September 2020 – The Toy Department

The Toy Department – Episode 229

In Episode 229, Madden and Kolsky are alive and employed, which means good in 2020, and ready to discuss:

The new season of PEN15 on Hulu (3:05) and how one of our hosts has really come around on the show…
The new Ryan Murphy show Ratched (10:35) and just what exactly he is doing with all of Netflix’s money…
Fox’s new show LA’s Finest (19:40) and how it follows a pretty successful formula to being exactly what you think it is…
A check-in on HBO’s Lovecraft Country (36:00) after a bottle episode starring an old veteran of The Challenge…
A brief NFL chat (48:50) about quick takeaways from the first two weeks of pro football…
Some thoughts on the NBA Playoffs (51:45) with particular focus on Tyler Herro’s tremendous performance…
Homework for our next show, on October 6 (1:07:35), including: the new Netflix show Sneakerheads, season four of Fargo on FX, Showtime’s new movie The Comey Rule and the new Amazon show Utopia… plus EVEN MOAR NBA Playoffs and Weeks 3 & 4 of the NFL season…

In Episode 228, Madden and Kolsky steel themselves to work through arguably the weirdest content week in Toy Department history, featuring:

The exceedingly weird Netflix film I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2:05) from the mind of Charlie Kaufman…
The new HBO series We Are Who We Are (25:20) and what the guys make of some weird vibes and a lack of background or explication in the first episode…
The new HBO mini-series The Third Day (36:25) and what exactly is happening with both the airing of the show and the content…
Hulu’s new Lamorne Morris-starring show Woke (46:25) and how it’s a nice place to spend some time…
The topsy-turvy NBA Playoffs (52:10) and what the Nuggets’ big upset of the Clippers means…
A few thoughts on Week One of NFL action (1:19:35), featuring the San Francisco 49ers’ somewhat surprising loss to Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals…
Homework for next week (1:25:55), including: the probably terrible new Fox show LA’s Finest, the new season of PEN15 on Hulu and the new Netflix/Ryan Murphy show Ratched… plus MOAR NBA Playoffs and Week 2 of the NFL season…

In Episode 227, Madden and Kolsky discuss the apocalypse weather in California and the movie Madden DIDN’T watch before sliding into:

The new Bill & Ted movie (5:25) and how it doesn’t give you much beyond a few laughs and a lot of references to the originals…
The new Netflix show Away (14:10) and how it’s less mission to Mars space show than it is interpersonal drama…
Amazon’s The Boys (23:40) and how the second season looks in the early going, plus thoughts on the three-per-week release schedule…
Amazon’s soccer docu-series All or Nothing (30:25), which focuses on Tottenham Hotspur and got very lucky with a mid-season coaching change…
A bit of NBA discussion (45:45) as the playoffs wind towards the conference finals…
Some NFL preview talk (1:02:50) on the eve of what should be a very strange season…
Homework for next week (1:19:55), including: the new Lamorne Morris series Woke on Hulu, Madden actually watching I’m Thinking of Ending Thigs, the new HBO series We Are Who We Are, the new HBO miniseries The Third Day and LOTS MORE sports action with the NBA Playoffs and the opening of the NFL season…

In Episode 226, Madden and Kolsky briefly get into the misery of the outside world before entering the toy department of life to discuss:

The new Netflix cartoon Hoops (3:50) and how absolutely awful it is…
The HBO Max reality dating series Singletown (9:20), which went over far better with one host than with the other…
The Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai (19:10) and what a good job the creators and writers have done with the source material…
The Amazon movie Get Duked (28:50) and how much fun it was to traipse through the Scottish Highlands with some weird teens…
A check-in on HBO’s Lovecraft Country (35:50) as the guys try to pin down exactly what is going on there…
The NBA Playoffs (42:30), with some thoughts on the Rockets’ Game 7 win and their prospects against the Lakers, the potential Celtics/Heat matchup in the Eastern Conference Finals, and a little bit of NBA draft chatter…
Homework for next week (1:12:20), including: the return of The Boys on Amazon, the new Netflix series Away (about a Mars mission), the new Charlie Kaufman movie I’m Thinking of Ending Things (also on Netflix), and LOTS MORE NBA Playoff action… plus the new Bill and Ted movie, which the hosts forgot to mention…
A few quick thoughts on baseball (1:15:20), especially the White Sox and Braves, both of whom are very exciting…