The Toy Department – Episode 366

In Episode 366, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s propensity for failing to do his homework properly before getting into the things he DIDN’T screw up:

  • The latest episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (2:30) and the arrival of CHAOS, aka Jordan Wiseley…
  • The new David Fincher Netflix film The Killer (38:55) and how it delivered on Fincher-ness but didn’t totally come together in the end…
  • The Australian show Colin From Accounts (55:25) and whether the new Paramount+ property is charming enough to keep our hosts coming back…
  • Homework for next week (1:02:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the new Hulu show A Murder at the End of the World, the return of Fargo for its fifth and final season on FX, the new film Rustin on Netflix and picking up the forgotten Nathan Fielder/Emma Stone show The Curse on Showtime/Paramount+…

The Toy Department – Episode 238

In Episode 238, Madden and Kolsky are debuting the new pod format/schedule and waste little time getting into:

  • HBO Max’s new Kaley Cuoco vehicle The Flight Attendant (1:50) and how the show and its star are both revelations…
  • The new Netflix film Mank (9:50) and whether David Fincher’s throwback to black-and-white movies has enough to draw in those who are not particularly interested in that time period…
  • The return of Big Mouth (24:05) and how Nick Kroll & Co. continue to execute at the highest possible level…
  • A few quick sports thoughts (34:30) touching on MLS and MLB…
  • Homework for of next Tuesday (39:35), including: HBO’s new special episodes of Euphoria, the new Soderbergh/Meryl Streep movie Let Them All Talk on HBO Max, the Riz Ahmed film The Sound of Metal and the Rachel Brosnahan action flick I’m Your Woman, both on Amazon Prime… PLUS, our first VERY SPECIAL CHALLENGE EPISODE coming on Thursday!!!

The Toy Department – Episode 179

In Episode 179, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky exchange pleasantries and childcare thoughts before shuffling through:

  • The new film Good Boys (3:15) and how producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have once again made a delightful film of a very specific type…
  • Another Rogen/Goldberg joint, Amazon’s The Boys (13:05) and how both guys feel after the conclusion of its first season…
  • The premiere of The Righteous Gemstones (26:10), another deeply Danny McBride-ish dark comedy on HBO…
  • The return of Netflix’s Mindhunter (33:45) and some of the things that make it one of the best TV shows going…
  • Homework for next week (50:10), including: the new Showtime series On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Dave Chappelle’s new stand-up special and The Let Down (an Australian dramedy) on Netflix, plus two new albums — Little Brother’s May the Lord Watch and Sleater-Kinney’s The Center Won’t Hold…

The Toy Department – Episode 91

In Episode 91, Matt Kolsky and Derek Madden lament the suddenly crowded entertainment landscape before soldiering on to actually talk about some of it, including:

  • Netflix’s new David Fincher-produced series Mindhunter (7:30) and whether it stands up to the impressive Fincher filmography…
  • Another new Netflix show, American Vandal (21:30) and how it plays to a fan of real crime shows versus someone who does not watch them…
  • Beck’s new album Colors (32:20) which surprised both Madden and Kolsky but only really appealed to one of them…
  • MLB’s World Series (41:30) because yes, it is happening RIGHT NOW, and baseball playoffs are pretty entertaining…
  • The NFL season (48:15) and how it has failed to produce any really good teams or much good football so far… Is this the “parity” we’ve been hearing about?
  • Homework for next week (1:09:00) including: Season 2 of Netflix’s Stranger Things, the Netflix film The Meyerowitz Stories, the return of The Walking Dead and catching up on all the many, many TV shows that have gotten underway this month…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes/Stitcher/Google Play/etc. you can just click on the link below the player (and don’t forget to leave us a review!!)… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.