The Toy Department – Episode 363

In Episode 363, Madden and Kolsky discuss Kolsky’s recent positive COVID test and its myriad of ripple effects before locking in to:

  • A quick sports chat (5:40) covering Chelsea v. Arsenal, the hosts’ relative interest in hockey and the debut of Victor Wembanyama…
  • The premiere episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (12:40) and how a fun first episode and a classic game design set us up for the franchise’s 39th season to be a good one…
  • The Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher (42:00) and how both hosts were impressed and entertained in their first experience with a Mike Flanagan show…
  • Homework for next week (49:10), including: another episode of The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion, the Jennifer Lawrence rom-com vehicle No Hard Feelings (available on Netflix) and Netflix’s new British thriller series Bodies…

The Toy Department – Episode 229

In Episode 229, Madden and Kolsky are alive and employed, which means good in 2020, and ready to discuss:

  • The new season of PEN15 on Hulu (3:05) and how one of our hosts has really come around on the show…
  • The new Ryan Murphy show Ratched (10:35) and just what exactly he is doing with all of Netflix’s money…
  • Fox’s new show LA’s Finest (19:40) and how it follows a pretty successful formula to being exactly what you think it is…
  • A check-in on HBO’s Lovecraft Country (36:00) after a bottle episode starring an old veteran of The Challenge…
  • A brief NFL chat (48:50) about quick takeaways from the first two weeks of pro football…
  • Some thoughts on the NBA Playoffs (51:45) with particular focus on Tyler Herro’s tremendous performance…
  • Homework for our next show, on October 6 (1:07:35), including: the new Netflix show Sneakerheads, season four of Fargo on FX, Showtime’s new movie The Comey Rule and the new Amazon show Utopia… plus EVEN MOAR NBA Playoffs and Weeks 3 & 4 of the NFL season…