What’s To Come On The Toys That Made Us Season 3!

Hey All!

There is nothing more seminal in a child’s life than the toys that spark joy and imagination with in them. Sometimes those children grow up and never lose that love of their toys. I’m one of those adults, except as adults we’re called collectors. No other show evokes that joy of playing with your toys and reliving your childhood like the Netflix Original show The Toys That Made Us. The show is back for it’s third season on November 15th. This season is showcasing some of the incredible toy lines I loved as a child.  It’s going to be an incredible season filled with the stories of how My Little Ponies, Power Rangers, Wrestling Toys and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to be! I have been waiting for this season to come on the air for some time. I am dying to see the story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

We got the amazing opportunity to interview the show’s creator and fellow passionate toy collector Brian Volk-Weiss. He filled us in on what’s new for the third season, how the show came to be (something we’ve been wondering for some time), and he gives us some inside scoop on his new upcoming series The Movies That Made Us!

How did the show end up on Netflix? How did it come to be?

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

That’s a great question! I have been trying to sell the show for years. I believe about 7 years. I came close a few times and then at the last minute it just didn’t happen. So the lucky thing to happen to us with this show is we make a lot of stand-up comedy. Our company makes a lot of stand-up comedy. There was a gentleman I knew that worked in the stand-up comedy acquisitions department at Netflix. He was transferred over to the unscripted department. He had come to my house and seen my toy collection. So between him trusting me that what I said I could produce, I could produce and him seeing that I really was a toy collector, I kept nagging him to make what would become The Toys That Made Us. And after months and months of nagging, he calls me up and tells me the type of show that Netflix would be interested in. And what he told me changed the entire show! He told me the perfect show for Netflix was That 70’S Show, because that show focused on the 70’s, so older people would be interested in watching it. But the cast was really really good looking and that got younger people watching. So between those two variables, that got everybody watching the show. So when he told me that we went out and shot our own little sample tape about 6 minutes long and that tape is what got the show green lit.

What was the hold up on getting this season on the air?

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

That’s a great question that we get asked all the time. You know there was a hold up and there wasn’t a hold up. It takes a long time to get these shows cleared as it relates to all the things that have to be perfect about it. The information has to be perfect, can we use a picture of this celebrity or not. Is this ok? Is this music ok? So it’s a very long process to make sure these episodes are cleared and “legal” to deliver. The other things is funny how people get used to things and take things for granted, but Netflix puts out these seasons world wide simultaneously on hundreds and hundreds of televisions, different types of televisions, different types of phones, tablets, etc. That takes awhile to do! And the other thing is people think we already got green lit for season 3 right after season 2 aired and that was not the case. We did not get green lit until after a couple months after season 2 came out. We had to wait a couple of months for Netflix to see how well we did before it got green lit. Those things combined are why it took so long. What I always say is the same thing was going on for season one, but since nobody had viewed the show or knew about the show, nobody viewed it as it taking so long to come on the air.

What toys have you tried to get and didn’t work out?

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

There has never been a toy that we wanted and didn’t work out. There is only one person we didn’t get to be on the show, I’m not going to say who it is, that we wanted, but he insisted on us paying for a rental car and fancy hotel for him to stay in. I just couldn’t do that because A) I don’t believe this person in particular warranted any of that and B) it’s not really fair to anyone else we interview. We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of people that we interview. We can’t get one person a nice hotel and nobody else. He’s a famous person, a household name. That’s the only person we wanted to be on the show but didn’t get. I would have loved to have gotten George Lucas for the show and his people were very open, respectful, and responsive to us, but it didn’t work out. That’s one I would have loved to have gotten, good old George for the show.

What is your holy grail of toy lines to feature if you haven’t already featured it? And if there is a next season.

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

If there is a next season it will definitely include Hot Wheels, Superheroes ( Batman, Super Friends, etc). I would love to do Dungeons and Dragons. I would love to do Cabbage Patch Kids. A huge one that everyone always forgets about and is a huge monster selling toy and has a great story is Nerf! Nerf is an amazing story and for 30 years has always been in the top five selling toys. It’s the only toy that has never left the top five. I’d love to do a Robotech Voltron Show. So yeah! There are still a bunch left!

What is something you’re looking forward to viewers seeing in this season in particular?

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

Let me be vague as I don’t want to spoil anything before people watch. There is something in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode that I’m excited for people to see. No spoilers! But that episode in my opinion has something extra special.

Can you tell us a little about The Movies That Made Us and what movies we’ll get to see on the show? I’m a huge Dirty Dancing fan!

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

We’re doing Home Alone, Die Hard, Dirty Dancing, and Ghostbusters. Those are the four movies that we’re covering. Two of those obviously are very holiday themed. I’m not going to say that the Dirty Dancing episode is better than the other three, but it’s very special and near and dear to my heart. I got to meet Linda Gottlieb and became obsessed with who she is and what’s she’s done. I think you will find it very powerful. If you’re a fan of the movie, I think you will be very happy.

Did you get Kenny Ortega for the episode?

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

Yes we got Kenny. And as a fan of the movie I think you’ll like this, there is a montage of everyone in the episode sharing how they don’t understand the line “Nobody puts baby in the corner”. No one knows why it’s such a famous line and why it didn’t get cut out. There’s no corner in the scene. I think you’ll find that very amusing.

Did you get Macaulay Culkin for the Home Alone episode?

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

No we did not get Macaulay. We tried. But we didn’t want to get many actors for the show. It would be a completely different show if we did that. And a big difference between Toys The Made Us and Movies That Made Us is you can see for example, Die Hard, 30-40 years of bonus features and behind the scenes and DVD Extras for the movie.  We needed to find a way to tell these stories in a way that makes sense but also had new information. We did get Dan Aykroyd for Ghostbusters because he was a Producer and Writer of Ghostbusters. But the people behind the camera who make the movies are more open to talk about stuff that’s not well known.

When does the show air? If you can give us a hint.

BRIAN VOLK-WEISS:

I can do better than that. It airs November 29th.

Thanks so much to Brian for chatting with us! He was so much fun to interview. I can’t wait for The Toys That Made Us on November 15th and for The Movies That Made Us on November 29th. I know what I’m binging on Netflix this month.

Check out the trailer for The Toys That Made Us below!

 

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