'Pardon the Interruption' turns 25: A look back at what makes it work

ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" turns 25 today — and almost nobody involved thought it would get here. When the show debuted on Oct. 22, 2001, even its own crew doubted it would survive.

"I'm delighted that it's still on, because when we first started, Tony said, 'This is going to last a month!'" said Bonnie Berko, the show's associate director, who was there for PTI's first episode.

A quarter-century later, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon are still at the desk, sparring over the biggest stories in sports with a recipe that has barely changed since 2001: two newspaper columnists talking it out. "PTI continues with the same level of success that it had 25 years ago," said longtime producer Erik Rydholm.

Over the years, the show has weighed in on everything from LeBron James' "The Decision" to the Boston Red Sox's historic 2004 comeback against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series and the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry, its longest-tenured crew told ESPN.

So what makes it work? For Berko, it comes down to the hosts themselves. "They're smart," she said. "They know who's smarter than them." Despite the on-air bickering — she calls them "cranky old men" — Berko says their genuine humanity and curiosity shine through, and that chemistry is what keeps viewers coming back.

Kornheiser and Wilbon both arrived at television as newspaper columnists, and the show's creators built it around their reporting instincts: show up, find the story, and say something worth hearing.