Pardon the Interruption

Segments

• Headlines: (Show opener) Tony and Mike usually debate over five or six issues. Normally they are allotted up to two minutes a topic.
• Five Good Minutes: Tony and Mike interview a sports figure (often an analyst) for about five minutes.
• Between Five Good Minutes and Happy Happy Time there is always a different segment, including:
• * Mail Time, where they read and respond to viewer e-mail.
• * Toss Up, where they chose between two sides on a given topic (and Tony always "wins").
• * Good Cop, Bad Cop, a variation of "Toss Up" played in police officer costumes with one "Good Cop" who takes the side of the person, team, or item that is being discussed and the other one being the "Bad Cop."
• * Over/Under, where they argue whether a certain sports figure will go over or under a certain number (40 home runs, 60 wins, etc). They will also argue very off-beat statistics, such as the duration of Britney Spears's marriage. Wilbon is often chided by Kornheiser and Reali here for choosing "push", as the name of the game stipulates that he must select either over or under.
• * Role Play (loosely referred to as "Heads on Sticks"), where they argue from the perspective of a sports figure while holding a picture of him or her in front of their faces.
• * Food Chain, where Tony and Mike rank a set of teams or players (both current and historical) in order based on a given criteria (such as "Most Marketable Athlete", "Best NBA Point Guard" or "Biggest Disappointment of the Year"). Usually Wilbon and Kornheiser will have variations in their lists, which leads the main discussion points.
• * Psychic Hotline, where Tony and Mike field phone calls, making predictions for an upcoming sports event/tournament. Tony wears a turban, in the style of Carnac the Magnificent and when he makes predictions he places his hand on a Van de Graaff electrostatic generator.
• * Odds!, or Oddsmakers, where Tony Reali gives Tony and Mike a possible outcome of a future sports event and they each state the percent chance that they think that will happen. A selection of "50%" is seen unfavorably, much like the "Push" option in "Over/Under".
• Happy Happy Time, where they send someone a "Happy Birthday", a "Happy Anniversary" (generally an "on this date", not a marriage anniversary), and a "Happy Trails" (a departure of some sort, such as a firing, an injury, a retirement, or a death).
• Errors/Corrections, in which, if time allows, the show's "Stat Boy," Tony Reali, corrects any factual errors that Tony and Mike may have made. When Dan LeBatard is hosting, he refers to Reali as "Stat Face."
• The Big Finish: For the final 60 seconds of the show, they make a few comments on stories they missed.

PTI debuted October 22, 2001. It airs daily at 5:30 PM Eastern Time (if not pre-empted by live events such as golf) and is repeated at 6:30 PM Eastern Time on ESPNEWS.

Guest hosts