Chris Hyndman and Steven Sabados
With Oprah giving away Australian getaways, Ellen dancing with the biggest names in showbiz, and the View spawning a new knockoff, daytime television is quite the competitive game these days.
Chris Hyndman and Steven Sabados, however, have already far surpassed many of their Canadian counterparts with the lifespan of their daily talker.
Today at 2 p.m. Steven and Chris returns for its fourth season on CBC, which will also be syndicated in the U.S.
I met up with the cheeky duo at the CBC's Fall TV launch, where the hosts told me about their dream guests, favourite talk shows, and thoughts on Crocs.
Now that you’re working on season four, does it become more difficult to keep coming up with ideas for a daily talk show?
Chris: We have such an amazing team. Everybody that works on the show has a real interest for what the show’s content is supposed to be. It’s like what their passions are, what our passions are. We have a really really close connection with our producers, so we all kind of know what we like. They know what we wouldn’t want to do and what we would want to do so we’re pretty blessed to have the team that we can relate to.
Steven: It’s very round table, the way we discuss things. The entire team comes together, we pitch ideas, we build on it. So it’s a very big family and then that family gets to tell the story of whatever the content is. So it’s really cool that way.
What are your favourite segments to host?
Chris: All his segments.
Steven: I love cooking segments, I’ve got to say, because I’m learning so much. And I’m becoming a pretty good cook.
Chris: You are a fantastic cook.
Steven: And it’s kind of cool, so I get to go to school for free which is amazing.
Chris: And your DIY segment is pretty fabulous, you love those.
Steven: I love those. So all the segments I do by myself I love, yeah.
Chris: All his are my favourites because he’s doing them, and that means I’m off to the side taking a break.
My favourite segment usually is the fitness segments or anything that’s geared toward the healthier body or healthier mind. I’m really interested in those things because I kind of lack in those areas. Spirituality is always something I’m really interested in. And I love when the celebrities come in. And so when we have Cheryl Tiegs, who’s a big icon of mine, when she comes in and I get to meet her I’m pretty excited.
Who would be your dream guest?
Steven: Pam Anderson is for sure one of yours.
Chris: Pamela Anderson? Oh she’d be my ultimate. Because we look a lot a like. Who else would there be? Drew Barrymore.
Steven: That’s my ultimate dream guest. I would stalk her to be her friend. I would, I would stalk her.
Chris: I want to interview Ellen DeGeneres.
Steven: That would be fun.
Do you watch other talk shows?
Chris: No. We find them quite boring. [Laughs]
Steven: No, we watch them quite a bit. We sort of see what they’re doing what content they’re doing. So we watch Ellen a lot of times, we love the energy of Oprah. Ellen’s having a lot of fun and we want to have a lot of fun on ours.
Chris: And Rachael Ray? Not so much. You like her.
Steven: I do like her.
Chris: You like her because she makes you realize that you can be real. She’s very real. And we’re so plastic.
What about your show resonates with audiences to keep it going?
Steven: I just think our content is easy, we like to have a good time. We really want the person who’s watching , sitting down relaxing, putting the baby to bed, watching with their kids –
Chris: Or grabbing a glass of wine! It’s 2:00, you’re allowed to have wine.
Steven: It’s past nine, so go for it. And just relax and have fun and laugh. We don’t take ourselves seriously. Our content’s very serious sometimes . . . but at the same time we don’t want anything that’s going to make anyone really sad. We like to keep that to a minimum. We try to keep things upbeat.
Now I wanted to ask you a fashion question. I find when the warm weather comes around people start thinking it’s okay to break fashion rules. Any fashion pet peeves?
Chris: Pet peeves – I’m not a fan of bad shoes with a great dress. Like if I see a frayed heel and someone’s in a great dress, I’m like the fray police.
Steven: Imagine how the landfill’s full of Crocs now. A landfill of Crocs now. What are they going to do with them? They’re not biodegradable. They’re going to sit there.
Chris: They are the most comfortable things I’ve ever had on in my life. I still have them. I like to bounce around the house in them.
My dad keeps trying to push them on me.
Chris: They’re comfortable! I walked all through Asia in them.
What colour were they?
Chris: Chocolate.
Steven: Yeah, try and make it chic. “Chocolate.” They were brown.
Chris: I actually bought them because couldn’t get into a nightclub. I had a really cool flip flops on. I had Gucci flip flops on, but they wouldn’t let me in. So I had to go buy something that covered my foot. So on the street all I could get were Crocs, so I walked into this great club with Crocs on and Gucci flip flops in my hand. It was pretty tragic.