Tag Archives: Will Gagnon

The Toy Department – Episode 438

  By toyAdmin | November 14, 2025 - 1:16 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 438, Madden and Kolsky get right down to business to avoid Kolsky’s scheduling conflicts:

  • The last two weeks of action on The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (1:11) where the latest episode featured some delightful high drama, continuing rookie behavior from a vet and a fascinating new elimination… and we are set up for a heck of stretch run!
  • Tracy Morgan’s new Paramount+ sitcom Crutch (23:25) and how it is really for people who love the old-school, traditional sitcom format (and apparently the show The Neighborhood with Cedric the Entertainer)…
  • The new HBO Max comedy I Love LA (26:30), Derek’s developing distaste for Rachel Sennott and an interesting comparison to a long-running and beloved show in a different city…
  • Netflix’s new Colin Farrell film Ballad of a Small Player (30:25) and how our hosts wish the movie was better, because Farrell’s performance is typically awesome…
  • Vince Gilligan’s new Apple TV+ show Pluribus (35:25) and how Rhea Seehorn should be in everything and we should cherish our television masters while we have them…
  • A few thoughts on Victor Wembenyama (55:15) and the place of dynasties in sports…
  • Homework for next week (1:04:05), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, the Eddie Murphy docu-series Being Eddie on Netflix, the return of Landman on Paramount+ and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (also on Netflix), plus MAYBE season 2 of A Man on the Inside (time permitting) and Sinners (Derek-watching-it permitting)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 437

  By toyAdmin | October 31, 2025 - 11:53 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 437, Madden and Kolsky hurry through an intro after Derek applies the dreaded short-show curse, so they can get to:

  • This week’s action from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (2:35) and how bizarre it is to see the vets panic over gameplay when the rookies are handling it reasonably well…
  • The second season of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This (26:20) and how it remains compulsively watchable and driven by excellent characters…
  • Netflix’s new Kathryn Bigelow film A House of Dynamite (33:05) and how it’s a dynamite mood piece that doesn’t totally come together as a narrative film…
  • DEREK FINALLY SAW One Battle After Another (41:10) and both our hosts loved it, so that’s the conversation…
  • Homework for next week (53:10), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, the new HBO Max comedy I Love LA, Tracy Morgan’s new sitcom Crutch on Paramount+ and the new Netflix movie Ballad of a Small Player…

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The Toy Department – Episode 436

  By toyAdmin | October 24, 2025 - 11:41 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 436, Madden and Kolsky must address Derek’s continued truancy at the movie theater before they can get deeper into:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (4:35) where there are increasingly fewer vets (especially on the men’s side) but plenty of threats all over…
  • The Shane Black film Play Dirty (20:50) and the joys of watching Lakeith Stanfield, plus a spoiler that we forgot to pre-alert, so look alive 😂…
  • The Hulu documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (26:15) and the importance of the festival, in retrospect, plus Kolsky’s irrational distaste for Sarah McLachlan…
  • Colin Hanks’ documentary John Candy: I Like Me (36:10) and the relative ambitions of a bio-doc versus an event doc…
  • The new Naked Gun movie on Paramount+ (43:45) and how Liam Neeson & Co. did well to capture the essence of the franchise but could have provided a few more laughs…
  • A handful of sports thoughts (48:20) from gambling in the NBA to Arsenal’s spot atop the EPL favorites…
  • Homework for next week (1:10:00), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, actually making Derek get to the theater to see One Battle After Another, plus Season 2 of Nobody Wants This and the new Kathryn Bigelow movie A House of Dynamite, both on Netflix…

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The Toy Department – Episode 435

  By toyAdmin | October 17, 2025 - 12:28 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 435, Madden and Kolsky return from an extended absence with Derek running on fumes to discuss:

  • Three weeks of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (4:15) which featured lots of content but maybe not a whole lot of action…
  • The Chair Company on HBO (26:05) and why both of our hosts are all the way out on Tim Robinson…
  • Hulu’s football comedy Chad Powers (33:35) and what it looks like when a movie star is in a middling TV comedy…
  • Netflix’s new period drama House of Guinness (38:05) and whether it will pick up enough to draw one of our hosts in…
  • Mae Martin’s new Netflix thriller Wayward (43:25) and its extremely chaotic energy…
  • Derek’s failure (49:30) to watch One Battle After Another…
  • Homework for next week (51:30), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, actually getting to talk about One Battle After Another, the new Naked Gun movie on Paramount+, the new Shane Black movie Play Dirty on Amazon Prime Video, the Hulu documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (despite Kolsky’s sexism) and the Colin Hanks-directed documentary John Candy: I Like Me on Amazon Prime Video…

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The Toy Department – Episode 434

