The Toy Department – Episode 45

In Episode 45, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky lament their rapidly-advancing age before diving into discussions about:

  • The World Series, briefly (1:15) acknowledging that the final results will be determined before anyone listens… The conversation tilts more towards the impressive future potential of the Cubs (3:05) and the Hall of Fame career of GM Theo Epstein (5:55)… Ending with a discussion of baseball’s place in the sports media landscape (11:10)…
  • Episode 2 of Netflix’s new Black Mirror season – Play Test (15:40) which had a very different effect on Kolsky than it did on Madden…
  • A quick stop on HBO’s Westworld, which Kolsky failed to successfully watch after a Phish show on Sunday night (29:05)…
  • ROCKTOBER continues, so more concert talk – Kolsky went to see Phish play a Halloween show (32:25)… Madden went to see Yelawolf (35:40)…
  • The season finale (and the first season in sum) of FX’s Atlanta (44:45)… How there’s not enough of it… How well executed it is in the end (45:50) and just in general in delivering a truthful narrative (48:43)…
  • Another FX favorite, You’re the Worst (51:00) and whether it’s struggling a bit in its third season…
  • A couple notes on homework for next week, which involves Bill Simmons’ show Any Given Wednesday (56:20) and the next episode of Black Mirror, “Shut Up and Dance” (58:25)…

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The Toy Department – Episode 31

In Episode 31, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky deliver an ACTUAL “mini” episode of The Toy Department… They dive into:

  • A brief debrief of the first half of Kolsky’s nutty Phish adventures… (2:00) Spoiler alert – he’s enjoying himself 🙂
  • KimYe v. T-Swift in the battle of whether or not Kanye actually “made that bitch famous…” (8:20) wherein we discover Madden’s deeply conflicted feelings on TayTay…
  • Is golf a sport? Madden says NO – Kolsky says YES… (15:35) And it gets heated, ladies and gentlemen…

Oh, 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.

The Toy Department – Episode 30

In Episode 30, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky threaten to do a “mini” episode of The Toy Department… but it was an empty threat, because after opening with a discussion of the summer doldrums, they spend about an hour talking about:

  • MLB’s Home Run Derby and All-Star game (4:15) and why it doesn’t really work as entertainment anymore… Plus a little bit of general All-Star discussion…
  • Last week’s homework assignment, which was the premiere of the new HBO drama The Night Of (17:10) and why you should be excited about the show’s future…
  • Kolsky’s obsession with the band Phish (26:00) – just HOW obsessed he is, why he is obsessed and why Madden thinks he’s pretty much just a stupid hippie for being so obsessed… Which naturally leads to a discussion of how the guys got into music early in their lives, and about showmanship in music performance…

Oh, 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.

The Toy Department – Episode 5

In Episode 5, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky start with a little holiday break recap and quick Star Wars follow-up (thanks to George Lucas’ odd comments) before Madden attempts to convince Kolsky to to watch the Netflix series Making a Murderer (starting around 9:30). Then it’s a breakdown of some prestige TV (24:30) – mostly FX’s incredible Fargo but also the USA series Mr. Robot. Kolsky talks about a hip-hop audio tour of the Bronx (41:10) to spur a brief discussion about art and human nature, and then there’s some discussion about the Baseball Hall of Fame and its awful voting process (49:00) to finish off strong.

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