Tag Archives: Derek Madden

The Toy Department – Episode 336

  By toyAdmin | March 17, 2023 - 3:11 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 336, Madden and Kolsky chat about Kolsky’s crowded house before distracting him with:

  • A few thoughts on the Oscars (1:50) and what was a largely satisfying — if unremarkable — experience…
  • The return of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso (8:40), the heel turn of Nate the Great and what is in store for the final season…
  • A wrap-up of the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us (16:20) and what an excellent season of television it turned out to be…
  • Netflix’s Luther film (26:30) and how it is essentially just a longer episode of Luther, which is perfectly good!
  • The second week of Top Chef Season 20 (World All-Stars) on Bravo (30:55), the rise of May and the fall of Dawn…
  • A rather lackluster episode of The Challenge: World Championship (51:15) and the impending (and insane) Wrath of KellyAnne…
  • Homework for next week (1:07:15), including: Amazon Prime Video’s new Donald Glover comedy/drama/thriller/horror show Swarm, Bob Odenkirk’s new AMC show Lucky Hank and the Disney movie Chang Can Dunk… PLUS another week of The Challenge: World Championship on Paramount+ AND Top Chef Season 20 (World All-Stars) on Bravo…

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The Toy Department – Episode 335

  By toyAdmin | March 10, 2023 - 11:01 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 335, Madden and Kolsky address Kolsky’s complaint about Bravo’s programming schedule deception and Derek’s potential relationship with Padma before launching into:

  • The debut episode of Top Chef Season 20 (5:25), the old favorites who have returned as All-Stars and the exciting crop of international chefs who have joined the proceedings…
  • The premiere of Paramount+’s The Challenge: World Championship (31:50), a very impressive field of contestants (other than the Argentine contingent) and how the partnerships shaped up after the first night of episodes…
  • The Oscar-nominated film Women Talking (55:40) and how a great cast and heavy premise don’t quite get to the point of making a particularly interesting or exceptional viewing experience…
  • The surprisingly enjoyable and well-executed Daisy Jones and the Six on Amazon Prime Video (1:04:35) and how sometimes just doing an established thing at a really high level is enough to be a really good show…
  • Mel Brooks’ History of the World, Part II (1:07:40) and how it’s a lot like Part 1 — which is to say incredibly stupid and pretty damn funny, though one of our hosts enjoyed it more than the other…
  • Homework for next week (1:11:15), including: the end of the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us, the premiere of the final season of Apple’s Ted Lasso and the Luther movie on Netflix… PLUS another week of The Challenge: World Championship on Paramount+ AND Top Chef Season 20 (World All-Stars) on Bravo…

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The Toy Department – Episode 334

  By toyAdmin | March 3, 2023 - 2:32 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 334, Madden and Kolsky toy with the concept of a baseball discussion they are not yet ready to have before getting into today’s business:

  • The conclusion of The Challenge: Ride or Dies Reunion (2:50) and a look ahead to next week’s debut of The Challenge: World Championship…
  • The return of Party Down on Starz (18:40) and how it is just as laugh-out-loud funny as it ever was, with some exciting new guest appearances to boot…
  • The Oscar-nominated film The Woman King (23:00) and how — like most of this year’s nominees — it left our hosts wanting more and wondering if there was a standout film to be had in the bunch…
  • Amazon Prime’s incomprehensible thriller-comedy The Consultant (27:00) and whether anything has ever made less sense…
  • Homework for next week (34:55), including: the Oscar-nominated Women Talking (rentable for streaming), Hulu’s The History of the World Part II from Mel Brooks and company, and the fake-band bio-series Daisy Jones and the Six… PLUS the premiere of The Challenge: World Championship on Paramount+ AND the premiere of Top Chef Season 20 (World All-Stars) on Bravo…

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The Toy Department – Episode 333

  By toyAdmin | February 23, 2023 - 6:32 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 333, Madden and Kolsky are on a deadline, so they jump straight into:

