Tag Archives: Kevin Hart

The Toy Department – Episode 399

  By toyAdmin | September 19, 2024 - 9:44 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 399, Madden and Kolsky prepare to overcome a late recording time and Derek’s long week before diving into:

  • The latest from The Challenge: Battle of the Eras (1:50), CT falling, Laurel spiraling and whether the 40th season is living up to expectations so far…
  • The Alex Garland film Civil War (25:50) — how it is ultimately just a movie about photo-journalism and whether it leaves things on the table by not wading deeper into more significant themes…
  • Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber’s rote Netflix rich-people-and-murder drama (35:35) and whether its insignificance hurts its watchability…
  • Peacock’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (41:50) and our hosts curiously split views on the end product…
  • The spectacular Alex Gibney documentary Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos (46:55), all the wonderful tidbits it delivers on one of the greatest television shows of all time and the price of genius…
  • Homework for next week (57:50), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, actually watching the film Challengers, Netflix’s new action flick Rebel Ridge, Max’s new DC Comics effort The Penguin and a check-in on the second season of FX’s The Old Man…

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The Toy Department – Episode 311

  By toyAdmin | August 19, 2022 - 2:41 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 311, Madden and Kolsky have an uncomfortably specific discussion about the Kolsky family’s recent bout with hand-foot-mouth disease before shaking it off and diving into:

  • A few thoughts on the ending of AMC’s Better Call Saul (6:55) and what a truly spectacular show it turned out to be…
  • Apple TV+’s new offering Black Bird (13:55) and how Paul Walter Hauser is a uniquely dynamic performer, particularly in the sort of creepy role he inhabits here…
  • Netflix’s forgettable film offering The Man from Toronto (20:45) and just what exactly is going on with the remarkable quality of bland content on that service…
  • Amazon’s new League of Their Own show (24:05) and how it’s watchable and not bad, but just doesn’t quite come together how one might hope…
  • This week’s episode of The Challenge USA on CBS (29:00) and how Leo deserves some flowers (and also maybe some sympathy for his failing businesses?) plus thoughts on the latest twist in the game…
  • Homework for TWO Fridays from now (41:50), including: HBO’s new Game of Thrones show House of the Dragon, Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings show The Rings of Power, and Netflix’s Manti Te’o doc Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, plus the more of The Challenge USA on CBS…

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The Toy Department – Episode 284

  By toyAdmin | December 3, 2021 - 12:49 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 284, Madden and Kolsky spend a few minutes talking about a musician Kolsky just discovered before getting to:

  • Kevin Hart’s new Netflix series True Story (4:55) and how a lot of good acting is not really enough to save a mediocre plot…
  • The absolutely insane conclusion to Season 2 of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show (20:05) and how this sort of soapy silliness happens on the watch of so many great actors…
  • The new film King Richard (30:45) and how good Will Smith is in Venus and Serena Williams’ tribute to their incredibly unique father…
  • The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies (43:55) and just what the major elimination twist will be, plus the unbelievable career of CT and some informal player power rankings as we head into the final…
  • The latest from The Challenge All-Stars 2 (1:02:00), from the lovable insanity of Ayanna to the strange decision-making of Steve after an entertaining trivia challenge…
  • Homework for next Thursday (1:17:55), including: more of The Challenge: Spies, Lies and Allies, AND more Challenge All-Stars, the new Beatles docu-series Get Back, the new Amazon Prime show Harlem, the new HBO show Landscapers and the musician Jacob Collier…

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The Toy Department – Episode 237

  By toyAdmin | December 4, 2020 - 11:23 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 237, Madden and Kolsky are back after a LOOOOONG Thanksgiving break with LOTS to talk about (after a brief recounting of Kolsky’s COVID test):

  • A preview of THE CHALLENGE: DOUBLE AGENTS (3:30) which premiere’s next week on MTV, and which this podcast will cover IN DEPTH…
  • The end of The Undoing on HBO (19:20) and how miserably, ridiculously bad it was…
  • Kevin Hart’s new Netflix stand-up special (24:40) and the difficulty of being funny while incredibly rich…
  • Showtime’s John Belushi documentary (26:50) and its exciting new insight into the personality and humanity of a complicated public figure…
  • Another new HBO Max series, I Hate Suzie (33:45) and its interesting genre-blending style…
  • The HBO Max series Two Weeks to Live (38:10) starring the irresistibly charming Maisie Williams…
  • The 2020 reboot of Saved By The Bell (41:20) and how impressive the execution is…
  • The bizarre intrigue of Netflix’s sword-making reality show Forged in Fire (46:05) and the fascinating question of WHERE DO THEY FIND THESE PEOPLE???…
  • Homework for TUESDAY of next week (53:05), including: the return of Big Mouth on Netflix, the new movie Mank on Netflix and HBO Max’s new Kaley Cuoco vehicle The Flight Attendant…
  • A few sports thoughts on the way out the door (55:20) with the NFL and college sports in full COVID swing and the NBA ready to start shortly…

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The Toy Department – Episode 106

  By toyAdmin | February 13, 2018 - 5:36 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 106 Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky discuss their respective Valentine’s Day thoughts before settling into an episode designed mostly by Kolsky with the foremost intention of stretching Madden’s limits of entertainment consumption and discussing:

  • Showtime’s The Chi (8:00) and just what kind of show it seems to be at the midway point of its first season…
  • The Winston Churchill-focused film The Darkest Hour (14:30) and how it outshined its period piece contemporary Dunkirk…
  • The rebooted Jumanji (21:25) and how it wildly exceeded expectations to be a good movie…
  • The Netflix sci-fi series Altered Carbon (27:40) and whether Madden was able to swallow the fantasy world or not…
  • Three albums that Derek wouldn’t otherwise have listened to: Khruangbin’s Con Todo El Mundo (42:20), Ty Segall’s Freedom’s Goblin (44:10), and Nai Palm’s Needle Paw (47:20)…
  • Both guys’ weird propensity to tear up during entertainment (53:25)…
  • Homework for next week (56:30), including: the new sitcom AP Bio, Black Panther the movie AND the soundtrack to Black Panther, and whatever else they add to the pile during the week…

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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