Pardon the Interruption is turning 25, and ESPN is giving Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon back-to-back episodes to mark it. Today, Thursday, October 22, marks 25 years since the show’s 2001 debut, and ESPN airs PTI – 25th Anniversary Special at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT), followed immediately by the regular episode at 5:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. PT).
Both half-hours feature the two hosts who have been behind the desk since day one. ESPN has not announced guests for the special.
From Newsroom Arguments To ESPN’s Most-Watched Daily Studio Show
PTI began as an experiment built on the arguments Kornheiser and Wilbon, then Washington Post sports columnists, already had in the newsroom. More than 5,500 episodes later, they are still having those arguments, and both signed new multi-year deals with ESPN in 2025.
PTI reaches the milestone averaging 718,000 viewers in 2026, its best January-through-September stretch since 2018, ESPN says, and it remains the network’s most-watched daily studio show. Its biggest night came on November 8, 2010, when 2.1 million people tuned in.
Popular segments over the years include Headlines, Five Good Minutes, Role Play, Oddsmakers, Toss Up, Mailtime, What’s the Word, Happy Time and The Big Finish, plus catchphrases like “Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.” The show has also won the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Daily Studio Show three times, in 2009, 2016 and 2019.
How To Watch
Tune in to ESPN at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) for the anniversary special, then stay for the regular show right after. PTI is produced out of the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., by Rydholm Projects, with Erik Rydholm as executive producer.
Beyond the live broadcast, a cut-down version of each day’s show streams on Disney+, the PTI podcast is available through ESPN Audio, and Kornheiser and Wilbon also appear early in the weekday 6 p.m. SportsCenter.
PTI now shares ESPN’s weekday afternoons with newer studio shows like Big Day with Peter Schrager, which premiered in September. The format has also spun off international versions in the U.K. and Australia, plus Cronómetro, a Spanish-language edition on ESPN Deportes.
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