Tag Archives: Argentina

The Toy Department – Episode 461

  By toyAdmin | July 17, 2026 - 9:20 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 461, Madden and Kolsky begin by acknowledging a first-time occurrence in pod history as they get into:

  • Steven Soderbergh’s Full Circle (2:05) which as it turns out, our hosts watched several years ago when it was released and simply forgot about…
  • Apple TV+’s new action show Lucky (8:05) and how it has a lot of good qualities—Anya Taylor-Joy, an interesting story, some good characters—but in light of the Full Circle experience it’s hard to say whether it will be memorable…
  • The film Project Hail Mary (13:25) and how it is an absolute home run of a summer blockbuster, with an incredible acting performance from Ryan Gosling and pitch-perfect storytelling that left both our hosts in tears…
  • Some sports talk (20:25) with Derek’s disgust for the Argentine National Team and a look forward to an exciting World Cup final and Kolsky’s excitement about the Caleb Era in Chicago sports…
  • Homework for THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY (8/7), after a well deserved break (39:50), including: the newest season of The Challenge with a return to the Cuthroat format, the new Christopher Nolan film The Odyssey, the returns of beloved TV shows Ted Lasso and Special Ops: Lioness, and the new Amazon Prime show Ride or Die… Enjoy the rest of July!!

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The Toy Department – Episode 460

  By toyAdmin | July 10, 2026 - 1:32 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 460, Madden and Kolsky get in a little earthquake talk before moving on to:

  • Boots Riley’s new film I Love Boosters (3:40), the particular madcap style that he works in, and whether it has diminishing returns…
  • The somewhat disappointing Eric Andre/John Cena Netflix comedy Little Brother (18:10) and how it simply doesn’t reach the necessary level of laughs-per-minute…
  • The rather disappointing Amazon’s Legally Blonde prequel series Elle (22:25) and whether our hosts are just too old for this shit…
  • The wildly disappointing HBO series Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness (29:10) and whether it might play better in an elementary school classroom…
  • The extremely exciting (and largely not disappointing) WORLD CUP (33:25), with our hosts’ thoughts on the tournament overall and the future of American soccer specifically…
  • Homework for two weeks from now (1:5:5), including: the Ryan Gosling movie Project Hail Mary (available on Amazon), the Soderbergh-directed, Olyphant-starring series Full Circle, the Apple TV+ crime thriller Lucky, and of course some more World Cup action…

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The Toy Department – Episode 324

  By toyAdmin | December 16, 2022 - 2:44 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 324, Madden and Kolsky missed each other deeply but equally deeply they long to discuss the two weeks of Challenge action on the docket so it’s straight into:

  • Two action-packed weeks of The Challenge: Ride or Dies (1:20), whether that name still fits the season and all the various strategic fallout from the game’s big twist(s)…
  • Showtime’s George & Tammy series (24:20) and how neither of our hosts much enjoy the country music but one of them definitely enjoyed this show more than the other…
  • The second season of Apple TV+’s Slow Horses (29:55) and how it remains a highly entertaining spy drama with some really excellent characters and a fantastic lead performance from Gary Oldman…
  • A few World Cup thoughts leading up to Sunday’s final (36:30), from the beauty of Messi to the messiness of Fox’s coverage…
  • Homework for next Friday (50:00), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies… AND NOTHING ELSE!! Because it’s going to be Best of 2022 Week!! But feel free to get started on Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, which Derek forgot to watch this week 🙂

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The Toy Department – Episode 28

  By toyAdmin | June 29, 2016 - 7:52 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 28, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open the podcast with a brief discussion about podcast listenership, then branch out to cover the very latest in:

  • Game of Thrones (2:20) where they break down the season finale (including small but heroic women doing WORK) and do a bit of looking forward to what’s next for our friends in Westeros…
  • International soccer (29:00) including Lionel Messi’s assertion that he intends to retire and a quick look at Euro 2016…
  • Madden’s Drake quandary – his girlfriend wants Drake tickets for her birthday, but Madden is disgusted with him… What does a man do in this situation??? (49:55)
  • A quick couple of TV-show-watching homework assignments for the future (57:40)…

Oh, 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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The Toy Department – Episode 27

  By toyAdmin | June 22, 2016 - 7:54 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 27, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with a quick NBA finals recap/react before some deep dives into the very latest in non-essential topics:

  • Sunday’s penultimate episode of Game of Thrones Season 6 (6:15) which, with its battle scenes and intriguing interpersonal interaction, was much more up Madden’s alley than the previous episode…
  • Team USA Men’s Soccer (24:35) and their ugly loss to top-ranked Argentina in the Copa America semifinal, plus some general discussion of the team’s future prospects…
  • ESPN’s OJ Simpson docu-series (53:55) and just how wonderful a job that it did in placing the remarkable OJ story in context…

Oh, 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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