The Toy Department – Episode 387

In Episode 387, Madden and Kolsky are meeting up late night for some Toy Department After Dark to get into:

  • A new episode of The Challenge All-Stars 4 (3:35) that saw a very messy Brad season come to an end and a theatrical turn for Ace…
  • This week’s episode of Top Chef Wisconsin (23:05) where a competitive final eight had to deal with more changes to the game format in addition to a fascinating native foods challenge…
  • Apple TV+’s multi-versal Dark Matter (36:10) and whether it tells its story quickly enough to draw in its viewers…
  • Netflix’s Will Forte true-crime-pod-mock-umentary Bodkin (43:50) and whether it connects with its bizarre small-town mystery vibe…
  • The third season of HBO’s Hacks (47:30) and the brilliance of Jean Smart…
  • Some English Premiere League thoughts (51:15) as we head into the final weekend of the season…
  • Our weekly NBA check-in (1:02:10) mere hours after Minnesota’s utter dismantling of the Nuggets to force a Game 7 in Denver on Sunday…
  • Homework for next week (1:14:45), including: another episode of Top Chef Wisconsin, more of The Challenge All-Stars 4, the newly-on-Netflix movie The Book of Clarence, the Amazon Prime Video Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black and the Paramounnt+ documentary Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza…

The Toy Department – Episode 105

In Episode 105 Derek Madden finds Matt Kolsky freshly returned from Hawaii to discuss such delights as:

  • Super Bowl LII (0:45) and how any season where the Patriots don’t win is a relative success…
  • Justin Timberlake’s new album Man of the Woods (12:05) and how it seems to be a success despite being somewhat confusing…
  • The Netflix movie Mudbound (25:00) and how it’s a good example of quality bad-time entertainment…
  • Another Netflix film, A Futile and Stupid Gesture (30:55), which tells the story of the Doug Kenney and the rise of National Lampoon…
  • The season finalé of The Good Place (45:10) and the tremendous work of Michael Schur in the world of network comedy…
  • Homework for next week (52:00) wherein Madden pays off his losing Super Bowl bet and allows Kolsky to program the entire show, covering: the new superhero film Black Panther, the new Netflix sci-fi series Altered Carbon, and albums from Nai Palm (Needle Paw), Khruangbin (Con Todo El Mundo) and Ty Segall (Freedom’s Goblin)… Come back next week to hear about the torture!!

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