The Toy Department – Episode 353

In Episode 353, Madden and Kolsky discuss the Kolsky family’s bizarre living (and recording) arrangements before moving on to:

  • The return of The Challenge!! It’s the second season of The Challenge: USA (2:35) and it offers a lot of promise, despite a climax-less first episode and a questionable release schedule… The guys discuss some old favorites and some new blood…
  • Max’s Steven Soderbergh-directed kidnapping drama Full Circle (28:35) and how it asks its viewers to remain engaged with obvious puzzle pieces missing…
  • The Netflix docu-series Quarterback (34:50) and just how impressive those who play the position are (even Kirk Cousins)…
  • The return of pod favorite Reservation Dogs (45:40) and how the Hulu series continues to be utterly unique on television and wildly enjoyable…
  • The premiere of season two of Winning Time on HBO (52:15) and the Magic/Kareem relationship that appears to be at its core…
  • A few thoughts on the English Premier League (58:15) and Kolsky’s potentially heartbreaking hope surrounding Chelsea’s season…
  • Homework for next week (1:04:15), including: more of The Challenge: USA Season 2, the Netflix movie They Cloned Tyrone, the Wes Anderson film Asteroid City (now on Peacock) and Netflix’s Untold: Johnny Football doc…

The Toy Department – Episode 110

In Episode 110, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky quickly move past Kolsky’s morning of customer service hell and Madden’s mild illness to get into all of this:

  • The Netflix original film Mute (3:00) and how it fails to deliver on its promise and star power…
  • The return of the Netflix series Love (12:30) and how charming and wonderful it is to both guys…
  • Amazon’s series Sneaky Pete (23:35) after the release of the second season…
  • #PodChef time: the 15th Season of Top Chef (31:20) has come and gone, and there’s plenty to discuss…
  • NBC’s new series Good Girls (39:50) and whether it rises above traditional network fare…
  • Some NFL offseason talk (48:20) after reports that Kirk Cousins will sign a fully guaranteed contract…
  • Homework for next week (1:03:00), including: the start of Season 3 of Lifetime’s UnREAL, AMC’s McMafia and Netflix’s Collateral, plus all the NCAA action you can handle…

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