The Toy Department – Episode 218

In Episode 218, Kolsky gives Madden the scoop on a mildly disastrous start to his road trip vacation before discussing:

  • The new Netflix/Will Ferrell movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (7:05) and its star-powered cast…
  • The first episode of HBO’s I’ll Be Gone In the Dark (14:00) and its twin storylines of Michelle McNamara and her subject…
  • The first two episodes of HBO’s Perry Mason (21:20) and how few redeeming qualities the show has…
  • The third season of Search Party (26:55) now on HBO Max, and what remains appealing about this weird little show…
  • The return of The Chi on Showtime (31:35) and settling into a new season minus a couple of ostensibly major characters…
  • The last two weeks of action on The Challenge: Total Madness (41:05) and the departure of Aneesa and Josh…
  • Homework for next week (1:06:25), including: another episode of The Challenge, checking out Hamilton on Disney+, Cate Blanchett’s new show Stateless on Netflix, and probably some other stuff too…

The Toy Department – Episode 105

In Episode 105 Derek Madden finds Matt Kolsky freshly returned from Hawaii to discuss such delights as:

  • Super Bowl LII (0:45) and how any season where the Patriots don’t win is a relative success…
  • Justin Timberlake’s new album Man of the Woods (12:05) and how it seems to be a success despite being somewhat confusing…
  • The Netflix movie Mudbound (25:00) and how it’s a good example of quality bad-time entertainment…
  • Another Netflix film, A Futile and Stupid Gesture (30:55), which tells the story of the Doug Kenney and the rise of National Lampoon…
  • The season finalé of The Good Place (45:10) and the tremendous work of Michael Schur in the world of network comedy…
  • Homework for next week (52:00) wherein Madden pays off his losing Super Bowl bet and allows Kolsky to program the entire show, covering: the new superhero film Black Panther, the new Netflix sci-fi series Altered Carbon, and albums from Nai Palm (Needle Paw), Khruangbin (Con Todo El Mundo) and Ty Segall (Freedom’s Goblin)… Come back next week to hear about the torture!!

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