Chris Connelly (born 1957) is an American sports and entertainment reporter who currently works for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

as a contributor to its '' E:60'' newsmagazine. He was also the interim editor-in-chief of Grantland.com, replacing

Bill Simmons William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American podcaster, Sports journalism, sportswriter, and cultural critic who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website ''The Ringer (website), The Ringer''. Simmons fir ...

, before ESPN shuttered the site in October 2015. Connelly joined ESPN in 2001 to host the daily interview program ''Unscripted with Chris Connelly'', designed to be a more contemporary version of the long-running '' Up Close'' interview show which previously occupied the 5PM ET timeslot. The show, which premiered on the same day as ''

Pardon the Interruption ''Pardon the Interruption'' (abbreviated ''PTI'') is an American sports talk television program, television show that airs weekdays primarily on ESPN but can air on various TV channels in the event of live sports or breaking news. It is hosted by ...

'', lasted only a few months before being replaced by an early ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

'' and eventually '' Around the Horn''. Since the cancellation of ''Unscripted'', Connelly has reported and narrated the long-form human interest reports that air on ''

'' on weekends. Most notably, he annually does a one-week series called "My Wish" involving athletes fulfilling kids' Make a Wish Foundation wishes. Connelly also helped

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

and ESPN cover the

Scripps National Spelling Bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee, formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and often referred to as the National Spelling Bee or simply “the Spelling Bee” in the United States, is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. ...

in 2006; he conducted interviews with finalists who had just been eliminated. Before joining ESPN, Connelly worked for ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as a music critic. During the 1980s he also served as Special Music Correspondent for ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'', which involved interviewing the music stars of the day. Next Connelly spent thirteen years at

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

(1988–2001). He hosted the pre-shows for the

MTV Movie Awards The MTV Movie & TV Awards is a film and television awards show previously presented annually on MTV. It began as the MTV Movie Awards in 1992, when its 1992 MTV Movie Awards, first edition was held, and adopted its current name in 2017, beginnin ...

and prior to that, ''The Big Picture'', a weekly show with features and movie reviews. He was also an editor and reporter for ''

Premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

'' magazine, eventually becoming editor-in-chief. After six months however, Connelly resigned in a dispute over journalistic integrity after the owner of the magazine reportedly asked that he quash a story that unfavorably portrayed a business associate. From 2000 to 2007 he was part of the ensemble of hosts for the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

preshow. All of these assignments were for

References

External links

* American film critics American television reporters and correspondents Living people American television talk show hosts American sports announcers 1957 births MTV people {{US-journalist-1950s-stub