Tag Archives: Chris Paul

The Toy Department – Episode 318

  By toyAdmin | October 21, 2022 - 1:15 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 318, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s work trip to the casino before locking in on:

  • The latest episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies (1:55), Turbo’s heel turn and the ace strategy from the game’s newest veterans, the notorious Johnny Bananas and his incomparable partner Nany Gonzalez…
  • Netflix’s Redeem Team documentary (35:15) and how it was an enjoyable and entertaining watch despite its somewhat hegeographic tendencies…
  • Apple TV+’s new show Shantaram (46:00) and how Charlie Hunnam makes for an incredibly engaging and watchable center for a show that transports you to 1980’s Bombay (for some not entirely known reason)…
  • The return of Documentary Now! on IFC (50:10) and how the first mockumentary of this season is entertaining and pretty spot-on, but not necessarily enough to suck one of our hosts in…
  • A season wrap-up on FX’s Welcome to Wrexham (59:30) and how the show works on so many levels, ultimately becoming one of the year’s best…
  • A few thoughts on the not-so-inspiring House of the Dragon (1:11:30) and how it so far fails to live up to its predecessor…
  • Homework for next Friday (1:14:40), including: the new Netflix show The Watcher, the new film Raymond and Ray on Apple TV+, the limited series From Scratch on Netflix, and OF COURSE the next episode of The Challenge: Ride or Dies… plus Kolsky will watch Top Gun: Maverick so the guys can finally discuss it!

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The Toy Department – Episode 268

  By toyAdmin | July 20, 2021 - 12:26 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 268, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with some Ted Lasso Season 2 excitement before discussing some currently available pop culture, including:

  • The new season of Netflix’s Never Have I Ever (3:40) and how it remains charming and enjoyable but doesn’t necessarily feel essential…
  • LeBron’s Space Jam (8:15) and how it’s a perfectly decent kids movie with a non-actor (but also non-terrible) star…
  • Netflix’s new action flick Gunpowder Milkshake (24:40) and how it’s basically the best version of exactly what you would expect it to be…
  • A few thoughts on an NBA Finals series (31:40) that has changed a lot since we last spoke…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (44:20), including: the new Hulu documentary McCartney 3, 2, 1, Apple TV+’s new musical satire Schmigadoon!, the new season of Miracle Workers (set on the Oregon Trail), the new HBO documentary Woodstock ’99: Peace, Love and Rage and the second season of Ted Lasso…

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The Toy Department – Episode 267

  By toyAdmin | July 13, 2021 - 11:55 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 267, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky briefly debate who is responsible for their totally irrelevant delay in recording the episode before diving into:

  • The newly-available-on-the-CW show Wellington Paranormal (2:45) and whether or not the first two episodes are enough to warrant continued viewing…
  • The CW/HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl (7:50), the pilot-y nature of the first episode and how it compares and contrasts to the original series…
  • Mike White’s new HBO show The White Lotus (29:10) and just how very much is going on in the first episode without necessarily giving you an idea of what’s going on, broadly speaking…
  • A handful of sports thoughts, from the NBA Finals (45:35) to ESPN’s mishandling of the Rachel Nichols/Maria Taylor debacle (52:30)…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (1:06:50), including: Season 2 of Never Have I Ever and the film Gunpowder Milkshake on Netflix, the new Hulu documentary McCartney 3, 2, 1 and LeBron’s Space Jam on HBO Max…

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The Toy Department – Episode 264

  By toyAdmin | June 22, 2021 - 11:20 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 264, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky get into some NBA Playoffs issues before jumping out of the sports world and into some television to move through:

  • The latest from Top Chef: Portland (11:40), and how it took a miscarriage of justice to get us to the final three we probably wanted all along…
  • A comparison between the two new shows Physical (on Apple TV+) and AMC’s Kevin Cann F*** Himself (22:30) and how neither is entirely successful but each of our hosts has a preference for one over the other…
  • A comparison between two returning pod favorites in FX’s Dave and HBO’s Betty (34:15) and how both are wildly enjoyable and have very specific (and endearing) vibes…
  • A thorough breakdown of Entertainment Weekly’s (often misguided) list of the best Challenge contestants of all time (48:15) and where and how they went wrong in their rankings…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (1:03:25), including: more Top Chef in Portland, more NBA Playoffs action, a Netflix documentary called This Is Pop, HBO’s new special episode of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and The Choe Show on FX/Hulu…

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The Toy Department – Episode 261

  By toyAdmin | June 1, 2021 - 11:25 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 261, Madden and Kolsky have a log list of subjects, so time-wasting is eschewed in favor of:

  • The latest from Top Chef: Portland (1:10) and FINALLY the elimination of bad-pasta-Chris, plus thoughts on the recipe challenge and the hosts’ favorites heading down the stretch…
  • The Friends reunion on HBO Max (20:45) and how it aimed for 100 minutes of nostalgia and hit pretty close to the bullseye…
  • The new film Plan B (38:25) and how it’s an absolute home run of an indie high school adventure movie…
  • A wrap-up discussion on Mare of Easttown (43:55) and how HBO has another high-quality limited series in the drama category, filled with tremendous acting performances and a compelling crime mystery…
  • Some NBA playoff thoughts (54:35) at the halfway point (or so) of the first round, re-assessing the favorites after a rash of injuries and some see-sawing series results…
  • A brief discussion about Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open (1:02:50) and the difficult task of respecting metal health while also realizing that media availability is part of the job of a modern professional athlete…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (1:09:30), including: more Top Chef in Portland (and probably more NBA Playoffs action), the new Netflix movie Army of the Dead, Bo Burham’s new stand-up special on Netflix and the new British comedy We Are Lady Parts, about an all-female Muslim punk band…

