Pardon The Interruption is celebrating 20 years on the air with a new one-hour documentary and ESPN Daily podcast series. The TV special airs on Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. ET, while the podcast series hosted by frequent PTI fill-in Pablo Torre is debuting a new episode each Saturday from Oct. 2-23.
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser are television pioneers in a format that created “Happy Trails,” “Five Good Minutes,” and helped usher in the mailbag format with “Mail Time.” The show officially debuted on October 22, 2001, and has amassed roughly 5,000 episodes since going on the air.
Through it all, Wilbon and Kornheiser remain steadfast friends and are a beacon for top-notch chemistry in sports television.
“PTI is the gold standard of sports discussion shows and one of the seminal programs in ESPN history,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN Executive Vice President, Event and Studio Production & Executive Editor. “Tony and Mike have shared a friendship for decades which has resulted in a remarkable television partnership – now 20 years strong, an incredible milestone that deserves to be celebrated.”
The podcast avenue seems fitting for a show that’s featured ESPN Daily’s Pablo Torre as a fill-in host quite a bit throughout the years. Kornheiser, Wilbon, and other well-known sports voices from across the years play a role in the project.
Names like JA Adande, David Aldridge, Frank Isola, Peter King, Dan Le Batard, Jackie MacMullan, Michele Tafoya, and Steve Young are all making appearances in the podcast series.
On the TV project, ESPN tapped their E:60 team to run the show as Andy Tennant, Michael Baltierra, Vin Cannamela, Heather Lombardo, Dan Lindberg, and more help put the documentary special together.
Even as they head into their third decade on the air, PTI is still the highest-rated sports studio show on television. They are averaging 626,000 viewers per episode during the first two weeks of the NFL season.