Pardon the Interruption isn’t going anywhere. And it’s not getting longer, either.
Despite discussions inside Bristol about expanding Pardon the Interruption to a full hour following the cancellation of Around the Horn, that idea is effectively dead. According to The Washington Post’s Ben Strauss, ESPN approached Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser about doubling their airtime but didn’t offer much of a raise.
Unsurprisingly, no deal got done. The hour-long PTI is “mostly off the table” now.
Still, PTI remains a pillar of ESPN’s programming, and the network intends to keep the show going for as long as Kornheiser and Wilbon want to do it, and even beyond their eventual retirement.
The decision not to expand PTI comes as Around the Horn prepares to air its final episode on Friday, May 23, ending a 23-year run. Launched in 2002 — a year after PTI’s debut— ATH was created to complement it. The idea was two half-hour shows, back-to-back, giving each its own space. That 5 p.m. ET “Happy Hour” pairing has held strong for over two decades, and with ATH now leaving the air without a clear successor, speculation quickly turned to PTI filling the full hour.
The concept gained traction, especially in December, when Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported the idea was “at the forefront of discussions.” And from the outside, it made sense. PTI is the gold standard for sports talk television, and there’s no more bankable pairing than the two former Washington Post columnists who’ve carried the show since its debut in 2001. Why not just double down?
But as steady and sharp as Wilbon and Kornheiser still are, they’re also a combined 142 years old. Committing to an extra 30 minutes each day — without a significant pay bump — was never going to be an easy sell. And from ESPN’s perspective, it’s also a step in the opposite direction of what ATH represented: a pipeline for rising talent and new voices.
For now, the network’s 5 p.m. block is in flux. Around the Horn is gone. Pardon the Interruption continues. ESPN doesn’t seem to have a long-term plan locked in yet; it’s just a short-term patch. And that patch, for the moment, is SportsCenter.
In the long term, the network is reportedly toying with the idea of an all-sports afternoon show built around Peter Schrager. That feels like the natural course correction, a fresh format with a new face. But until that idea moves from concept to production, SC will hold the line at 5 p.m. ET.