Tag Archives: John Early

The Toy Department – Episode 291

  By toyAdmin | March 4, 2022 - 5:56 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 291, Madden and Kolsky return from a Kolsky-forced hiatus to celebrate (or denigrate) all the pop culture they consumed while away, specifically:

  • The premiere of Top Chef Houston (2:25) and who the guys fell in love with in the first episode, plus thoughts on the first elimination and potential favorites to win…
  • The second season of The Righteous Gemstones (23:15) and how Madden is enjoying a slight shift in content…
  • The end of AppleTV+’s The Afterparty (24:55) and how ultimately it’s just a really good hang, even if it’s not always laugh-out-loud funny…
  • Season two of Euphoria (29:00) and how both hosts love this completely insane and wildly unbelievable show…
  • A quick take on The Girl Before (45:30) and how its particular brand of psychosexual melodrama is less than totally appealing…
  • A few thoughts on the Oscar-nominated film The Power of the Dog (47:00) and how neither host found it enjoyable, but for very different reasons than Sam Elliott…
  • Netflix’s new sensation Inventing Anna (52:15) and how it’s a very Shonda Rhimes show with some great acting and a fascinating story to tell…
  • The utterly “meh” Soderbergh joint Kimi (53:30) and how somehow it’s an empty enough effort to make both hosts indifferent towards Zoe Kravitz…
  • Potential future homeworks (55:30) Superpumped: The Battle for Uber and the Apple TV+ show Severance, directed by Ben Stiller; but those go on the back burner for now because we have…
  • Homework for next Friday (57:10), including: HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, the Oscar-nominated movie Nightmare Alley, the return of the original Law & Order and the new Prime Video cartoon The Boys Presents: Diabolical…

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The Toy Department – Episode 218

  By toyAdmin | July 2, 2020 - 2:55 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 218, Kolsky gives Madden the scoop on a mildly disastrous start to his road trip vacation before discussing:

  • The new Netflix/Will Ferrell movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (7:05) and its star-powered cast…
  • The first episode of HBO’s I’ll Be Gone In the Dark (14:00) and its twin storylines of Michelle McNamara and her subject…
  • The first two episodes of HBO’s Perry Mason (21:20) and how few redeeming qualities the show has…
  • The third season of Search Party (26:55) now on HBO Max, and what remains appealing about this weird little show…
  • The return of The Chi on Showtime (31:35) and settling into a new season minus a couple of ostensibly major characters…
  • The last two weeks of action on The Challenge: Total Madness (41:05) and the departure of Aneesa and Josh…
  • Homework for next week (1:06:25), including: another episode of The Challenge, checking out Hamilton on Disney+, Cate Blanchett’s new show Stateless on Netflix, and probably some other stuff too…

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The Toy Department – Episode 50

  By toyAdmin | December 14, 2016 - 7:52 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 50, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with an only moderately upsetting discussion of their respective ailments before getting to the real dope, including:

  • TBS’s binge-ready and binge-worthy show Search Party (4:15) and how it manages to succeed as a mystery despite not caring much about the plot of its own mystery… Leading to some thoughts on the way TBS is producing content (14:25) right now…
  • Following up on last week’s musical homework, as the guys continue to explore the differences in their musical taste: Kolsky listened to Metallica’s Hardwired… To Self Destruct (18:05) to please Madden… and Madden listened to Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love! (29:35) to please Kolsky… Spoiler Alert: they do not agree on either record…
  • A look at the National Football League (41:00) as it heads down the home stretch… Specifically, the league seems to have found the “parity” it has allegedly been seeking for some time now — but is this a good thing?
  • Major League Baseball’s new anti-hazing policy (56:10) and whether it marks a significant change in approach…
  • Some homework for next week (1:08:15): The Toy Department Takes On the Classics will return, as Kolsky and Madden will watch the documentary film Scratch (a true, if somewhat undiscovered classic) and revisit the classic Clash album London Calling…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes you can just click on the link below the player… Some other links down there as well… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com.

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