The Toy Department – Episode 432

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…

The Toy Department – Episode 294

In Episode 294, Madden and Kolsky briefly address Derek’s disappointment with US Soccer before moving through:

  • Reaction to last night’s Top Chef: Houston episode (2:30), the remarkable technical skills needed for the doppelgänger challenge and who’s in the driver’s seat moving forward…
  • The absurdity of the psycho-erotic thriller Deep Water (25:25) and just how little sense the whole messy mess made…
  • The wonderful and rightfully Oscar-nominated CODA (32:15) and how this little movie charmed it’s way to big success…
  • HBO Max’s new Jake Johnson showcase Minx (41:50) and what a fun ride it is…
  • The Big Mouth spinoff Human Resources (46:40) and how it’s funny enough to watch but missing a lot of the original’s best features…
  • The latest in real-life-entrepreneur-gone-bad television, Hulu’s The Dropout (49:35), and how Amanda Seyfried’s phenomenal work is not enough to suck in one of our hosts…
  • Homework for next Friday (1:02:30), including: more Top Chef: Houston, along with the return of Donald Glover’s Atlanta on FX, the new Hulu show Life and Beth (starring Amy Schumer and Michael Cera), and HBO Max’s new limited series DMZ (starring Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt)…