Tag Archives: HBO

The Toy Department – Episode 438

  By toyAdmin | November 14, 2025 - 1:16 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 438, Madden and Kolsky get right down to business to avoid Kolsky’s scheduling conflicts:

  • The last two weeks of action on The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (1:11) where the latest episode featured some delightful high drama, continuing rookie behavior from a vet and a fascinating new elimination… and we are set up for a heck of stretch run!
  • Tracy Morgan’s new Paramount+ sitcom Crutch (23:25) and how it is really for people who love the old-school, traditional sitcom format (and apparently the show The Neighborhood with Cedric the Entertainer)…
  • The new HBO Max comedy I Love LA (26:30), Derek’s developing distaste for Rachel Sennott and an interesting comparison to a long-running and beloved show in a different city…
  • Netflix’s new Colin Farrell film Ballad of a Small Player (30:25) and how our hosts wish the movie was better, because Farrell’s performance is typically awesome…
  • Vince Gilligan’s new Apple TV+ show Pluribus (35:25) and how Rhea Seehorn should be in everything and we should cherish our television masters while we have them…
  • A few thoughts on Victor Wembenyama (55:15) and the place of dynasties in sports…
  • Homework for next week (1:04:05), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, the Eddie Murphy docu-series Being Eddie on Netflix, the return of Landman on Paramount+ and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (also on Netflix), plus MAYBE season 2 of A Man on the Inside (time permitting) and Sinners (Derek-watching-it permitting)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 435

  By toyAdmin | October 17, 2025 - 12:28 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 435, Madden and Kolsky return from an extended absence with Derek running on fumes to discuss:

  • Three weeks of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (4:15) which featured lots of content but maybe not a whole lot of action…
  • The Chair Company on HBO (26:05) and why both of our hosts are all the way out on Tim Robinson…
  • Hulu’s football comedy Chad Powers (33:35) and what it looks like when a movie star is in a middling TV comedy…
  • Netflix’s new period drama House of Guinness (38:05) and whether it will pick up enough to draw one of our hosts in…
  • Mae Martin’s new Netflix thriller Wayward (43:25) and its extremely chaotic energy…
  • Derek’s failure (49:30) to watch One Battle After Another…
  • Homework for next week (51:30), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, actually getting to talk about One Battle After Another, the new Naked Gun movie on Paramount+, the new Shane Black movie Play Dirty on Amazon Prime Video, the Hulu documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (despite Kolsky’s sexism) and the Colin Hanks-directed documentary John Candy: I Like Me on Amazon Prime Video…

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The Toy Department – Episode 432

  By toyAdmin | September 12, 2025 - 10:26 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 432, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s imminent vacation to Vegas, and general Vegas strategy, before diving into:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (5:00) where, as so often happens, the rookies are flailing and failing at forming a working alliance to oppose the vets…
  • Peacock’s Office spin-off The Paper (22:00) and the potential pitfalls of trying to re-capture the magic…
  • Amazon Prime Video’s teen band dramedy The Runarounds (25:55) and how one of our hosts (bet you can guess which) is an instant Stan…
  • HBO’s new Sunday night offering Task (34:00) and the mysteries that abound in the first episode of the new show from the creator of Mare of Easttown…
  • Homework for next week (47:55), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, the new Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest on Apple TV+, and two Amazon Prime Video shows: Season 2 of Gen V and the new show The Girlfriend…

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The Toy Department – Episode 429

  By toyAdmin | August 8, 2025 - 6:22 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 429, Madden and Kolsky get into their relative appreciation of getting pounded with heavy metal before they buckle down on:

