The Toy Department – Episode 232

In Episode 232, Madden and Kolsky make the mistake of getting into a Toobin conversational car crash (which was cut for your listening pleasure) before focusing on less disturbing fare:

  • The Showtime docu-series The Comedy Store (2:40) and the place that room holds in stand-up comedy history and lore…
  • Aaron Sorkin’s Netflix film The Trial of the Chicago 7 (13:30) and how both hosts found it enjoyable and informative…
  • The Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso (21:00) and its irresistible charm…
  • David Byrne’s American Utopia (26:55) and the general brilliance of one of our greatest musical and artistic minds…
  • The conclusion of HBO’s Lovecraft Country (36:35) and how it didn’t totally satisfy either host, though they’d both tune in for a second season…
  • A few quick NFL thoughts (42:40) about how nobody stands out as a great team through six games…
  • Homework for next week (46:40), including: the Sofia Coppola/Bill Murray movie On the Rocks (on Apple TV+), the new HBO show The Undoing, the Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit, the West Wing reunion special on HBO Max and the Netflix movie The Boys in the Band… plus Week 7 of the NFL season…

The Toy Department – Episode 178

In Episode 178, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky discuss the weather in their respective climates before hustling through:

  • The new show BH90210 (2:55) and how interesting the idea behind it is, even for someone who didn’t watch the original 90210…
  • The return of HBO’s Succession (10:25) and how it picks up right where it left off with high-stakes billionaire family drama…
  • The end of the first season of HBO’s Euphoria (18:05) and what an incredibly unique and well-acted show it was…
  • The return of Netflix’s GLOW (27:25) and how it remains one of the most enjoyable shows to spend time with…
  • AMC’s Lodge 49’s second season premiere (34:50) and what exactly it is that Kolsky finds so charming about this show…
  • A few random thoughts on the Raiders (42:00) and Antonio Brown as Hard Knocks continues…
  • Homework for next week (46:10), including: the new movie Good Boys, the return of Netflix’s Mindhunter and the premiere of The Righteous Gemstones on HBO, plus whatever else they come up with during the week (including hopefully finishing Amazon’s The Boys)…