The Toy Department – Episode 58

In Episode 58, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky work through physical and mental illness, respectively, to bring you discussions about:

  • HBO’s Girls (3:20) and the greatness of Lena Dunham…
  • HBO’s new 30-minute comedy Crashing (13:45) and how it feels true-to-life as it tells the story of comic Pete Holmes’ life…
  • The first full album from Wondaland Records artist Jidenna (26:40) and whether the LP itself lives up to Jidenna’s talent…
  • Some musical homework (33:30) as Kolsky asks Madden to listen to Roman GianArthur’s OK Lady album, a sort of Radiohead/D’Angelo tribute album… and Madden asks Kolsky to listen to the latest album from Cloud Nothings, called Life Without Sound…
  • Lego Batman (38:00) which Kolsky saw on purpose and Madden saw essentially by mistake…
  • The National Basketball Association’s silly season, from the DeMarcus Cousins trade (43:30) and the Sacramento Kings’ ineptitude to the Los Angeles Lakers’ front office restructuring (1:00:20)…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! 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… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

The Toy Department – Episode 57

In Episode 57, Derek Madden allows Matt Kolsky to sneak in a bizarre tribute to Morris Day & the Time before diving in to:

  • General discussion of the Grammy Awards (2:10) and what an awards show is really for in our current popular culture landscape…
  • The new FX show Legion (23:55) and whether Madden was able to get past his anti-superhero stance and enjoy some high-quality new television…
  • The return of HBO’s Girls (33:20) and what exactly is going on with people who don’t like Lena Dunham…
  • The NBA’s recent twists and turns and soap operas: the return of Kevin Durant to Oklahoma City (40:10) and Charles Oakley’s tiff with the Knicks (49:10)

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! 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… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

The Toy Department – Episode 18

In Episode 18, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky get into a little geography and weather chatter to open things up, before diving headlong into a video entertainment-heavy episode… They talk about TV shows Catastrophe (4:30), House of Lies (11:30), Girls (18:30), and Netflix’s Marvel’s Daredevil – including some discussion of Madden’s superhero fatigue (27:40). Then some quick Happy 420 wishes (38:35) before Kolsky talks about his solo journey to see Jungle Book by himself on a Saturday night (those things may or may not be related). And, as so often happens, the boys return to weed before the end of the show to talk about how the big American sports leagues handle the drug (43:45) and whether that might change soon.

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.

The Toy Department – Episode 12

In Episode 12, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky talk Peak/Prestige TV straight-up for about 45 minutes. We could list all the damn shows they talk about, but there are no spoilers and that seems like an awful lot of listing to do, so probably best to just dive in and listen to the whole thing 🙂

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.