Tag Archives: Netflix

The Toy Department – Episode 434

  By toyAdmin | September 26, 2025 - 10:56 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 434, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s upcoming trip to Austin City Limits before zeroing in on:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (7:45) and the product of the Lock In, plus Derek’s feelings about an elimination-free episode…
  • Netflix’s new series Black Rabbit (28:30) and whether it’s their attempt at a prestige show (and whether it’s successful, if so)…
  • Sterlin Harjo’s new Ethan Hawke-led series The Lowdown (35:35) and where FX stands in the theoretical prestige TV rankings…
  • Homework for THREE weeks from now (50:45), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, Netflix’s new drama House of Guinness, the Mae Martin-created Wayward (also on Netflix), Hulu’s new comedy Chad Powers, and Tim Robinson’s The Chair Company on HBO, plus (hopefully) movies The Naked Gun and One Battle After Another…

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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 428

  By toyAdmin | August 1, 2025 - 11:43 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 428, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s visit to Chicago and assign some extra homework that they forgot about before locking into:

  • The first episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (5:55) and also the weird and mostly annoying 0th episode, with lots of excitement for the season to come…
  • The reasonably enjoyable Happy Gilmore 2 (30:55), how far you can fly on the wings of cameo appearances from terrible actors and Adam Sandler’s career choices…
  • Hulu’s new show Washington Black (39:50) and the relative usefulness of fantastical historical fiction…
  • Homework for next week (44:05), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, checking in on the apparently very popular The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix’s new series The Hunting Wives, Eva Longoria’s Wrexham spinoff Necaxa and the Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes on HBO Max…

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The Toy Department – Episode 427

  By toyAdmin | July 25, 2025 - 10:51 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 427, Madden and Kolsky chat a bit about Kolsky’s new recording setup (which did not work as well as hoped) and recent oral surgery before homing in on:

  • Netflix’s Charlize Theron action sequel The Old Guard 2 (3:40) and whether it deserves a Part 3, plus thoughts on Netflix’s ouevre…
  • Michael C. Hall’s return to old haunts on Dexter: Resurrection (10:25) and streamer’s looking for mileage on friendly, well-worn trails…
  • Amazon Prime Video’s Bosch spin-off Ballard (17:40) and how it landed with two dudes who never watched Bosch…
  • Lena Dunham’s new Netflix show Too Much (22:50) and the goofy fun of Meg Stalter, plus the difference between Netflix and HBO…
  • A few pre-season comments on The Challenge (28:15) and what our hosts are looking for in Season 41…
  • Homework for next week (38:15), including: the return of The Challenge for Season 41, the new Happy Gilmore sequel on Netflix, the British show Assassin on Amazon Prime and the Sterling K. Brown show Washington Black on Hulu…
  • Some English Premier League thoughts (40:40) before preseason gets fully underway…

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The Toy Department – Episode 426

  By toyAdmin | July 11, 2025 - 10:57 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 426, Madden and Kolsky spend entirely too long on Kolsky’s new cold brew coffee formula before shaking it off to discuss:

  • The police-procedural-style crime drama Dept. Q on Netflix (4:30) and why one of our hosts loved it and the other turned it off…
  • Apple TV+’s fire-crime-drama Smoke (10:05) and how, again, one of our hosts loved it and the other turned it off…
  • Some love for the newest season of The Bear (18:00) and what it looks like to make essentially perfect television…
  • Some soccer transfer talk (31:20) as the Club World Cup Final against PSG looms for Chelsea…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (44:00), including: the return of Michael C. Hall in Dexter: Resurrection, the new Charlize Theron action movie The Old Guard 2, Lena Dunham’s new show Too Much on Netflix and the Bosch spinoff Ballard on Amazon Prime Video…

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The Toy Department – Episode 425

  By toyAdmin | June 19, 2025 - 10:00 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 425, Madden and Kolsky wish everyone a Happy Juneteenth before jumping into a holiday recording with:

  • The excellent documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin on Netflix (2:50) and how it tells a fascinating and compelling story about a great rock band…
  • The harmless Amazon Prime film Deep Cover (12:45) and why it seems to be getting so much love…
  • The Netflix series Tires (15:50) and a general discussion about Shane Gillis…
  • A few NBA thoughts on the way out (23:05) as our hosts just want everyone to get to the offseason safely…
  • Homework for THREE weeks from now (28:50), including: the newest season of The Bear on FX, the new Apple TV+ show Smoke and probably some other stuff to be determined later…

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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 418

  By toyAdmin | April 11, 2025 - 11:30 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 418, Madden and Kolsky return from an unscheduled absence to revisit the world of pop culture, blasting through:

  • Two episodes of Top Chef: Destination Canada (1:45), including the return of a Last Chance Kitchen champ and the emergence of a pretty clear favorite…
  • Two weeks of action on The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (16:20), with the beginning of TJ’s Finals in the books and an unlikely pair at the top of the leaderboard…
  • A few thoughts on the recently-completed season of The White Lotus (37:15) and an apparently split reaction to the finalé…
  • The action-flick sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (47:50) and the apparent attempt to build an action franchise…
  • Paramount+’s new British crime series MobLand (53:20), with a star-studded cast and a tangled web of plot…
  • The SZA/Keke Palmer movie One of Them Days (59:05), and the enjoyability of a classic buddy caper comedy…
  • Homework for next week (1:05:05), including: the (hopefully) epic conclusion of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals, another episode of Top Chef: Destination Canada, FX/Hulu’s new series Dying for Sex, the Apple TV+ show Your Friends and Neighbors and a pod check in on new-ish show The Pitt…

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The Toy Department – Episode 417

  By toyAdmin | March 28, 2025 - 9:32 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 417, Madden and Kolsky get right down to business because Kolsky has important activities to get to (specifically a 3-year-old’s dance performance):

  • Two weeks of Canadian cooking on Top Chef: Destination Canada (1:20) including some distinctly north-of-the-border challenges and a couple of understated standouts…
  • Two weeks of action on The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (9:15) including some legends falling and setting the scene for an imminent final…
  • The deeply mediocre Netflix/Russo Brothers film The Electric State (20:00) and what its remarkably bad critical reception says about the state of movie criticism…
  • Seth Rogen’s new Apple TV+ show The Studio (25:55) and how it’s failing to find its footing through two episodes…
  • Netflix’s deeply disturbing and ambitiously shot family drama Adolescence (31:05) and how British TV seems to have settled on a specific model (or two) for its shows…
  • Apple TV+’s crime drama Dope Thief (37:05) and the sheer magnetism of Brian Tyree Henry…
  • Homework for next week (40:35), including: new episodes of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals & Top Chef: Destination Canada, the SZA/Keke Palmer movie One of Them Days, the Paramount+ series MobLand and the action sequel Den of Thieves 2: Pantera…

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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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