Segments Pardon the Interruption

1 segments

1.1 segment 1: introduction/headlines
1.2 segment 2: 5 minutes
1.3 segment 3 (various)
1.4 segment 4: happy time, et al.
1.5 sportscenter segment
1.6 commercial bumpers

segments

pti divided several segments. not unusual last point or topic in each section non-sports-related pop-culture event. on rare occasions, show stray basic format, such on august 9, 2005, when baseball commissioner bud selig guest @ top of show extended interview.

other pop-culture topics, topics discussed involve big 4 of north american team sports: baseball, basketball, football , hockey. both hosts avid fans of tennis, golf, , boxing , discuss events in sports frequently. however, other sports such soccer, mixed martial arts, auto racing, , figure skating receive less coverage, , hosts little hide lack of interest or knowledge on topics.

segments included in vast majority of shows are:

segment 1: introduction/headlines

kornheiser , wilbon welcome viewers show opening banter. wilbon opens show line, pardon interruption... m mike wilbon. wilbon put question kornheiser concerning 1 of day s sports or pop culture issues (which answers sarcastically). 2 continue conversation while opening title card shown. theme song (as commercial outro music) thematically references song cut hair pavement. on rare occasion, wilbon , kornheiser not open typical joke, in case of starting show talking death of junior seau.

kornheiser says welcome pti , boys , girls. kornheiser gives brief introduction before moving on first topic. in segment, hosts debate 5 or 6 topics include day s top sports stories. during course of segment, wilbon , kornheiser alternate topic introductions debate. each topic listed in chronological order on right side of screen, , countdown timer shown indicating how time allotted discuss particular topic. topics less 1:30, major news stories can run 2 or 3 minutes. also, hosts can briefly go on time limit in order make final point particular topic. if there no guest 5 minutes, 3 or 4 additional headlines run during second segment.

segment 2: 5 minutes

kornheiser , wilbon interview sports figure, writer, or analyst typically period of time 3 5 , half minutes. interview recorded prior rest of show , trimmed down broadcast. according pti s remote producer, exceptions, guests booked day of show try obtain relevant news of day. other times, there 2 5 minutes segments 2 different guests; there shows 2 related guests appear during 1 segment, such joe buck , tim mccarver of major league baseball on fox broadcasts (another example of al michaels , doc rivers, when appeared while covering 2004 nba finals abc sports). there have been occasions kornheiser or wilbon, while on vacation or in city cover event , not hosting show, have been subject of 5 minutes themselves.

guests appear separate location, site of upcoming game or home city, appearing hosts via split screen. on few occasions, guest has appeared in studio kornheiser , wilbon. may case if guest athlete or coach in washington play game night, such when detroit pistons guard chauncey billups appeared on february 6, 2009, prior denver nuggets (with whom billups playing @ time) game washington wizards. when happens, guest sit on wilbon s side of table, sitting diagonally kornheiser.

on thursdays during football season, espn analyst ron jaworski, former philadelphia eagles quarterback (a.k.a. jaws , polish rifle - latter rendered in howard cosell-like voice), guest. in past, jaworski come on show on mondays offer analysis of previous day s games , prediction monday night football game night.

on rare occasions, 5 minutes runs long, such on june 8, 2005 when nfl agent drew rosenhaus s interview ran 11 minutes, forcing cancellation of following segment (role play), on march 23, 2007 when usc basketball coach tim floyd s interview ran 9 minutes talked o. j. mayo, , on october 22, 2009, reporter jackie macmullan discussed magic johnson/isiah thomas controversy, forcing cancellation of segment report card.

on rare occasions, second segment bonus game segment (i.e. oddsmakers, toss up, etc.), , third segment game segment usual.

segment 3 (various)

after 5 minutes, or after extended headlines if there no guest, pti uses variety of different segments talk other sports news , make predictions. these featured segments end pop culture topic.

mail time , toss featured @ least once every full week of episodes. during mail time (in wilbon provides voice of mailbox) hosts read , respond viewer e-mail take out of talking mailbox. in pti s run, intern named josh read mail hosts. when show changed on talking mailbox, wilbon express disgust @ mail voice, demanding omitted. mail read on air no longer written viewers, rather staff of show itself. toss up, 2 hosts choose between 2 sides of topic announced producer, erik rydholm, on loudspeaker, , kornheiser claims winner.

another common segment odds makers, featured weekly , involves hosts giving prediction in form of percentage likeliness of future event occurring. reali gives topics , keeps track of responses on chalkboard, refers @ end of segment in order declare winner. selection @ either extreme of 100% or 0% well-respected, latter being coined reali squadoosh . kornheiser gets odds add number or form pattern. odds makers noted feud between reali , guest host dan lebatard, accused of ruining game.

role play, featured less earlier in pti s run, referred heads on sticks because hosts alternate speaking sports figure person s picture on stick in front of faces. after picture used, stuck somewhere in background of set until replaced. recently, sexual nature of title of segment has been noticed, suggestive musical cue leads segment kornheiser telling wilbon on first role play wilbon give, receive .

over/under segment alternated weeks odds makers when first introduced, featured occasionally. hosts argue on whether sports figure or team go on or under number (e.g. 40 home runs, 60 wins). reali announces topics segment, holding cards statistic, well. in order prevent push (a wilbon trademark), decimal figure used (e.g. 2.5 touchdowns).