  • The new FX show Welcome to Necaxa (3:20) and how the Eva Longoria project resembles but is also very different from the Rob & Ryan project in Wrexham…
  • Kolsky’s failure to watch Chief of War (15:00) thanks to a miscommunication on last pod (so maybe it’s homework now?)…
  • Netflix’s bat-guano insane The Hunting Wives (16:30) and the utter mediocrity of its nudity-heavy nonsense…
  • The five hours of Billy Joel documentary on HBO (22:05), whether he deserved that length and where his legacy lands…
  • Amazon Prime Video’s teen drama sensation The Summer I Turned Pretty (46:35) and whether our hosts should suffer through the first season or two to get to the apparently very good third season… or are we just very old and out of touch?
  • Another exciting episode of The Challenge 41: Vets & New Threats (54:45) and an absolute banger of an elimination between two small rookie women who left everything they had in the ring…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (1:09:35), including: the next two episodes of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, perhaps revisiting the well-reviewed Chief of War, Noah Hawley’s new FX show Alien Earth, the John Grisham television adaptation The Rainmaker on USA/Peacock and the new Dallas Cowboys/Jerry Jones documentary on Netflix…

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The Toy Department – Episode 421

  By toyAdmin | May 16, 2025 - 11:38 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 421, Madden and Kolsky return after too long of a break to get into a wealth of pop culture, some of it very excellent, at least whatever they can remember of:

  • The last few weeks of action on Top Chef: Destination Canada (2:55), where a top dog almost fell and the competition is fierce heading into the semi-finals…
  • The first of the week’s two mediocre action flicks, Havoc (16:25) and how it succeeds in little other than being extremely overly self-serious…
  • The second MAF, Viola Davis’s G20 (20:05) and how it at least understands what it is and wins within its limits…
  • Episodes 3 and 4 of the new Black Mirror season (24:00) and how they better fit the brief of the show than the first two did, much to Kolsky’s delight…
  • The second season of Andor (33:10), which places it among the best works in the entire Star Wars canon…
  • A check-in on The Last of Us (39:35), which has taken a couple of pretty dramatic turns over the course of the season…
  • The new season of Natasha Lyonne’s Poker Face (46:05) and what a joy it is to have her (and the guest stars) in our lives again…
  • The new Netflix series The Four Seasons (48:55) and how it made two aging men laugh and also think a lot about their lives and decisions…
  • Homework for next week (57:15), including: the semifinals on Top Chef: Destination Canada, the last two episodes of Black Mirror’s new season, the new JJ Abrams show Duster on (HBO) Max, the new Guy Ritchie movie Fountain of Youth on Apple TV+, the Steven Soderbergh film Black Bag on Peacock and the new Apple TV+ series Murderbot…

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The Toy Department – Episode 420

  By toyAdmin | April 25, 2025 - 12:48 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 420, Madden and Kolsky get into some dentistry (and periodontistry?) before circling around to:

  • The latest from Top Chef: Destination Canada (3:55), where Tristen Epps is absolutely clobbering the competition…
  • A check-in on season four of Hacks (19:10) which is just a genuinely great television show with two excellent leads…
  • Nathan Fielder’s HBO madness The Rehearsal (22:45) and how spectacularly it confounds Kolsky…
  • Another season of Black Mirror on Netflix (31:15)… or is it Black Mirror? The guys discuss…
  • A couple of quick NBA playoff thoughts (38:15) after a couple games in the first round…
  • Homework for next week (56:50), including: another episode of Top Chef: Destination Canada, some more of Black Mirror’s new season, season two of Andor and two action flicks: G20 on Amazon Prime and Havoc on Netflix…

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The Toy Department – Episode 419

  By toyAdmin | April 18, 2025 - 1:19 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 419, Madden and Kolsky are squeezing a taping into a naptime, so it’s right on into:

  • A couple of NBA Playoff thoughts (3:55) as we head into the first weekend of action…
  • The last episode of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (16:45), the appropriate winners and some thoughts on the season as a whole…
  • A surprising elimination on Top Chef: Destination Canada (27:00) and the stranglehold that Tristen seems to have on the competition even with the emergence of a new regular high finisher…
  • The new FX/Hulu series Dying for Sex (39:45), the tremendous lead performances and the overall quality of the network’s output…
  • Apple TV+’s latest offering Your Friends and Neighbors (43:20) and the difficulty of a generally detestable protagonist…
  • The HBO/Max sensation The Pitt (51:45) and Noah Wylie’s return to the emergency room…
  • Homework for next week (58:45), including: another episode of Top Chef: Destination Canada, a check-in on the latest season of HBO’s Hacks after four episodes, the first two episodes of Black Mirror’s most recent season and the second season of The Rehearsal…

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The Toy Department – Episode 416

  By toyAdmin | March 14, 2025 - 10:40 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 416, Madden and Kolsky get into the transition from winter to spring and the many traps this season presents before shifting over to:

  • The season premiere of Top Chef (3:30) where it’s Destination Canada and they have the tuxedos to prove it…
  • The latest on The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (24:25) where another team of heavy hitters heads home and the ladies of Era 1 seem to be in full control of the house…
  • The new documentary series Celtics City (38:40) and whether there’s a trick to watching great content about incredibly annoying stuff…
  • Hulu’s new comedy Deli Boys (46:35) and the abounding silliness therein…
  • A few thoughts on the upcoming (and uninspiring) Toy Department Derby (51:30) and our hosts’ respective Premier League teams…
  • Homework for two weeks from now (56:30), including: another two episodes of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals, more Top Chef: Destination Canada, the new Netflix series Adolescence, the new Apple TV+ drama Dope Thief, the new Seth Rogen show The Studio and the new Netflix/Russo Brothers film The Electric State…

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The Toy Department – Episode 414

  By toyAdmin | February 21, 2025 - 11:19 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 414, Madden and Kolsky are pressed for time after missing last week, so it’s some quick pleasantries and right into:

  • Two weeks of action from The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (1:15), the early leaders in the clubhouse and the unfortunate (for entertainment purposes) elimination of Ashley and Aneesa…
  • Our hosts’ thoughts on all of the SNL 50 content (22:25) from the past weekend…
  • A couple minutes on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (33:30) with Phish nominated for the first time…
  • The Oscar-nominated film The Substance (40:05) and the excellent performances at its core…
  • More spy-show fodder with Netflix’s The Recruit (50:00) and Apple TV+’s Prime Target (54:25) and how one of our hosts found a deeper enjoyment in one of them…
  • The return of White Lotus (57:25) and the excitement we all feel to have it back…
  • A reasonably unproductive discussion about the NBA All-Star fiasco (1:04:30) and the NBA MVP Award, which Derek is already furious about…
  • Homework for two weeks from now (1:18:40), including: two more episodes of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals and a bunch of Netflix content — the new Olympic basketball doc Court of Gold, new limited series Zero Day and new comedy series Running Point…

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The Toy Department – Episode 407

  By toyAdmin | December 6, 2024 - 12:10 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 407, Madden and Kolsky return after an extended break and before another one, and now need to apologize to everyone who may be offended by a bumpy open and the loss of Kolsky’s primary microphone after approximately seven minutes, but nevertheless pursue conversations about:

  • The two most recent episodes of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras (2:50) and how the game is splitting across alliance lines as we approach TJ’s Final…
  • Netflix’s new thriller series The Madness (21:45) and its ability to speak to the zeitgeist while also presenting an engaging mystery…
  • Michael Schur’s new Netflix sitcom A Man on the Inside (26:25), whether it lives up to his standard and some thoughts on the remarkable and lovable Ted Danson…
  • The Ringer’s latest music documentary, Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary (34:50) and whether it gives a new insight into a very specific genre of music…
  • Homework for next time, two weeks from now (52:10), including: the next two episodes of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, the new detective show Cross on Amazon Prime Video, the well-received WWII film Blitz on Apple TV+ and Anthony Jeselnik’s new stand-up special Bones and All…

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