Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Another Tuesday with nothing to watch on the tube.

I’m not a typical television watcher. On any given week, I watch about two hours of TV. I watch Heroes on Mondays at nine and Chris and Todd Present on Tuesdays at 11. Soon, I might have to go around saying “I used to watch Chris and Todd.”

Once a week, Chris Floyd and Todd Kokensparger sit down in front of a table in the Tampa Bay Community Network studio at the University of Tampa. (Not to be confused with the Tampa Bay Christian Network, also identified with the letters TBCN.)

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to speak with the duo and Allen Hampton Jr., their producer, at Todd’s home. I was concerned because of a hiatus they mentioned was coming during their previous show. I admit, I’m addicted to my Tuesday dose of Chris and Todd.

For those not familiar with Chris and Todd, watching the show is like rubbernecking at the aftermath of a horrific car crash; no matter how I feel inside, I can’t look away. The show is made of up Chris ranting about our current government and educating about politicos running in the upcoming elections, Todd insulting the people who call in, callers insulting the two men in front of the camera, and tidbits of pop culture knowledge thrown in.

“The basic premise of the show is that Todd’s the assh*le who makes you wish you never called, and I’m the one telling you about stuff you couldn’t care less about,” Chris said.

“We try to make it seem like you’re hanging out with us,” Chris added later on in the night.

The juvenile antics of Chris and Todd on the show somewhat conceal their quick wit and knowledge about current affairs.

Todd’s the ringleader when it comes to general mischief; he doles out the most insults and makes sure the studio’s address is displayed when people threaten him and Chris on the air. When things get too heavy, he brings the show back to answering the phones and talking to callers, although he hangs up on most of the people who call in for having their TVs turned up too loud.

“It’s meant to distract you purposefully,” Chris said about Todd’s part in the show. “It kind of distracts you from the information you should care about.”

Chris added that he thinks of the shows audience consists of two parts, people who wish Chris would talk more politics and people who wish Todd would insult more people.

Todd said he has to keep things moving, because viewers would get bored if Chris talked too long.

After observing the mom jokes, sex jokes, gay jokes, and conspiracy theories, I had to ask them how far they were willing to go on the show. Todd was quick to answer.

“We’d never show naked girls,” Todd said. “Who would want to watch me after seeing naked girls?”

Thanks to the uncertain future of TBCN, Tampa’s public access cable station, they might not have a show for much longer. You see, the Hillsborough County Commissioners have denied funding for TBCN once and plan to deny funding the next time it comes before them. TBCN now has a law suit against the commissioners.

With the decision still up in the air, Chris and Todd feel the people who live in the county aren’t doing enough to keep the station going.

“I’m mad because the citizens didn’t do anything to keep them from taking our funding,” Todd said.

According to filed court documents about the suit, TBCN (or Speak Up Tampa Bay, as it’s named in the documents) is seeking “immediate relief from the defendants’ determination to terminate its agreement with Speak Up and to terminate a public forum for
constitutionally-protected speech by residents of the unincorporated areas of Hillsborough
County…”

Chris says the show’s hiatus is because of a dispute over whether or not Chris and Todd have the right to use the studios, resulting from their status as residents of unincorporated areas of Hillsborough County.

Todd is listed in the court documents as one of the 46 percent of studio members who reside in unincorporated areas.

According to Todd, they have one episode airing Nov. 20 and will resume airing the series near the end of December for TCBN’s new season. Hillsborough County commissioners may cut funding to the station as early as January, which would mean the end for Chris and Todd’s show.

I plan on revolving my Tuesdays around Chris and Todd, just in case.

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