Tag Archives: documentary

The Toy Department – Episode 442

  By toyAdmin | January 16, 2026 - 12:23 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 442, Madden and Kolsky are FINALLY back after a LOOOOONG winter break to bring you the best in pop culture conversation, specifically regarding:

  • A couple minutes on the Toy Department Derby—Chelsea v Arsenal—that happened shortly before our return (2:30) and how nobody left satisfied…
  • The HBO documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley (6:50) and Kolsky’s bizarre cultural blind spot when it comes to this particular musician…
  • HBO’s other music documentary from the holidays, Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately (15:15) and how the film was less impactful despite a greater love for the band…
  • The movie F1 (30:10) and how it is essentially a classic sports film with plenty of good-looking and entertaining actors and also pretty predictable and not particularly memorable…
  • Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film Bugonia (36:10), how it differs from some of his previous work, and how much both of our hosts enjoyed it…
  • Dave Chappelle’s new special (43:40) and how he still has his fastball but he’s also still making some frustrating and disappointing choices…
  • Homework for next week (53:45), including: getting into The Night Manager (ten years late but on time for Season 2, on Amazon Prime Video), Netflix’s thriller series His & Hers, HBO’s latest Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and the new 70’s spy thriller show PONIES on Peacock…

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The Toy Department – Episode 441

  By toyAdmin | December 19, 2025 - 2:22 pm | Uncategorized
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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…

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The Toy Department – Episode 439

  By toyAdmin | November 21, 2025 - 12:24 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 439, Madden and Kolsky get started with Derek issuing the dreaded short-show curse before a futile attempt to break it while discussing:

  • The last pre-final episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (1:15) where Nany’s determination to play the game “honorably” got the best of her, leaving a stacked field for TJ’s Final…
  • The return of Landman on Paramount+ (22:05) and how it’s one of the most enjoyable and well-written shows available, whatever you might think about its oil politics…
  • Netflix’s documentary Being Eddie (27:15) and whether the filmmakers managed to get deep enough with the enigmatic and private Eddie Murphy…
  • Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (44:15) and how it utterly failed to reach either of our hosts…
  • Derek finally watched Sinners! (51:00) He didn’t love it.
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now [we are off for Thanksgiving, and a HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU] (58:50), including: a final report on The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, Netflix’s Claire Danes show The Beast in Me, Peacock’s missing child drama All Her Fault, the Cumberbatch/Coleman film The Roses (available on Hulu), Netflix’s historical drama Death By Lightning, and the second season of A Man on the Inside…

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The Toy Department – Episode 436

  By toyAdmin | October 24, 2025 - 11:41 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 436, Madden and Kolsky must address Derek’s continued truancy at the movie theater before they can get deeper into:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (4:35) where there are increasingly fewer vets (especially on the men’s side) but plenty of threats all over…
  • The Shane Black film Play Dirty (20:50) and the joys of watching Lakeith Stanfield, plus a spoiler that we forgot to pre-alert, so look alive 😂…
  • The Hulu documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (26:15) and the importance of the festival, in retrospect, plus Kolsky’s irrational distaste for Sarah McLachlan…
  • Colin Hanks’ documentary John Candy: I Like Me (36:10) and the relative ambitions of a bio-doc versus an event doc…
  • The new Naked Gun movie on Paramount+ (43:45) and how Liam Neeson & Co. did well to capture the essence of the franchise but could have provided a few more laughs…
  • A handful of sports thoughts (48:20) from gambling in the NBA to Arsenal’s spot atop the EPL favorites…
  • Homework for next week (1:10:00), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, actually making Derek get to the theater to see One Battle After Another, plus Season 2 of Nobody Wants This and the new Kathryn Bigelow movie A House of Dynamite, both on Netflix…

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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 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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The Toy Department – Episode 402

  By toyAdmin | October 17, 2024 - 7:53 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 402, Madden and Kolsky discuss their great lost episode, and attempt to recreate some of the magic you missed last week as they cover:

