunday mornings, where he and other sportswriters discuss the week's biggest stories. Also, as of March 19, 2006, Wilbon became an analyst on ABC's NBA Nation, the network's national basketball pregame show, alongside ESPN SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick and former NBA players Mark Jackson and Scottie Pippen.

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Guest hosts

When one of the normal hosts is sick or on vacation, they have a guest host, usually another prominent sportswriter. 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

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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.

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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 Kornheiser and Wilbon are bald.
  • On the March 10, 2006 show, all of the cut-out heads that are usually present behind the hosts were replaced with cut-outs of Chuck Norris, in honor of the man's birthday.
  • On the March 27, 2006 show, Kornheiser, for the first time in four years, hosted the show away from the studio while Wilbon remained back at the set, as he was in Orlando covering the NFL owner's meetings. Commonly, Wilbon is the host that leaves to cover the major sporting events while Kornheiser stays at the set. This fact is occasionally used by Wilbon to tease Kornheiser.
  • For a time, the show was rebroadcasted on ESPN Radio at 7pm ET.
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References

The CBS show Listen Up! was 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 Kornheiser and Wilbon, and co-host an off-beat sports show titled "Listen Up!"

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External links

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