Tag Archives: Matt Kolsky

The Toy Department – Episode 384

  By toyAdmin | April 25, 2024 - 11:18 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 384, Madden and Kolsky open with a long conversation about Kolsky’s visit to The Sphere in Las Vegas to see Phish before snapping out of it to cover:

  • The latest from The Challenge All-Stars 4 (15:55) including an elimination where heavy hitters swung and missed repeatedly…
  • A twisty, dairy-filled week of Top Chef Wisconsin (35:10) wherein two chefs (re)entered the competition and one early star departed…
  • HBO’s new Sunday centerpiece The Sympathizer (49:10) and whether our hosts are impressed after two episodes…
  • A wrap-up discussion on HBO’s The Regime (1:00:25) and what the hell was going on there…
  • Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of the popular Fallout video game (1:04:25) and whether it actually makes sense as a “television” show…
  • A few NBA thoughts (1:08:15) after a few games from the first round of the playoffs…
  • Homework for next week (1:19:20), including: more Top Chef Wisconsin, more of The Challenge All-Stars 4, the Lily Gladstone-helmed show Under the Bridge and the Kristen Stewart-helmed film Love Lies Bleeding…

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The Toy Department – Episode 383

  By toyAdmin | April 18, 2024 - 10:13 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 383, Madden and Kolsky bicker about who bears more responsibility for their bizarre technical difficulties before jumping into:

  • This week on The Challenge All-Stars 4 (2:10) and old heads showing their muscles…
  • The latest from Top Chef Wisconsin (24:35) with a rough week for some good chefs and some badly cooked meat…
  • Michael Douglas’s turn as Ben Franklin for Apple TV+ (45:10) and whether the resulting Franklin makes enough of statecraft to have a worthwhile show…
  • Colin Farrell’s turn as a noir-style private detective (52:40) and what exactly seems to be going on in a broader sense on the Apple TV+ show Sugar…
  • The documentary Steve! (57:15) and the wild and crazy (and suddenly serene) life of Steve Martin…
  • Netflix’s new film Scoop (1:04:45) and the choice to tell a story the Prince Andrew story through the lens of “journalism”…
  • Homework for next week (1:10:20), including: more Top Chef Wisconsin, more of The Challenge All-Stars 4, HBO’s new Sunday night centerpiece The Sympathizer and Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout adaptation…

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The Toy Department – Episode 382

  By toyAdmin | April 11, 2024 - 11:19 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 382, Madden and Kolsky have a LOT to catch up on, from Matt’s new debilitating addiction to Derek’s busy concert schedule (with plenty of stops in between) but eventually get around to:

  • A new season of Top Chef (10:20), a midwest location that infuriates Derek and all the insight our hosts have gleaned over the first four episodes…
  • A two-episode debut of The Challenge All-Stars Season 4 (31:40) and a cast of true stars that reaches all the way back to the very first season of the Challenge universe…
  • The surprisingly entertaining BlackBerry (55:45) and the simple pleasure of a good story told with good acting, writing and directing…
  • Netflix’s new sci-fi big swing 3 Body Problem (1:02:30) and whether (to torture the idiom) it makes contact with the ball…
  • Apple TV+’s new Kristen Wiig vehicle Palm Royale (1:13:15) and what exactly they’re trying to do here…
  • The Jake Gyllenhaal-helmed Roadhouse remake (1:17:10) and how it swings and misses (to further torture the same idiom from before)…
  • Homework for next week (1:26:55), including: more Top Chef Wisconsin and The Challenge All-Stars 4, a gaggle of Apple TV+ content — the shows Sugar (with Colin Farrell as a detective) and Franklin (with Michael Douglas as Ben Franklin); and the documentary Steve! (about Steve Martin) — and the Netflix movie Scoop…

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The Toy Department – Episode 381

  By toyAdmin | March 14, 2024 - 11:08 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 381, Madden and Kolsky mention their upcoming international break before diving right into:

  • The 2024 Oscars (2:15) and the sweeping dominance of Oppenheimer and Poor Things…
  • HBO’s new Sunday night centerpiece The Regime (14:50) and Kate Winslet’s performance as a dictatorial chancellor in a show that’s difficult to place within a genre…
  • The very Peter Farrelly flick Ricky Stanicky (21:55) and whether it has enough behind the dumb laughs to make it worthwhile…
  • Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen (26:30) and whether his particular style is well-suited for a streaming series…
  • Derek has a few sporty things for Kolsky (29:50) ranging from Women’s Super League soccer to the changing college basketball landscape…
  • Homework for April 4 (43:25), including: the first couple episodes of this season of Top Chef (in Wisconsin), the movie BlackBerry (available on Hulu), the new Apple TV+ show Palm Royale, the Netflix show 3 Body Problem and the Roadhouse remake with Jake Gyllenhaal…

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The Toy Department – Episode 380

  By toyAdmin | March 7, 2024 - 11:12 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 380, Madden and Kolsky discuss the big house-dad day at the Kolsky home and Matt’s various dad behaviors before locking in to cover:

  • The second and final episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion reunion (4:00) and a wrap-up on a less-than-thrilling season of the pod’s favorite competition show…
  • The Zone of Interest (31:15) which Kolsky couldn’t bring himself to watch and Madden didn’t particularly enjoy…
  • The bizarre and oversexed Poor Things (40:30) and our hosts very different views on a very weird movie…
  • The new Hulu/FX adaptation of Shogun (1:03:00) and how it won over a skeptical and reluctant Derek Madden…
  • Apple TV+’s new comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (1:06:50) and the varying mileage of incredibly stupid jokes…
  • Homework for next week (1:11:45), including: the Oscars broadcast, HBO’s new Kate Winslet-starring miniseries The Regime, Netflix’s new Guy Ritchie series The Gentlemen, Amazon’s new British thriller-comedy Dead Hot and the Peter Farrelly movie Ricky Stanicky…

