The Toy Department – Episode 356

In Episode 356, Madden and Kolsky are both exhausted and threatening each other with falling asleep mid-sentence as they prepare to discuss:

  • This week’s episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2 (2:15) and how the change to an individual game changed the dynamic in the house…
  • A trip to the movie theater to see Barbie (22:55) and how Greta Gerwig snuck a feminist text into the brains of the masses…
  • Adam Sandler and family in the Netflix movie You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (35:15) and how it’s the most Jewish teen comedy our hosts have ever seen (and also very enjoyable)…
  • The surprising and intense Special Ops: Lioness (45:55) and how the Taylor Sheridan/Paramount+ galaxy continues to be more than expected…
  • Some disparate thoughts on the various Hollywood strikes (50:45) and some of the issues at hand…
  • Homework for next week (1:03:15), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, The Changeling on Apple TV+, the second season of Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu and another season of The Morning Show on Apple TV+…

The Toy Department – Episode 131

In Episode 131, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open the show with an announcement about Kolsky’s life and career that you won’t want to miss before diving into less pressing concerns in the world of pop culture, including:

  • The season/series finalé of HBO’s Sharp Objects (6:25), how the last-minute twist felt for each of the guys and how they view the series as a whole…
  • A check-in on HBO’s Insecure (26:15) and whether it has gotten a little bogged down over the last couple of episodes…
  • AMC’s new show Lodge 49 (29:05) and whether it has piqued the interest of Madden and Kolsky…
  • Travis Scott’s new album Astroworld (38:40) and what it says about him as a popular artist and rapper…
  • Some thoughts on Louis CK’s return to the comedy stage (46:15) and whether the guys are interested in new material or willing to watch another act from him…
  • Homework for next week (55:50), including: the return of Ozark on Netflix, an NFL preview coming next week, Amazon’s new show Jack Ryan, the Netflix film To All the Boys I Loved Before, music from Foxing and a standup set from Drew Michael… GET BUSY WATCHING!!!
  • A quick report on Derek’s experience seeing Hamilton (1:00:05) and discussion of the art form of musicals in general…

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