Off the Record with Michael Landsberg

Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, a.k.a. Off the Record or OTR, is a Canadian sports talk show on TSN hosted by Michael Landsberg. Since the program debuted on TSN in 1997, it has become the longest-running sports talk show on Canadian television.^[1][2]

History

The half hour show features guests from various backgrounds, ranging from the sports athletes to reporters to political figures or even entertainers, participating as panelists in a round table discussion on notable sports events of the day, with Landsberg serving as the moderator. Occasionally, an episode would feature just one guest in a one-on-one interview with Landsberg, usually from the sports world or WWE personalities. Prior to the second commercial break of the show, a portion of the commercial bumper includes a "Quirky Fact" shown on the screen related either to the major sports topic of the day, or in relation to the guest being interviewed by Landsberg. Prior to the third commercial break, a portion of the bumper includes Landsberg reading a witty e-mail to the show from a viewer, often a shot directed towards him. However, when there is a one-on-one interview that Landsberg is conducting with someone that is dealing with an issue of seriousness or solemness, this segment is omitted.

During its initial years, Landsberg would always preface before the discussion with his guest panel or one-on-one guest interview that whatever opinions were stated by his guests on the program would be off the record and could therefore not be used against them. This practice, however, eventually disappeared in later seasons.

In recent years, the guest panel segment has been sandwiched between the opening "Up Front" segment (where Landsberg asks a guest one-on-one questions in relation to a sports issue of the day) and the closing "Next Question" segment (where Landsberg quickly rattles off a series of one-on-one questions that relates to the guest's interests and background).

Clips of Off The Record were featured in the 1998 documentary film Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows.

On November 17, 2015, the Globe and Mail (amongst other outlets) reported that Off The Record would be ending its 18 year run as a standalone program. Landsberg would remain employed at TSN to produce shorter segments, but many of the show's staff were let go.^[3]

References

External links

• Off The Record site from TSN.ca
• Off The Record on Twitter
• Off The Record at the Internet Movie Database