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The Toy Department – Episode 379

  By toyAdmin | February 29, 2024 - 9:18 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 379, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s busy schedule and Matt’s various maladies before jumping into:

  • The first of two reunion episodes for The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (2:20) and how one week probably would have been enough to cover everything if they had just limited some of the shouting matches…
  • The Vince Staples Show (19:00) and how it’s difficult not to see it as a second-rate version of our beloved Atlanta…
  • Apple TV+’s new show Constellation (22:40) and whether it is compelling enough to stick around for answers to the its many mysterious questions…
  • The Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Fall (25:45) and how it is very French and pretty good but not necessarily on par with some of its opponents in the Best Picture category…
  • Homework for next week (32:05), including: the conclusion of the reunion for The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, Hulu/FX’s Shogun, the remaining two Best Picture nominees — Zone of Interest and Poor Things — and the new Apple TV+ comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin…

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The Toy Department – Episode 378

  By toyAdmin | February 22, 2024 - 10:56 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 378, Madden and Kolsky have a lot to cover, so there’s no time for pleasantries before discussions on:

  • TJ’s Final on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (0:45), casting a bit of shine on at least two worthy competitors after a season filled with distasteful main characters…
  • The dramatic, intense and somewhat mystical conclusion of True Detective: Night Country (21:40) and the some of the interesting reactions to the series…
  • The Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer (33:15) and how Christopher Nolan’s opus stacks up to the other Best Picture nominees…
  • A fellow potential Best Picture — Past Lives (41:35) — and how it works as a much smaller and quieter film than most of its peers in the category…
  • The exceedingly light Next Goal Wins (49:25) and how Taika Waititi has fun with a story that feels worthwhile despite its frequent silliness…
  • Homework for next week (57:30), including: all the drama of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion reunion show, The Vince Staples show on Netflix, the Best Picture-nominated Anatomy of a Fall and Apple TV+’s new space show Constellation…

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The Toy Department – Episode 377

  By toyAdmin | February 15, 2024 - 11:51 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 377, Madden and Kolsky have an in-depth Kylian Mbappe discussion before pressing record, then address Kolsky’s terrible Valentine’s Day before locking in for:

  • The first episode of TJ’s Final on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (1:50) and the cathartic joy of seeing Jay sent home with nothing to show for his embarrassing display over the course of the season…
  • Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show (33:20) and whether it’s a worthy pursuit in the depressing chaos of 2024…
  • The new season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud, covering Truman Capote v. The Swans (45:35) and another chapter in the seemingly weekly serial Why Are We Doing This???
  • Apple TV+’s fashion/WWII show The New Look (53:00) and how it distinguishes itself in this current TV landscape simply by feeling like it has something worthwhile to say…
  • Some final thoughts on Super Bowl LVIII (57:45) and whether Kyle Shanahan bears the brunt of responsibility for another 49ers defeat on the biggest stage in sports…
  • Homework for next week (1:09:50), including: the (hopefully) thrilling conclusion of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, two Oscar-nominated films — Oppenheimer and Past Lives — and on a lighter note, the Taika Waititi film Next Goal Wins (now on Hulu)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 376

  By toyAdmin | February 8, 2024 - 10:52 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 376, Madden and Kolsky pause to celebrate Chelsea FC’s successful FA Cup match before focusing on today’s topics:

  • An action-packed episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (6:05) and the Challenge-fan-villain origin story that transpired this week for one of our hosts…
  • The latest entry in the ever-expanding why?! canon, Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air (28:15) and how maybe it’s time to usher Hollywood’s old guard into a not-even-actually-early retirement…
  • Donald Glover’s new take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith (34:00) and how his art continues to surprise and delight…
  • Jake Johnson’s bizarre opus Self Reliance (39:25) and the value of full commitment to a wacky premise…
  • Netflix’s new (old) dour addiction recovery comedy Loudermilk (44:25) and the all-time That Guy rankings, featuring Ron Livingston…
  • Homework for next week (48:45), including: the long-awaited arrival of TJ’s Final on The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, Apple TV+’s fashion/WWII show The New Look, Ryan Murphy’s new show Feud: Capote v. The Swans and Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show…
  • A few football thoughts (50:20) as we head into what should be ann extremely entertaining Super Bowl weekend…

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The Toy Department – Episode 375

  By toyAdmin | February 1, 2024 - 12:00 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 375, Madden and Kolsky address Derek’s road location and failure to shower — with a weird detour to the film Wonka — before splashing into:

  • A thrilling and dramatic episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (3:05) that leaves the show in an unfortunate place moving forward towards the final…
  • The fifth and final season of Fargo (35:30) and what a spectacular show it was throughout its run…
  • Netflix’s Emmy Award-Winning limited series Beef (42:05), which both hosts only returned to recently and ended up really enjoying…
  • The new series Sexy Beast (50:50) and the fundamental but still-unanswered question of why??
  • The excellent Best Picture nominee American Fiction (57:10) and some thoughts on the upcoming Oscar race…
  • Homework for next week (1:07:40), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, Apple TV+’s new World War II show Masters of the Air, Donald Glover’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Amazon, Netflix’s dour comedy Loudermilk and the film Self Reliance on Hulu (written/directed/starring Jake Johnson)…

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