  • Part 1 of The Challenge: Ride or Dies Reunion (1:20) and all the many dramatic spats therein…
  • Netflix’s new teen crime series Fakes (18:25) and how it’s going for a quirky-and-lovable style that it simply doesn’t execute as well as some recent British comedies of a similar ilk…
  • Marc Maron’s new HBO stand-up special From Bleak to Dark (25:30) and how he is operating at an incredibly high level as a comedian…
  • Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical film The Fabelmans (30:00) and how it is exceptionally well-executed but not particularly ambitious or interesting beyond it being the story of a very famous filmmaker…
  • Homework for next week (36:20), including: Oscar-nominated The Woman King (now on Netflix), Amazon Prime’s new thriller-comedy The Consultant and the return of Party Down on Starz… PLUS the second reunion episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies…

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The Toy Department – Episode 332

  By toyAdmin | February 17, 2023 - 11:38 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 332, Madden and Kolsky get stuck in a lengthy discussion of playing FIFA and watching the English Premiere League before focusing in on the topic(s) at hand:

  • The season finalé of The Challenge: Ride or Dies (15:10) and the crowning of two new champs in Devin and Tori, plus a look forward to the jam-packed future of The Challenge Universe…
  • The critically celebrated film Tár (58:00) and just what exactly it has to offer other than a predictably incredible performance from Cate Blanchett…
  • The Ryan Coogler-directed superhero film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (1:03:55) and how it doesn’t live up to its predecessor but still makes for a pretty good time…
  • Showtime’s new 90s/00s indie rock scene documentary Meet Me in the Bathroom (1:08:35) and how it has some great shots and archived footage but not enough information about its subjects…
  • The Dave Franco-directed Somebody I Used to Know (1:21:05) and the magnetic lead actor energy of his wife and star Allison Brie…
  • Homework for next week (1:26:50), including: the Oscar-nominated Spielberg film The Fabelmans, a new Netflix series called Fakes and Marc Maron’s new HBO special From Bleak to Dark… PLUS the reunion episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies…

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The Toy Department – Episode 331

  By toyAdmin | February 10, 2023 - 3:52 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 331, Madden and Kolsky do a quick debrief on their long time apart before shifting into gear to discuss:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Ride or Dies (1:40) where we seem to be past the halfway point of TJ’s Final and there are LOTS of incidents and accidents to discuss…
  • A quick check-in on The Last of Us (33:40) to acknowledge the excellence of Episode 3…
  • Peacock’s new Natasha Lyonne vehicle Poker Face (35:10) and how her charm carries the viewer to an awful lot of fun…
  • Hulu’s superpower show Extraordinary (38:45) and how it really is extraordinarily enjoyable, with excellent writing and some delightful young unknown performers…
  • Apple TV+’s Bill Lawrence/Jason Segel joint Shrinking (44:05) and how the combination of its two creators makes for an oddly enjoyable cocktail, plus — Harrison Ford…
  • The Netflix rom-com You People (51:30) and how there’s not much Rom and Eddy Murphy is largely wasted but it’s not so terrible in the end…
  • A few thoughts on the upcoming Super Bowl LVII (1:00:55) and the recently passed NBA Trade Deadline (1:05:10)…
  • Homework for next week (1:16:25), including: four movies — TÁR (streaming on Peacock), Wakanda Forever (streaming on Disney+), Meet Me in the Bathroom (streaming on Showtime and Paramount+) and Somebody I Used to Know (streaming on Amazon)… and OF COURSE the last episode (we think) of The Challenge: Ride or Dies…

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The Toy Department – Episode 330

  By toyAdmin | January 26, 2023 - 3:18 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 330, Madden and Kolsky do a LITTLE bit of housekeeping before jumping right into:

  • The fact that Derek failed to complete his homework when he forgot about Treason (1:40) which is a nice little spy drama/thriller that Kolsky can still tell us a bit about…
  • The most recent episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies (5:40), including thoughts on elimination selection strategy, some great Burns of the Week and a preview of what looks to be a GRUELING final…
  • The new horror/satire/comedy film The Menu (39:55) and how it is carried along by a group of excellent acting performances…
  • The Billy Eichner/Judd Apatow-created rom com Bros (45:50) and how both hosts thought it hit all the Romantic Comedy pleasure spots…
  • Homework for TWO WEEKS from now (52:15), including: the new Netflix comedy You People, the new Peacock show Poker Face, Apple TV+’s new show Shrinking, Hulu’s British superpower show Extaordinary and OF COURSE the final of The Challenge: Ride or Dies…
  • A few quick thoughts on this weekend’s NFL Conference Championship games (56:35)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 329

  By toyAdmin | January 20, 2023 - 2:47 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 329, Madden and Kolsky have a brief bundt cake discussion before getting down to the business of the day:

  • HBO’s new Sunday night series The Last of Us (3:40), and how it was perfectly watchable but didn’t totally live up to the hype for either of our hosts…
  • The despicably bad NBC Night Court reboot (10:55) and how disappointing it was…
  • The warm, inviting Netflix re-imagining that is That 90’s Show (15:25) and how it proves the concept of a nostalgic sitcom reboot…
  • Netflix’s new tennis docu-series Break Point (22:10) and how it worked much better for one of our hosts than it did for the other…
  • The latest from The Challenge: Ride or Dies (29:10) which is NOT yet at TJ’s final, but still gave us a highly entertaining episode this week… and also the latest from Kolsky’s experience with one of Rachel’s Challenge Workouts…
  • Homework for next Friday (53:30), including: the movie The Menu on HBO Max, the comedy Bros on Peacock and the limited series Treason on Netflix… plus, OF COURSE, the next episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies!!

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The Toy Department – Episode 328

  By toyAdmin | January 13, 2023 - 3:26 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 328, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s tough day at the office before getting into the pop culture content of the week:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Ride or Dies (2:50) as we have reached the doorstep of TJ’s Final and likely seen our final major twist of the season…
  • The new season of Last Chance U (35:55) on Netflix, which stays with East LA College and coach John Mosley as he rebuilds the program after COVID killed their previous season…
  • The film She Said (41:20), now available on Peacock, and how it takes a specific and successful angle on covering the reprehensible Harvey Weinstein, plus some thoughts on the excellent lead performances…
  • The new Netflix show Kaleidoscope (49:35) and how when its elaborate gimmick turns out to be nothing special, what’s left is a decidedly not special heist show…
  • A few thoughts on the impending Wild Card Weekend (59:45) and who the guys see ending up in the Super Bowl in February…
  • Homework for next Friday (1:09:40), including: HBO’s new show The Last of Us (), Netflix’s new tennis docu-series Break Point, the NBC reboot of Night Court and Netflix’s 70’s Show reboot That 90’s Show… plus, OF COURSE, the next episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies!!

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The Toy Department – Episode 327

  By toyAdmin | January 6, 2023 - 2:49 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 327, Madden and Kolsky debrief on Kolsky’s weird morning before locking in on:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Ride or Dies (2:40) and the critical error made by the Underdogs in the latest daily challenge…
  • The documentary Woooooo! Becoming Ric Flair on Peacock (19:20) and how the apparently-still-not-retired wrestler makes for a very compelling subject, even if many of the stories have been told before…
  • The Netflix film White Noise (27:05) from director Noah Baumbach and how it fails to really finish any thoughts despite starting an awful lot of them…
  • Netflix’s new spy series The Recruit (32:35) and Noah Centineo as a leading man/action star…
  • Homework for next Friday (37:00), including: the movie She Said on Peacock, the new series Kaleidoscope and the newest season of Last Chance U (both on Netflix)… and OF COURSE the next episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies…

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