  • The last two episodes of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras (2:00), including the gladiatorial greatness of Derrick Kosinski and the age-defying dominance of Rachel Robinson…
  • A sprint through the un-aired conversations from last week about: the Pitt/Clooney film Wolfs (26:05), the new HBO comedy The Franchise (27:10) and Mark Duplass’ quietly impactful Penelope (30:15)…
  • The Netflix documentary Will & Harper (32:25) and how it walks a fine line between laughs and love to produce a tremendous study of America and friendship…
  • The NBA-focused docu-series Starting 5 on Netflix (38:55) and how it delivers watchability and entertainment even if it doesn’t deliver much basketball…
  • Apple TV+’s new big-ticket drama Disclaimer (54:50) and how it’s all twisted around and structured in a way that makes it difficult to process…
  • Homework for next week (1:05:30), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, the second season of Shrinking on Apple TV+, the new Ali Wong stand-up special Single Lady on Netflix and watching Game 4 of the WNBA Finals so you can try to find Derek Madden in the crowd…

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The Toy Department – Episode 391

  By toyAdmin | June 20, 2024 - 11:21 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 391, Madden and Kolsky are back from an unplanned hiatus (thanks to Derek’s unnamed coworkers) to dive deep into:

  • The last two episodes of Top Chef (2:05) including a cheese-and-fishy quickfire, great chefs cooking scared in the pre-final and a final cook that saw three great chefs do their thing…
  • The the end of The Challenge All-Stars 4 (22:40) including a purge, a rad paintball shooting challenge to kick off TJ’s Final, a friend-ly twist to end it and a big win for a bigger legend…
  • The HBO docu-series Ren Faire (36:05) and whether the Succession comparisons go deeper than the obvious surface narrative…
  • The intense and emotional Godzilla Minus One (44:00) and whether it transcends the standard monster-flick label…
  • Bob Marley: One Love (49:15) and the life and legacy of reggae music’s GOAT…
  • The Glen Powell/Richard Linklater team-up Hit Man (55:45) and what a winning rom-com it ends up being…
  • A few thoughts on the end of the NBA season (1:00:30) and the championship-winning Boston Celtics…
  • Homework for next week (1:10:55), including: Hannah Einbinder’s stand-up special (on Max), the documentary Brats on Hulu, Ophan Black: Echoes on AMC, Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, the Dev Patel feature Monkey Man (now on Peacock) and the return of The Boys on Amazon Prime Video…

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The Toy Department – Episode 383

  By toyAdmin | April 18, 2024 - 10:13 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 383, Madden and Kolsky bicker about who bears more responsibility for their bizarre technical difficulties before jumping into:

  • This week on The Challenge All-Stars 4 (2:10) and old heads showing their muscles…
  • The latest from Top Chef Wisconsin (24:35) with a rough week for some good chefs and some badly cooked meat…
  • Michael Douglas’s turn as Ben Franklin for Apple TV+ (45:10) and whether the resulting Franklin makes enough of statecraft to have a worthwhile show…
  • Colin Farrell’s turn as a noir-style private detective (52:40) and what exactly seems to be going on in a broader sense on the Apple TV+ show Sugar…
  • The documentary Steve! (57:15) and the wild and crazy (and suddenly serene) life of Steve Martin…
  • Netflix’s new film Scoop (1:04:45) and the choice to tell a story the Prince Andrew story through the lens of “journalism”…
  • Homework for next week (1:10:20), including: more Top Chef Wisconsin, more of The Challenge All-Stars 4, HBO’s new Sunday night centerpiece The Sympathizer and Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout adaptation…

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The Toy Department – Episode 368

  By toyAdmin | November 30, 2023 - 3:41 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 368, Madden and Kolsky lament the existence of Daylight Savings Time and the depressing 4:30pm sundown in the Midwest before turning to:

  • The Peacock film Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain (2:50) and whether Derek owes Kolsky an apology for bringing it to his attention…
  • The Netflix documentary Beckham (12:10) and Fisher Stevens’ interesting directorial choices, plus the hitherto untold peculiarities of one of soccer’s greatest superstars…
  • The latest from The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (28:40), where another champ showed up to embrace the chaos and break up a couple…
  • Homework for next week (59:15), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the new Netflix show Obliterated, the film May December (also on Netflix) and the Paramount+ show Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?…

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