The Toy Department – Episode 411

In Episode 411, Madden and Kolsky spend some time whining about the cold weather and their various maladies before sucking it up and getting to:

An underwhelming start to the reunion of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras (4:30) and how the customary post-championship party probably needs a new format…
The even more underwhelming Cruel Intentions remake (16:45) and how remakes need a new take on the material…
The Oscar buzz-y papacy drama Conclave (23:05) and how difficult it is to care about the mystery if you don’t care about Catholicism…
Hulu’s comedy How to Die Alone (30:30) and how it entertains pretty well, even if it leaves our host wanting more at times….
The world of Philomena Cunk (34:35) — starting with Cunk on Earth — and the brilliance of actress Diane Morgan, with a slight interruption from Kolsky’s three-year-old…
The thrilling conclusion of Landman (40:30) and the continuing prolific spectacle of the Taylor Sheridan universe, plus more three-year-old content…
Homework for next week (49:40), including: one more week of Challenge reunion, the return of Severance on Apple TV+, the new movie Unstoppable on Amazon Prime, the Peacock comedy Laid (starring Stephanie Hsu) and the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown…
A few thoughts on the NFL (53:20) as we head into divisional playoff weekend…