A staple of ESPN’s happy hour lineup is officially coming to an end.
The network announced Tuesday afternoon that Around the Horn will air its final episode on Friday, May 23. The legendary show will end its 23-year run, having aired more than 4,900 episodes since its debut in 2002.
The show will temporarily be replaced by a 30-minute edition of SportsCenter at 5 p.m. ET on weekdays until a permanent programming strategy is announced at a later date.
“Around the Horn has had a remarkable run of more than two decades. That kind of longevity in media is incredibly rare, and we look forward to celebrating the show’s many accomplishments before the final sign-off in May,” ESPN executive vice president David Roberts said in the announcement. “Beyond Tony [Reali] and the ensemble of on-air contributors, we are particularly grateful to the production team led by Erik Rydholm and Aaron Solomon, who have been instrumental in ATH’s consistent success since the very beginning.”
News of the show’s cancellation was first reported by Ryan Glasspiegel last November, but not officially acknowledged by ESPN until today.
The show has jump-started the television careers of many talented writers including JA Adande, Kevin Blackistone, Mina Kimes, Jackie MacMullan, and Woody Paige, just to name a few.
Pardon the Interruption will now be the last Rydholm production standing at ESPN, though it has been reported that the talented producer could be tasked with creating a new show for the time slot. Rydholm also created Highly Questionable and the TV simulcast of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.
More details to come.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.