on july 28, 2009, segment called s word introduced. consists of reali reading partial sentence , hosts using adjective fill blank(s) in sentence. game involves made or hyphenated words, , ends kornheiser using adjective aggrandize himself or berate wilbon, such saying won korn-ucopia of words, or wilbon got wil-bombed. on july 30, 2009, new segment debuted called report card , in hosts assign letter grades various events suggested professor reali. usually, kornheiser s name spelled tiny instead of tony on report card board. both word , report card played on regular basis, @ least 1 of them appearing weeks.

psychic hotline , cop, bad cop segments hosts take on different roles discuss given topics. set decorated candles , plasma lamp psychic hotline, latter of host touch hear question in form of pre-recorded phone call. question asks hosts predict happen in regards upcoming sporting event. kornheiser wears turban, in style of carnac magnificent, while wilbon not dress @ all. in cop, bad cop, however, both hosts dress in police hats , sunglasses. segment featured rarely, , unlike toss up, hosts must take opposite stand on each topic, saying either or bad. segment renamed elf, bad elf holiday.

tony kornheiser, michael wilbon , tony reali meeting president barack obama.

food chain , hosts rank top 5 list of teams, returned in december 2008 after long absence. kornheiser , wilbon have variations in lists, wilbon posting each team introduced. wilbon refers real man s board! , when kornheiser switches his, claims, s it! s list! segment called love em or leave em female voice cooing ooo la-la! played before hosts discussed individual (whose head on stick) either leaving or loving , keeping on side. third rare segment fair or foul . introduced on february 28, 2007 after hosts began repeating words fair or foul few episodes because of viewer email including them earlier in week. hosts discuss variety of topics , decide if each fair or foul (acceptable or not). if host believes topic foul , threw yellow football penalty flag and/or blow whistle.

additionally, during run of pti, doctors segment featured occasionally, in hosts had choose head cut off , throw in trash out of 2 stuck together. hosts dressed doctors segment, using coats , assorted accessories. finally, time-machine game played once in 2005 , never returned.

another recent game debuted called soon? reali asks hosts if s sports situation possibly occur. in november 2010, new game entitled or nothing? created. in game, reali asked tony , mike if recent sports event significant (something) or insignificant (nothing). after both hosts gave answers, reali, through uncertain logic, determined correct. , or nothing played rarely.

on last show before thanksgiving, third segment reserved hosts reveal choices turkeys of year, people during last year have done notably stupid acts un-befitting of sport (funny or unfunny). noted wilbon @ beginning of segment, there no criteria selection process, meaning see fit eligible. on years, list has vastly expanded 5 numerous candidates being named during segment.

segment 4: happy time, et al.

the hosts send out happy birthday , happy anniversary (generally happened on same date in past rather anniversary), , happy trails (a departure of sort, such firing, injury, retirement, or death. in case of death, hosts referred melancholy happy trails , background music silenced in respect of deceased).

if time allows, reali (nicknamed stat boy ) corrects factual errors kornheiser , wilbon may have made. time of show s expansion in july 2005 until august 2009, kornheiser , wilbon give recommendations television viewing night last discussion segment of show before sportscenter. wilbon chooses sporting event, while kornheiser opt pop-culture based programming. since september 2009, use ending of half-hour broadcast give shoutouts whoever deem worthy of one.

the half-hour broadcast concludes kornheiser waving small canadian flag while wilbon mentions podcast , pitches show sportscenter studio. according kornheiser, first waved flag , said goodnight, canada after associate director told him additional pti segment on sportscenter did not air in canada. kornheiser made routine trademark sign-off , continued after tsn added segment early-evening edition of sportscenter.

sportscenter segment

from july 25, 2005 through sometime in 2011, format of show altered merge final part of show beginning of 6:00 p.m. et sportscenter. after opening segment of sportscenter (normally 10–14 minutes), pti returns debate additional sports-related topic, end big finish where, final 60 seconds of show, hosts alternate making comments on several other stories, ending wilbon picking winner in sporting event later night ( ya got? ). segment (and show) ends kornheiser saying, re out of time, ll try better next time, , wilbon saying same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. kornheiser wave show logo (on stick) in front of face , tell (usually famous person or knows) go his/her room, inspired betty draper s parenting on mad men.

for re-air on espn2, show moves straight post-sportscenter topic after third commercial break, skipping segment 4. according nielsen ratings, pti paired around horn combined average more viewers sportscenter.

during football season, monday editions of pti used air in former (30-minute) format, no shoutouts or sportscenter segment. until midway through 2008 season show took place @ monday night football host stadium kornheiser part of monday broadcast team; after kornheiser hosted undisclosed location in host city while wilbon hosted pti studios in washington. after kornheiser s departure monday night football after 2008 season, pti reverted normal format 2009 football season after first week of monday night football.

since 2011, show has reverted original format big finish closes show, though kornheiser still offers shoutouts @ end of show. wilbon , kornheiser still have additional debate part of sc, no longer treated formal part of pti.

commercial bumpers

beginning september 2, 2008 , shows except taped @ site of monday night football game, inserts of kornheiser , wilbon s discussion air 15–20 seconds bumpers between commercial breaks of show. 1 can see 2 hosts having makeup fixed , discussing whom 1 has met inside jokes between hosts.