The Toy Department – Episode 365

In Episode 365, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s rock-and-roll travels before getting to today’s pod business:

  • The latest from a double-episode week of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (3:20), including the impending chaos portion of the game and thoughts on the exciting crop of developing you lady contestants…
  • The Hulu movie Quiz Lady (43:05) and how it doesn’t make good enough use of its two leading ladies or its big-name guest star…
  • The new Apple TV+ film Fingernails (48:50) and yet another project that tragically fails to add up to the appropriate sum of its parts…
  • Netflix’s new Shea Serrano-created series Neon (57:15) and how he once again delivers a joyful series with clever writing and a deeply endearing heart…
  • Homework for next week (1:05:20), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the new David Fincher movie The Killer on Netflix, the new Nathan Fielder/Emma Stone show The Curse on Showtime/Paramount+ and the Australian show Colin from Accounts on Paramount+…

The Toy Department – Episode 364

In Episode 364, Madden and Kolsky exchange only brief pleasantries before diving into the week’s homework:

  • A head-spinning week of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (1:20) and another remarkably terrible deliberation speech from the ultimately eliminated competitor…
  • Netflix’s new British thriller Bodies (30:45) and its unique time-jumping framework…
  • The Jennifer Lawrence-led Netflix comedy No Hard Feelings (41:45) and the charm of its leading lady…
  • Homework for next week (49:25), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the movie Quiz Lady on Hulu, the Apple TV+ movie Fingernails and the new Netflix series Neon…

The Toy Department – Episode 363

In Episode 363, Madden and Kolsky discuss Kolsky’s recent positive COVID test and its myriad of ripple effects before locking in to:

  • A quick sports chat (5:40) covering Chelsea v. Arsenal, the hosts’ relative interest in hockey and the debut of Victor Wembanyama…
  • The premiere episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (12:40) and how a fun first episode and a classic game design set us up for the franchise’s 39th season to be a good one…
  • The Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher (42:00) and how both hosts were impressed and entertained in their first experience with a Mike Flanagan show…
  • Homework for next week (49:10), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the Jennifer Lawrence rom-com vehicle No Hard Feelings (available on Netflix) and Netflix’s new British thriller series Bodies…