The Toy Department – Episode 400

In Episode 400, Madden and Kolsky discuss Derek’s San Francisco escapades and marvel at the longevity of this silly podcast before getting into:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Battle of the Eras (6:10) where Era I continues to burn to the ground, despite Rachel’s best efforts, and Era II continues to weather the storm that is Cara Maria and Laurel…
  • The baffling film Challengers (33:05) and what the people involved thought they were doing…
  • Netflix’s new action movie Rebel Ridge (38:45), the increasingly popular one-man-with-a-grudge format and the leading man ascension of Aaron Pierre…
  • A check-in on FX’s The Old Man (43:10) and whether the story of Jeff Bridges’ chaotic past is enough to carry a second season…
  • The Max/DC series The Penguin (45:50) and whether the gritty, gangster-noir style and transformative performance from Colin Farrell were able to draw in our resident comic skeptic…
  • Homework for next week (49:35), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, Netflix’s new Adam Brody/Kristen Bell series Nobody Wants This, the WWE documentary series Mr. McMahon (also on Netflix), and the film Killer Heat on Amazon Prime Video…

The Toy Department – Episode 305

In Episode 305, Madden and Kolsky begin with some personal sadness before moving on to the beautiful distractions of:

  • A totally unacceptable ending to this week’s episode of The Challenge: All-Stars 3 (3:10) and all the drama that would have made it a great episode if not for that travesty…
  • The new Netflix comedy God’s Favorite Idiot (21:25) and how it charmed both of our hosts and seems like a real keeper…
  • The two spy drama/thrillers The Old Man and Slow Horses (25:35), how they are both good but The Old Man seems to stand above and apart…
  • The 30-minute restaurant drama The Bear (35:00) and how its uniqueness and attention to detail make it a tremendously interesting show…
  • A few thoughts on the NBA Draft (42:45) and the disappointing television coverage thereof…
  • Homework for next Friday (50:05), including: potentially the finalé of The Challenge: All-Stars 3, the new Disney+ film Rise about the Antetokounmpo brothers, the new movie Beavis & Butthead Do the Universe on Paramount+, the return of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building and the new Maya Rudolph show Loot on Apple TV+…

The Toy Department – Episode 138

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.

The Toy Department – EMERGENCY OSCAR PREVIEW

This un-numbered episode finds Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky scrambling to a recording device to talk Oscars before Sunday’s ceremony… after tragically forgetting to mention them in the regular weekly pod. Enjoy!!

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… 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.