The Toy Department – Episode 441

In Episode 441, Madden and Kolsky are in a REAL time crunch, so after briefly addressing Kolsky’s predictable failure with a specific (Jeff Buckley-sized) portion of the homework, it’s right into:

  • The 50 Cent-produced Sean Combs: The Reckoning () on Netflix and whether it paints a complete picture of the monster that is Puffy/Diddy/Whatever you wanna call him…
  • George Clooney’s excellent performance in the Noah Baumbach Netflix film Jay Kelly (13:50) and whether the movie around him stands up to it…
  • The Darren Aronofsky movie Caught Stealing (20:00) and how it’s quite a departure from his usual fare, in that it’s more just fun than weird or interesting…
  • The latest Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man (22:30) and how there’s not much to complain about other than the length of it…
  • HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! We don’t have HOMEWORK per se, but We WILL BE BACK in the New Year, some time in mid-January, to talk about a variety of pop culture goodness—likely including the Jeff Buckley and Counting Crows documentaries on HBO, the full season of Pluribus on Apple TV+ and some festive fixtures in the English Premier League…

The Toy Department – Episode 376

In Episode 376, Madden and Kolsky pause to celebrate Chelsea FC’s successful FA Cup match before focusing on today’s topics:

  • An action-packed episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (6:05) and the Challenge-fan-villain origin story that transpired this week for one of our hosts…
  • The latest entry in the ever-expanding why?! canon, Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air (28:15) and how maybe it’s time to usher Hollywood’s old guard into a not-even-actually-early retirement…
  • Donald Glover’s new take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith (34:00) and how his art continues to surprise and delight…
  • Jake Johnson’s bizarre opus Self Reliance (39:25) and the value of full commitment to a wacky premise…
  • Netflix’s new (old) dour addiction recovery comedy Loudermilk (44:25) and the all-time That Guy rankings, featuring Ron Livingston…
  • Homework for next week (48:45), including: the long-awaited arrival of TJ’s Final on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, Apple TV+’s fashion/WWII show The New Look, Ryan Murphy’s new show Feud: Capote v. The Swans and Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show…
  • A few football thoughts (50:20) as we head into what should be ann extremely entertaining Super Bowl weekend…