The Toy Department – Episode 377

In Episode 377, Madden and Kolsky have an in-depth Kylian Mbappe discussion before pressing record, then address Kolsky’s terrible Valentine’s Day before locking in for:

  • The first episode of TJ’s Final on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (1:50) and the cathartic joy of seeing Jay sent home with nothing to show for his embarrassing display over the course of the season…
  • Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show (33:20) and whether it’s a worthy pursuit in the depressing chaos of 2024…
  • The new season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud, covering Truman Capote v. The Swans (45:35) and another chapter in the seemingly weekly serial Why Are We Doing This???
  • Apple TV+’s fashion/WWII show The New Look (53:00) and how it distinguishes itself in this current TV landscape simply by feeling like it has something worthwhile to say…
  • Some final thoughts on Super Bowl LVIII (57:45) and whether Kyle Shanahan bears the brunt of responsibility for another 49ers defeat on the biggest stage in sports…
  • Homework for next week (1:09:50), including: the (hopefully) thrilling conclusion of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, two Oscar-nominated films — Oppenheimer and Past Lives — and on a lighter note, the Taika Waititi film Next Goal Wins (now on Hulu)…

The Toy Department – Episode 222

In Episode 222, Madden and Kolsky start with a discussion of babies and zoos before getting into:

  • The second week of The Challenge: Total Madness Reunion (5:00) and the general let-down of this season’s end…
  • The return of HBO’s Room 104 (21:10) and just how delightful the first episode of this season was, even if it doesn’t make the show feel essential…
  • The new Amazon Prime film Radioactive (28:20) and some of the curious choices made by the filmmakers…
  • The return of sports (32:45) with MLB already underway (for now, at least), the NBA set to start and the NFL opening training camps…
  • Homework for next week (52:45), including: the new season of Umbrella Academy on Netflix, the fifth season of the Netflix docu-series Last Chance U, the new Go-Go’s documentary on Showtime, the end of HBO’s docu-series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and revisiting HBO’s Perry Mason…
  • The new Taylor Swift record Folklore (57:15) and how it doesn’t quite resonate with either of our hosts…

The Toy Department – Episode 31

In Episode 31, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky deliver an ACTUAL “mini” episode of The Toy Department… They dive into:

  • A brief debrief of the first half of Kolsky’s nutty Phish adventures… (2:00) Spoiler alert – he’s enjoying himself 🙂
  • KimYe v. T-Swift in the battle of whether or not Kanye actually “made that bitch famous…” (8:20) wherein we discover Madden’s deeply conflicted feelings on TayTay…
  • Is golf a sport? Madden says NO – Kolsky says YES… (15:35) And it gets heated, ladies and gentlemen…

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The Toy Department – Episode 3

In Episode 3 of The Toy Department, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky follow a standard intro with a dive into this week’s biggest pop culture phenomenon — STAR WARS!!!! Then they slip in some sports with a discussion of Steph Curry and the Warriors, and their effect on pop culture and basketball (12:00) before turning to broader cultural concerns by discussing Google’s most trending topics from 2015 (28:30). Then Madden gives Kolsky a 2015 Pop Music Lyrics Quiz (39:30) with a brief discussion of Drake afterwards (49:30) that alludes to additional future processing of the Drake phenomenon. Finally it’s a brief discussion of general issues and future plans (51:00) before saying goodbye (possibly for the last time in 2015… POSSIBLY)!

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