Tag Archives: Aneesa Ferreira

The Toy Department – Episode 414

  By toyAdmin | February 21, 2025 - 11:19 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 414, Madden and Kolsky are pressed for time after missing last week, so it’s some quick pleasantries and right into:

  • Two weeks of action from The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (1:15), the early leaders in the clubhouse and the unfortunate (for entertainment purposes) elimination of Ashley and Aneesa…
  • Our hosts’ thoughts on all of the SNL 50 content (22:25) from the past weekend…
  • A couple minutes on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (33:30) with Phish nominated for the first time…
  • The Oscar-nominated film The Substance (40:05) and the excellent performances at its core…
  • More spy-show fodder with Netflix’s The Recruit (50:00) and Apple TV+’s Prime Target (54:25) and how one of our hosts found a deeper enjoyment in one of them…
  • The return of White Lotus (57:25) and the excitement we all feel to have it back…
  • A reasonably unproductive discussion about the NBA All-Star fiasco (1:04:30) and the NBA MVP Award, which Derek is already furious about…
  • Homework for two weeks from now (1:18:40), including: two more episodes of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals and a bunch of Netflix content — the new Olympic basketball doc Court of Gold, new limited series Zero Day and new comedy series Running Point…

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The Toy Department – Episode 413

  By toyAdmin | February 7, 2025 - 12:31 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 413, Madden and Kolsky give you everything they’ve got about the Super Bowl (which amounts to approximately 47 seconds of content) before locking in on:

  • The first two episodes of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals (1:30) which featured a fortuitous elimination and very little personal growth from people we’ve known for a decade…
  • The Jesse Eisenberg feature A Real Pain (20:35) and how it doesn’t feel like a Best Picture nominee but DOES manage to entertain and intrigue for its 90 minutes…
  • The definitely-feels-like-a-best-picture-contender movie Anora (24:10) and the remarkable performance of Mikey Madison in the leading role…
  • The Netflix hit The Night Agent (32:35) and whether they put enough work in on the fast-arriving second season…
  • The new Hulu show Paradise (37:55) and why we seem to be in the post-apocalyptic-underground-city era of television…
  • A few thoughts on a WILD NBA trade deadline (46:05) and what some of the participants are looking at for the remainder of the season…
  • Homework for next week (1:03:50), including: the next episode of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals, Oscar contender The Substance, the new Apple TV+ show Prime Target and the return of Netflix’s The Recruit…

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The Toy Department – Episode 412

  By toyAdmin | January 24, 2025 - 10:18 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 412, Madden and Kolsky have a quick chat about vacations and the city of New Orleans before focusing in on:

  • The conclusion of a lackluster reunion for The Challenge: Battle of the Eras (4:20) and a look ahead to the hopefully much more entertaining All-Stars 5…
  • The Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (16:30), some big-time acting performances and the impact of Dylan going electric…
  • The Amazon Prime film Unstoppable (27:50) and what a classic high-quality true-story drama looks like…
  • The return of Apple TV+ sensation Severance (35:05) and what Ben Stiller & Co. are driving at with this bizarre and stylized show…
  • Peacock’s goofy new comedy Laid (44:25), the irrepressible charm of Stephanie Hsu and the absolute wheelhouse of Zosia Mamet…
  • A touch of sports talk (49:30) as we careen towards the end of both the NFL season and the soccer transfer window…
  • Homework for TWO weeks from now (1:04:05), including: the first two episodes of The Challenge All-Stars: Rivals, the new Hulu show Paradise, the return of Netflix’s The Night Agent and Oscar contenders Anora and A Real Pain…

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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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