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The Toy Department – Episode 260

  By toyAdmin | May 25, 2021 - 12:38 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 260, Madden and Kolsky are attempting a short episode per scheduling needs, so they dive immediately into:

  • The new Tina Fey/Peacock show GIRLS5EVA (1:20) and how the one episode available to non-subscribers isn’t quite enough to draw in our non-subscriber host…
  • The new HBO Max show Hacks (6:05) and the greatness of Jean Smart…
  • Angelina Jolie’s movie Those Who Wish Me Dead (11:35) and just how little sense any aspect of it makes…
  • Season 3 of Netflix’s Master of None (19:20) which focuses almost entirely on Lena Waithe’s character Denise and her wife, and continues to be an intriguing made-for-streaming art film sort of piece…
  • The latest from Top Chef: Portland (30:35), which is heading down the home stretch with a ton of talent in play after a completely unique restaurant wars…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (45:10), including: more Top Chef in Portland, the end of HBO’s Mare of Easttown, the new film Plan B on Hulu and the Friends reunion on HBO Max… and DON’T MISS our coverage of The Challenge: All Stars FINALÉ on Thursday night!!!
  • A few NBA thoughts (47:40) as the Playoffs have commenced…

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The Toy Department – Episode 226

  By toyAdmin | September 3, 2020 - 11:58 am | Uncategorized
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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…

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The Toy Department – Episode 139

  By toyAdmin | October 24, 2018 - 11:01 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 139, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky briefly check in on Kolsky’s new radio show before dissecting:

  • Season 2 of Netflix’s Making a Murderer (2:15) and whether the story bears further investigation or is simply a source of anger and sadness…
  • The debut of Matthew Weiner’s The Romanoffs on Amazon (12:40) and how it is a good hang and somewhat less high-concept than expected…
  • Greta Van Fleet’s debut album Anthem of the Peaceful Army (24:45) and how it’s unnecessarily pretentious and judgmental to reduce them to nothing more than a cover band…
  • The new 21 Pilots album Trench (35:00) and the guys’ diverging opinions on the quality and originality of the band in general…
  • A tiny taste of basketball (51:05) with a discussion of the Rajon Rondo/Chris Paul fight…
  • A run-down of albums Kolsky is planning to listen to (54:10) just to check if Madden is willing to give any of them a try…
  • Homework for next week (59:40), including: a whole lot of Netflix — the British series Bodyguard, Adam Sandler’s new special 100% Fresh and Hassan Minaj’s new show Patriot Act — plus LeBron James’ new HBO show The Shop and new albums from Open Mike Eagle (What Happens When I Try To Relax) and Esperanza Spalding (12 Little Spells)…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes/Stitcher/Google Play/etc. you can just click on the link below the player (and don’t forget to leave us a review!!)… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

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The Toy Department – Episode 102

  By toyAdmin | January 16, 2018 - 5:49 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 102, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky are a few minutes late and spent a few minutes discussing Kolsky’s new job situation and bad television commercials before jumping into:

  • The new Netflix show The End of the Fucking World (4:25) and whether or not its lead female character is charming or off-putting or a combination of the two…
  • Kolsky’s experience with Making a Murderer (10:20) after finishing the binge last week…
  • The final two episodes of the newest season of Netflix’s Black Mirror (21:15) and whether the show has maintained its high level of execution…
  • The new Steven Spielberg/Meryl Streep/Tom Hanks collab The Post (31:35) and its resonance in 2018 America…
  • The much-ballyhooed film Call Me By Your Name (41:55) and its basic unremarkability despite the efforts of its cast…
  • A quick chat about the NBA (52:50), including the Rockets’ attempted assault on the Clippers and the universal appeal of free t-shirts…
  • Homework for next week (1:04:05) including: the return of American Crime Story (The Murder of Gianni Versace), the return of HBO’s Pete Holmes-created show Crashing, and the movies I, Tonya and Mudbound, if Madden and Kolsky can work up the nerve for the latter…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes/Stitcher/Google Play/etc. you can just click on the link below the player (and don’t forget to leave us a review!!)… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

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The Toy Department – Episode 75

  By toyAdmin | June 29, 2017 - 8:47 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 75, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky dispense briefly with pleasantries before getting to:

  • A wonderful interview with Orange is the New Black’s Julie Lake (2:05), who plays the suddenly-front-and-center-in-the-5th-season character Angie Rice…
  • The wild NBA offseason (30:00), specifically the new high stakes created by the Warriors’ dominance, the Chris Paul trade, Phil Jackson and some of the other madness of the last few days…
  • The Bachelor(ette) franchise (44:35) and why Madden enjoys watching it and Kolsky hasn’t been able to…
  • Showtime’s new show I’m Dying Up Here (56:25) and the niche of enjoyable-but-not-overly-heavy television in today’s media landscape…
  • Netflix’s new series Glow (1:05:00) and just how much Kolsky loves it…
  • Old show favorite Orphan Black (1:13:30) and how it has run off the rails a bit despite the brilliance of lead actress Tatiana Maslany…
  • Homework for next week (1:17:50): the feature films Baby Driver and The Big Sick, plus finishing the Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu…

By the way, if you like this podcast, TELL A FRIEND!! And if you want to subscribe via iTunes you can just click on the link below the player (and don’t forget to leave us a review!!)… Some other links down there as well… And if you want to contact the Toy Department, it’s easy — find us at ToyDepartmentPod (at) gmail.com… or tweet us: @MaddenOnAir & @thekolsky.

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