Tag Archives: Reese Witherspoon

The Toy Department – Episode 357

  By toyAdmin | September 15, 2023 - 10:11 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 357, Madden and Kolsky briefly address their literal physical proximity before diving right into the culture with:

  • The return of Apple TV+’s expensive and totally insane The Morning Show (2:50) and how, ridiculously, it somehow manages to be wildly enjoyable without really having any recommendable qualities…
  • The second season of Welcome to Wrexham (10:35) and how great documentary film-making and a real heart at the center continue to make it one of the best watches on TV, whether you know the results of the soccer games or not…
  • Apple TV+’s new show The Changeling (18:40) and how it turns out to be significantly darker than our hosts may have expected…
  • The most recent episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2 (25:25) and how Survivor finally got theirs, plus the total domination of the Challenge vets…
  • A look ahead to the coming season of the flagship Challenge (52:40) and the newly-released list of participants…
  • Homework for next week (57:35), including: another episode of The Challenge: USA Season 2, the return of Netflix’s Sex Education, British heist series The Gold on Paramount+, the new movie A Million Miles Away on Amazon Prime Video and Mitski’s new album The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We…

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The Toy Department – Episode 252

  By toyAdmin | March 16, 2021 - 10:58 am | Uncategorized
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In Episode 252, Madden tries to waylay Kolsky with a “fuck Woody Allen” message to open the show, but they quickly move on to:

  • The new season of Last Chance U (3:00) covering the East LA College basketball team, what moving to basketball does for the series and some of the best characters from the first couple episodes…
  • The new Netflix film Moxie! (22:05), how original and uniquely delightful it turned out to be, and the impending superstardom of Alycia Pascua-Peña…
  • Apple TV+’s signature series The Morning Show (33:40) and how — while certainly imperfect — it’s a very watchable show with a lot of good acting…
  • Homework for next Tuesday (45:20), including: Marvel’s new TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+, Netflix’s new documentary Operation Varsity Blues about Hollywood’s college admissions scandal, the Oscar-nominated Mads Mikkelsen movie Another Round and the Oscar-nominated Steven Yeun film Minari… and DON’T MISS our coverage of The Challenge: Double Agents on Thursday!!!

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The Toy Department – Episode 205

  By toyAdmin | March 19, 2020 - 10:50 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 205, Derek Madden and Matt Kolsky are still adjusting to our strange new reality as they hop through:

  • The challenges of living in a COVID-19 world (1:00) and the potential pitfalls of working from home…
  • The return of Bravo’s Top Chef (10:45) and thoughts on all the All-Star competitors in this year’s LA-based season…
  • The season four premiere of IFC’s Brockmire (28:30) and what a marvelous delight it continues to be, regardless of whether anyone seems to be watching it…
  • Season two of Black Monday on Showtime (35:30) and whether it stands out from the pack in a crowded TV landscape…
  • The first couple episodes of Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere (38:35) and what an interesting show it seems to be, though Reese Witherspoon treads familiar ground…
  • HBO and David Simon’s The Plot Against America (49:20) and how it’s really just an awful lot to digest at a time like this…
  • Homework for next week (54:40), including: another episode of Top Chef, the new Hulu movie Big Time Adolescence, the new Amazon Prime movie Blow the Man Down, check-ins on Better Call Saul and Dispatches from Elsewhere, and a quarantine streaming special — the old FX show Terriers, which is now available on Hulu…

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The Toy Department – Episode 175

  By toyAdmin | July 24, 2019 - 4:08 pm | Uncategorized
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In Episode 175, Derek Madden finds Matt Kolsky STILL on paternity leave and STILL without a high quality microphone to record into, but nevertheless they persist with:

  • The conclusion of the second season of Big Little Lies (1:55), and whether the HBO drama had enough to justify coming back…
  • HBO’s teen drama Euphoria (14:15) and how it’s a unique and impressive work of prestige television…
  • Toy Department hits the movies, as Madden saw Stuber (25:05) and Kolsky saw the new Lion King (27:50)…
  • Hulu’s surprise early drop of the fourth season of Veronica Mars (36:15), and how it takes us right back to that Veronica Mars place in our hearts…
  • The new album Help Us Stranger by the Raconteurs (39:45) and how the influence of Brendan Benson tames the genius of Jack White in an appealing way…
  • Homework for next week (48:40), including: the premiere of Bachelor in Paradise, the return of Orange is the New Black on Netflix, and the new Amazon show The Boys (from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg)…

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