Tag Archives: The Mandalorian

The Toy Department – Episode 287

  By toyAdmin | January 18, 2022 - 12:00 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 287, Madden and Kolsky are BACK (at long last!) to cover a MYRIAD of pop culture topics… and don’t worry, we cut out most of the COVID conversation so it’s basically straight into:

  • Aaron Sorkin’s Amazon Prime film Being the Ricardos (4:35) and how it’s a poorly cast, oddly framed and ultimately kind of pointless look at Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz…
  • The Matrix Resurrections on HBO Max (8:35) and how it was a pretty enjoyable action flick but not really anything special or mind-blowing…
  • Disney+’s The Book of Boba Fett (13:10) and how it doesn’t live up to The Mandalorian’s high standard in the first couple episodes, but it probably deserves some time to achieve that level…
  • The Apple TV+ film Swan Song (15:00) and how tremendous performances from Mahershala Ali, Glenn Close and Awkwafina bring an incredibly subtle but deeply moving film to life…
  • The HBO Max post-apocalyptic series Station 11 (21:30) and how it really came together beautifully and is, in the end, a hopeful and uplifting version of the world…
  • The return of HBO’s Euphoria (33:25) and how it delivers the same beautiful cinematography and fascinating storytelling that you may remember from its first season…
  • The end of Season 1 of Showtime’s Yellowjackets (40:50) and how thrilling and entertaining and well-acted it was, plus some excitement over the potential for Season 2…
  • The end of The Challenge All-Stars 2 (50:10) and the new level we expect the Challenge’s senior circuit to hit with the quickly-coming Season 3…
  • A few thoughts on the NFL Playoffs (1:10:00) after a largely boring “Super” Wild Card Weekend…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (1:16:40), including: Abbott Elementary on ABC/Hulu, Pivoting on Fox/Hulu, How I Met Your Father on JUST Hulu and HBO’s new Duplass show Somebody Somewhere, plus the new season of Netflix’s Ozark… (and don’t miss the post-show out-take, we say the F word a lot 🙂

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The Toy Department – Episode 234

  By toyAdmin | November 3, 2020 - 10:54 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 234, Madden and Kolsky dance around the big non-toy-department event of the day before diving into frivolous pop culture to discuss:

  • Sarah Cooper’s Netflix sketch comedy special Everything’s Fine (2:30) and the hosts’ differing opinions on its successfulness…
  • The Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher (9:30) and how the incredible visual experience wasn’t quite enough for one of our hosts…
  • Season 2 of The Mandalorian (20:50) and how it dives right back in to deliver more space cowboy fun…
  • Amazon’s new series Truth Seekers (27:45) and how Simon Pegg and Nick Frost seem to be building another good horror-comedy…
  • Some binging ideas for the masses (31:40) in the event that one needs to spend the next several days in bed watching television…
  • Homework for next week, assuming we still exist (43:50), including: the new HBO show Industry, a check-in on HBO’s The Undoing, Showtime’s new space comedy Moonbase 8 and Netflix’s new Song Exploder show… plus Week 9 of the NFL season…

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The Toy Department – Episode 196

  By toyAdmin | January 10, 2020 - 11:11 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 196, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky are pressed for time (and Kolsky has a sick baby again) but they still manage to get through:

  • The new film Parasite (2:50) and how director Bong Joon-ho told an incredibly engaging and meaningful story about class in Korea…
  • The film Bombshell (9:05) and how Madden and Kolsky processed the story of rampant sexual misconduct at Fox News…
  • The new NBC show Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (24:00) and whether the pilot showed enough promise to keep either of the hosts’ attention…
  • Some thoughts on Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (32:25) after the end of its third season…
  • A wrap-up of Disney+’s The Mandalorian (34:05) and why both guys thought it was the best Star Wars content of the year…
  • Homework for next week (36:35), including: NFL PLAYOFFS!!! (and probably some other stuff but really this section of the pod is just an NFL playoffs discussion and whatever else the guys watch will be determined during the week)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 191

  By toyAdmin | November 21, 2019 - 11:41 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 191, Derek Madden teases a non-existent show drama before exposing the rather dull truth, then he and Matt Kolsky basically agree on:

  • The new film Ford vs. Ferrari (2:10) and how it was somewhat unexceptional but the sort of film the guys would like to see more of…
  • The debut of The Mandalorian on Disney+ (14:45) and how the first two episodes were great, but the guys are ready for some plot…
  • The new Hulu show Dollface (24:40) and how it is utterly watchable but not especially deep or thoughtful…
  • The Netflix film Earthquake Bird (33:30) and how neither host much enjoyed it or understood the point of it…
  • A brief detour out of the Toy Department (39:15) because Madden wants to discuss the impeachment hearings, but Kolsky is not watching or interested…
  • More thoughts on The Challenge (43:50) which saw another excellent episode filled with perfect twists in the War of the Worlds II season, plus Kolsky’s analysis of old seasons as he learns some history…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (59:00), including: the new film Knives Out in theaters, the new film The Irishman on Netflix, the new film Brittany Runs A Marathon on Amazon Prime and Mike Birbiglia’s new Netflix stand-up special, plus check-ins on Watchmen and Mrs. Fletcher…

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The Toy Department – Episode 190

  By toyAdmin | November 14, 2019 - 11:39 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 190, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky are off to a late start, so waste no time getting into:

  • Kolsky’s investment in Disney+ (1:00) and how he feels about it, with plans to get Madden involved for next week…
  • The new Taika Waititi film Jojo Rabbit (5:35), how incredible the cast was and what an interesting, thoughtful movie it turned out to be…
  • The new cycle of Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act on Netflix (17:20) and the fundamental struggle for comedy/news programs in our bizarre and confusing times…
  • A deep dive on MTV’s The Challenge (25:55), the remarkable twists and turns of the War of the Worlds 2 season and some specific strategy points and player analysis…
  • Homework for next week (53:15), including: watching the first couple episodes of The Mandalorian on Disney+, back to the theaters for the movie Ford vs. Ferrari, the new Hulu show Dollface and the new Netflix film Earthquake Bird…

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