Pardon the Interruption turns 25 today on ESPN. Dan Le Batard says the ESPN staple has earned its place as an American icon.
What We Know: Pardon the Interruption debuted on ESPN on October 22, 2001. Since then, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon have co-hosted the show together. Meanwhile, Le Batard became a frequent guest host and later launched Highly Questionable on ESPN in 2011. In recognizing the program’s 25th anniversary Thursday, Le Batard marveled at the continued viewership wins for the program despite the show being an appointment and not catering to a growing on-demand audience culture.
What They Said: (all quotes via The Dan Le Batard Show):
Dan Le Batard believes Pardon the Interruption is in a class all its own: “My show [Highly Questionable], Around the Horn, gone. What has stayed there as an American icon, one of the best sports shows there has ever been is at 5:30. These two old guys who have chemistry that’s super unusual. Who love each other but argue all the time, and have genuine television friendship. It’s the rarest of things.”
Dan Le Batard says the genuine love that Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser have is unique: “I put Pardon the Interruption in a totally different class from all of the other takers. Because you know they love each other. It’s not performative. They actually love each other. They’re on television. Inside the NBA has this. The FOX Sports broadcast with [Jay] Glazer and those guys has this. There are very few that these people all love each other.”
Dan Le Batard credits the continued viewership success of Pardon the Interruption: “Those old guys, 25 years in, to have in the 5:30 time slot, like totally random. Still a show that does the bigger numbers than First Take. Bigger numbers than [Pat] McAfee. Bigger numbers than everyone 25 years in at 5:30 after a quarter of a century…People don’t watch SportsCenter the way they used to. PTI has dwarfed SportsCenter for more than a decade in terms of what the numbers they do.”
Dan Le Batard believes it’s odd that appointment studio television works with Pardon the Interruption: “People are watching this stuff totally differently. An appointed time is when it’s available to you, and it’s still doing numbers when that’s not even how people watch television anymore? No, don’t tell me about [PTI] as a lead into SportsCenter. 4:30 is not a good time. 530 is not a good time. It’s just the time.”
What Remains Unclear: Right now, PTI is riding a viewership surge into the milestone. In fact, the show averaged 794,000 viewers in September, its best September since 2015. However, neither host has said how long the run will continue.
What It Means: Ultimately, Le Batard’s praise carries extra weight because he helped shape the show in some manner over the past 25 years. Moreover, he argues PTI succeeds despite a time slot and viewing habits working against it. As a result, the “American icon” label rests on both chemistry and raw numbers. In short, few studio shows reach 25 years with their original hosts. Pardon the Interruption continues to be a daily staple for sports fans despite the changes in appetite, investment, and overall interest of studio programming.
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