Sure, we heard from a few readers who didn't like Bill Simmons' guest hosting stint on ESPN's Pardon The Interruption last week. But fortunately for ESPN (and Mr. Simmons) those viewers don't matter.
The viewers who do matter, i.e. the viewers who have Nielsen People Meters, liked him just fine. PTI got more viewing the week Simmons was on than it did the previous week.
No Nielsen box for me, but I liked him and would guess from the numbers he'll be back someday.
Here are the last two weeks of PTI viewer averages for the 5:30p ET telecast on ESPN (update: Wilbon & Kornheiser hosted on Monday September 20.)
| Date | Day | Time | Show | Viewers (Millions) |
| 20-Sep | Monday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.523 |
| 22-Sep | Wednesday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.383 |
| 21-Sep | Tuesday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.331 |
| 24-Sep | Friday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.292 |
| 23-Sep | Thursday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.263 |
| 14-Sep | Tuesday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.396 |
| 17-Sep | Friday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.284 |
| 15-Sep | Wednesday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.199 |
| 16-Sep | Thursday | 05:30P-06:00P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.120 |
| 13-Sep | Monday | 03:30P-04:30P | Pardon The Interruption | 1.067 |
Notes:
- Update: the week of 9/13-9/17 both Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon were both hosting Monday-Thursday; on Friday 9/17, Tony and Dan LeBatard hosted.
- The week of September 13-17 the Monday telecast was abnormally low due to starting 2 hours earlier the day of the Monday Night Football kickoff/doubleheader.
