The Toy Department – Episode 243

In Episode 243, Madden and Kolsky are (unsuccessfully, again) aiming for a short episode, so they dive right into:

  • The new Tiger Woods documentary on HBO (2:40) and how it spins a fascinating story around a rather uninteresting personality…
  • The too-widely-acclaimed How To with John Wilson (20:05) and how the odd but unexceptional HBO Max show fails to live up to its billing…
  • The Apple TV+ original Mythic Quest (27:00), where Kolsky stopped watching and why Madden thinks it’s worth sticking with it…
  • The Netflix docu-series History of Swear Words (33:25) and the enjoyable comedy of filthy language…
  • Some quick sports thoughts — on the NBA’s COVID issues (39:50) and the NFL’s first Super Wild Card Weekend (49:25)…
  • Homework for of next Tuesday (1:02:45), including: the second part of HBO’s Tiger documentary, the new film Promising Young Woman (available on VOD), the Amazon Prime film One Night in Miami (directed by Regina King) and the third film in the Small Axe Series — Red, White and Blue; plus MORE NFL playoffs and NBA basketball… and DON’T MISS our coverage of The Challenge: Double Agents on Thursday!!!

The Toy Department – Episode 53

In Episode 53, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky fail to apologize for Kolsky’s degraded audio quality OR the day-late nature of this episode, so please accept this as an apology (sorry, y’all) as you listen to their discussions about:

  • Last week’s homework assignment: Scott Van Pelt’s SportsCenter (2:00)… The guys discuss how it stands out from other SportsCenter programming and whether it represents a new avenue for that brand moving forward…
  • College football’s National Championship game (11:30), but less about the game and more about Kolsky’s continuing distaste for NCAA pigskin in general… and the differences between college and professional football…
  • The NFL playoffs (25:30) specifically the games of Divisional weekend and how they project to be significantly more entertaining that last weekend’s Wild Card action…
  • Coachella!! (35:50) The lineup was announced (and it’s great) but the guys also discuss the controversy over the political contributions of AEG, the festival’s parent company…
  • The (relatively) new Netflix show Easy (54:25) – a show that both Madden and Kolsky enjoy, directed by Chicagoland native and Kolsky kindred spirit Joe Swanberg…
  • Some homework (1:01:15) for next week: including, but not limited to, watching some Oscar contender films, the Kids In The Hall classic movie Brain Candy, and the new FX show Taboo…

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 6

In Episode 6, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with a brief discussion of football’s move to Los Angeles, before transitioning into a discussion of the life of the great David Bowie (6:30). Then transition into a long movie talk based around today’s announcement of Oscar nominations (14:45) that addresses the lack of diversity in nominees, among other things. Then it’s back to sports (32:30) for a discussion of the Bengals’ meltdown (or was it a meltdown??) at the end of their playoff loss to Pittsburgh and other postseason football issues. Then a minute or two on Sean Penn’s El Chapo interview ties things up at the end.

Oh, and if you want to subscribe via iTunes (and you really should), just CLICK HERE!!