Tag Archives: James Franco

The Toy Department – Episode 189

  By toyAdmin | November 7, 2019 - 11:53 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 189, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky briefly discuss Tiffany Haddish’s Netflix offering They Ready before settling in for:

  • The new Edward Norton film Motherless Brooklyn (3:00) and whether it is too complicated for its own good…
  • The return of The End of the Fucking World on Netflix (11:30) and how it continues to be oddly and undeniably charming…
  • HBO’s new show His Dark Materials (17:45) and whether it is too fantastical for Madden to seriously entertain…
  • The end of HBO’s The Deuce (32:40) and how David Simon has crafted another deep and powerful piece of television entertainment…
  • A check-in on MTV’s The Challenge (53:45) and all the madness that makes it the best reality show running (and swimming, and hammering)…
  • Homework for next week (1:07:05), including: probably some more discussion of The Challenge, hopefully the premiere of the Star Wars show The Mandalorian on Disney+, the new cycle of Patriot Act on Netflix and the film Jojo Rabbit…

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The Toy Department – Episode 182

  By toyAdmin | September 11, 2019 - 11:17 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 182, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky share an awkward moment over who loves the podcast most before getting to it with:

  • The new Bill Burr special on Netflix (1:50) and how the guys vary in their reception of his complaints about modern society…
  • The new Amazon Prime comedy Late Night (28:30) and how Mindy Kaling wrote a good, funny movie that was executed well…
  • The premiere of the final season of HBO’s The Deuce (36:25) and David Simon’s particularly incredible TV career…
  • Hulu’s new show Wu-Tang: An American Saga (45:30) and the overwhelming quantity of Wu-Tang content in the world right now…
  • Homework for next week (54:15), including: the Dennis Rodman 30 for 30 documentary, Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik on Comedy Central, a check-in on MTV’s The Challenge and probably other stuff too…

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The Toy Department – Episode 141

  By toyAdmin | November 7, 2018 - 11:09 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 141, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky ignore their mandate by mentioning this week’s elections before shuffling into the Toy Department to get into:

  • Kolsky’s shallow dive into Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal (3:25) and how it doesn’t quite rise to appointment television for him…
  • A wrap-up discussion on Season 2 of The Deuce (13:00) and how both guys continue to love the show and have deep attachments with the characters…
  • More thoughts on the British show Bodyguard (22:05) which is available on Netflix, and how it turns out to be more like 24 than something like Luther…
  • The Queen/Freddy Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (27:55) and all the reasons it was a bitter disappointment to both Madden and Kolsky…
  • Homework for next week (50:50), including: seeing the new movies Widows and Green Book, the new Julia Roberts show Homecoming on Amazon, the return of Room 104 on HBO and the new Vince Staples album FM!…

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 138

  By toyAdmin | October 17, 2018 - 10:54 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 138, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky open with digressions into Kolsky’s sports injury and Madden’s new foster dog before picking the meat off the bones of:

  • The new film A Star Is Born (10:05) and the achievements of both actor/director Bradley Cooper and co-star Lady Gaga…
  • Another new film, Bat Times at the El Royale (33:30), and how it doesn’t fail to entertain but does fail to amount to anything significant…
  • Another sampling of network television with NBC’s Manifest (44:30), which at the very least is an awful lot better than last week’s effort from The Cool Kids…
  • HBO’s new Sunday night offering Camping (47:20), and the disappointment of an unlikable pilot from a group of creators that both guys like a lot…
  • A quick check-in on HBO’s other big Sunday nighter, The Deuce (55:25), which continues to be some of the best that peak TV has to offer…
  • Homework for next week (59:25), including: Matthew Weiner’s new Amazon show The Romanoffs, Season 2 of Making a Murderer on Netflix, and two new albums — 21 Pilots’ Trench and Greta Van Fleet’s Anthem of the Peaceful Army…

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 98

  By toyAdmin | December 13, 2017 - 8:04 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 98, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky have a lot to say, so they begin with purpose and discuss:

  • The new SyFy show Happy (1:15), which one of them REALLY did not like
  • U2’s new album Songs of Experience (10:20) and how it falls completely flat…
  • James Franco’s new film The Disaster Artist (26:20) and what a great job it does of telling a deeply human story…
  • A dip into the sports world (35:45) results in an aborted argument about baseball…
  • Conversation about the NFL proves more fruitful (39:10) and gets into the many problems the league has to confront in its near future…
  • Sports talk continues with some NBA thoughts (51:10), getting into the year’s most compelling storylines and projecting the rest of the season…
  • Homework for this week (1:22:45), including: a Best of the Year episode next week — Top 5 and 10 lists in TV, movies, music and sports, plus watching the new Star Wars film…

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 85

  By toyAdmin | September 13, 2017 - 12:25 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 85, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky literally hows-the-weather each other before addressing more pressing concerns, including:

  • An on-air programming meeting (2:40) wherein Kolsky suggests a new segment for the future of the pod…
  • The new Steven Soderbergh film Logan Lucky (6:20) which was a bit of a disappointment to both guys…
  • Week 1 of the NFL (21:35) wherein a Colin Kaepernick discussion was redacted for the second consecutive week but Kap’s situation was still briefly discussed, along with some of the many QB issues across the league and the general lack of a standout team…
  • The season premiere of FX’s You’re the Worst (42:20) and what it says about where this season will go…
  • HBO’s new Sunday heavy hitter, The Deuce (48:50) and how it’s already springing to the top of best current shows…
  • Madden’s experience at the U2 concert last week (57:55) and how they have honed a big stadium show to perfection…
  • Homework for next week (1:02:15): including the season premiere of Better Things on FX, the new National album, the new season of Bojack Horseman, the Netflix original film The Fundamentals of Caring and the season premiere of Broad City…

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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