  By toyAdmin | September 26, 2025 - 10:56 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 434, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s upcoming trip to Austin City Limits before zeroing in on:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (7:45) and the product of the Lock In, plus Derek’s feelings about an elimination-free episode…
  • Netflix’s new series Black Rabbit (28:30) and whether it’s their attempt at a prestige show (and whether it’s successful, if so)…
  • Sterlin Harjo’s new Ethan Hawke-led series The Lowdown (35:35) and where FX stands in the theoretical prestige TV rankings…
  • Homework for THREE weeks from now (50:45), including: another episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, Netflix’s new drama House of Guinness, the Mae Martin-created Wayward (also on Netflix), Hulu’s new comedy Chad Powers, and Tim Robinson’s The Chair Company on HBO, plus (hopefully) movies The Naked Gun and One Battle After Another…

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The Toy Department – Episode 433

  By toyAdmin | September 19, 2025 - 1:04 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 433, Madden and Kolsky literally discuss the weather before they finally get into it with:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (3:35) after the demise of the Justice for Leka movement…
  • The new Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest (24:40) and whether Denzel is too old for this sh*t…
  • Prime Video’s new thriller The Girlfriend (35:50) and how (and why) it doesn’t quite rise to the level of must-watch…
  • The return of Gen V (43:20) and further thoughts on The Boys cinematic universe…
  • Homework for next week (we forgot to actually mention it in the episode 😬), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, Netflix’s new show Black Rabbit and Sterlin Harjo’s new series The Lowdown on FX…

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The Toy Department – Episode 432

  By toyAdmin | September 12, 2025 - 10:26 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 432, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s imminent vacation to Vegas, and general Vegas strategy, before diving into:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (5:00) where, as so often happens, the rookies are flailing and failing at forming a working alliance to oppose the vets…
  • Peacock’s Office spin-off The Paper (22:00) and the potential pitfalls of trying to re-capture the magic…
  • Amazon Prime Video’s teen band dramedy The Runarounds (25:55) and how one of our hosts (bet you can guess which) is an instant Stan…
  • HBO’s new Sunday night offering Task (34:00) and the mysteries that abound in the first episode of the new show from the creator of Mare of Easttown…
  • Homework for next week (47:55), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, the new Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest on Apple TV+, and two Amazon Prime Video shows: Season 2 of Gen V and the new show The Girlfriend…

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The Toy Department – Episode 431

  By toyAdmin | September 5, 2025 - 11:30 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 431, Madden and Kolsky discuss their IRL meet-up between podcasts before getting down to brass tacks on:

  • The last two weeks of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (7:00) and the thrilling elimination that crowned the most recent episode…
  • The baffling and distinctly not funny comedy The Pickup (22:50) and how exactly we end up making things that make no sense…
  • The disappointing film The Phoenician Scheme (28:40) and whether the career of Wes Anderson has ceased to be a source of interest…
  • The excellent Freaky Tales (34:30) and its love affair with Oakland…
  • A revisiting of Apple TV+’s insane show Smoke (43:05) and how the not-especially-good-but-totally-ridiculous blueprint seems to be working for them…
  • Homework for next week (51:45), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, the Office spin-off The Paper, HBO’s new crime drama Task and the Amazon Prime teen band show The Runarounds…

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The Toy Department – Episode 429

  By toyAdmin | August 8, 2025 - 6:22 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 429, Madden and Kolsky get into their relative appreciation of getting pounded with heavy metal before they buckle down on:

  • The new FX show Welcome to Necaxa (3:20) and how the Eva Longoria project resembles but is also very different from the Rob & Ryan project in Wrexham…
  • Kolsky’s failure to watch Chief of War (15:00) thanks to a miscommunication on last pod (so maybe it’s homework now?)…
  • Netflix’s bat-guano insane The Hunting Wives (16:30) and the utter mediocrity of its nudity-heavy nonsense…
  • The five hours of Billy Joel documentary on HBO (22:05), whether he deserved that length and where his legacy lands…
  • Amazon Prime Video’s teen drama sensation The Summer I Turned Pretty (46:35) and whether our hosts should suffer through the first season or two to get to the apparently very good third season… or are we just very old and out of touch?
  • Another exciting episode of The Challenge 41: Vets & New Threats (54:45) and an absolute banger of an elimination between two small rookie women who left everything they had in the ring…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (1:09:35), including: the next two episodes of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, perhaps revisiting the well-reviewed Chief of War, Noah Hawley’s new FX show Alien Earth, the John Grisham television adaptation The Rainmaker on USA/Peacock and the new Dallas Cowboys/Jerry Jones documentary on Netflix…

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The Toy Department – Episode 428

  By toyAdmin | August 1, 2025 - 11:43 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 428, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s visit to Chicago and assign some extra homework that they forgot about before locking into:

  • The first episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats (5:55) and also the weird and mostly annoying 0th episode, with lots of excitement for the season to come…
  • The reasonably enjoyable Happy Gilmore 2 (30:55), how far you can fly on the wings of cameo appearances from terrible actors and Adam Sandler’s career choices…
  • Hulu’s new show Washington Black (39:50) and the relative usefulness of fantastical historical fiction…
  • Homework for next week (44:05), including: the next episode of The Challenge: Vets & New Threats, checking in on the apparently very popular The Summer I Turned Pretty on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix’s new series The Hunting Wives, Eva Longoria’s Wrexham spinoff Necaxa and the Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes on HBO Max…

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