The Toy Department – Episode 37

In Episode 37, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky return without the illustrious Kate Scott to talk about:

  • The series finale of HBO’s The Night Of (2:55), and whether it lived up to the high bar set by the series in general… Followed by a little bit of general TV banter…
  • Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest (20:00) and the firestorm of criticism and commentary surrounding him… Veering out of the toy department, but only because the world intruded upon us…
  • The start of the college football season (46:20) and why Madden loves it and Kolsky does not…
  • The MTV Video Music Awards (54:15) and their decreasing relevance in pop culture, and MTV’s decreasing relevance in general…

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.

The Toy Department – Episode 36

In Episode 36, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky present you with a VERY special episode of the Toy Department podcast, featuring:

  • USA’s Mr. Robot (3:45) and whether it went completely off the rails with its most recent episode… SPOILER ALERT!!
  • HBO’s The Night Of (10:20) and whether IT went completely off the rails with its most recent episode… SPOILER ALERT!! (though not as spoiler-y as the Mr. Robot spoiler, probably)… and also just some of the things that make the show great…
  • Frank Ocean’s new album(s) (19:00) and what the new style of album releases means for music…
  • THE FIRST MAJOR INTERVIEW IN TOY DEPARTMENT HISTORY!!! (24:30) Kolsky sat down with history-making sports broadcaster Kate Scott (@katetscott), who recently became the third woman ever to do play-by-play for an NFL game. 45-plus good minutes with a tremendously talented and accomplished individual!!

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.

The Toy Department – Episode 35

In Episode 35, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with Madden’s impending death via Metallica (you’ll see) before getting into:

  • The idea of a single band or artist (like the aforementioned Metallica) transcending their genre to the point that they fully represent it (3:15)… And whether the genre of “rock” has faded to the point where it needs a representative artist (11:00)…
  • Movies!! Madden went and saw Sausage Party (17:00)… while Kolsky went to the drive-in (20:15) and checked out Suicide Squad (21:10) and Bad Moms (26:15)…
  • The HBO Show Vice Principals (29:30), which has kicked things up a gear and gotten Madden engaged…
  • The new Netflix show The Get Down (33:30), which neither Madden nor Kolsky have watched yet… But they discuss the show’s creator, Baz Luhrmann, and assign the pilot to each other for homework…
  • More Netflix with a final breakdown of this season of Orange is the New Black (38:30)… No spoilers in this text, but there ARE spoilers in the discussion so BEWARE!!
  • HBO’s The Night Of (50:11) and its latest episode, which may have raised some questions about the truth and the background of the main character…

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.

The Toy Department – Episode 34

In Episode 34, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with a recounting and reviewing of their weekend at Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco, and then discuss:

  • Netflix’s new show Stranger Things (14:30) and the guys’ differing opinions on the experience… and a little compare/contrast with the other big summer show, HBO’s The Night Of…
  • The latest episode of USA’s Mr. Robot (29:10) and how the show seemed to maybe, possibly figure some things out about itself in last week’s episode…
  • The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio (44:00), with some discussion of the TV ratings and NBC’s broadcast choices as well as the viewing interests of Madden and Kolsky… which somehow develops into a US Women’s Soccer debate (56:00)…
  • And while they’re on the soccer subject, a little bit of an English Premier League preview (1:01:40), by which we mean Kolsky asks Madden how to properly watch the EPL and gets scolded for choosing Chelsea as his team…

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.

The Toy Department – Episode 33

In Episode 33, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky briefly celebrate each other and their partnership before diving RIGHT in to discuss:

  • Madden’s trip to Lollapalooza, Madden & Kolsky’s impending meeting at SF’s Outside Lands, and some of the general issues at and around music festivals in general (2:00)…
  • A series of TV topics – from HBO’s new comedy Vice Principals (17:45) to the problems that Peak TV presents for the consumer (24:25) [which includes a couple minutes on Stranger Things at 27:25] to some thoughts on Roadies (35:35)…
  • Jason Bourne, the latest installment in the Bourne series of films (43:00), and Kolsky’s frustration with the current state of the action movie, and movies in general…

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.