We’re joined by award-winning Actor/Producer Blair Underwood and Director/Producer/Author Joe McClean to talk about their new novel, Sins of Survivors, written by Joe and presented by Blair.

The book brings Black Bottom back to beautiful and sweeping life through the story of The Carter family. Fictional brothers Jasper and Ben whose heart wrenching journey brings them north to Detroit during the Great Migration. The Carters take root, raise families and bloom into neighborhood kingpins in a once vibrant, but redlined area that was bulldozed in the 1950s to put in a freeway.

Joe unpacks how his deep research and a love of overlooked history shaped the Carter dynasty story in which two very different but fiercely loyal brothers face a shifting landscape and the rippling impact of their shared trauma on the next generation.

Black Bottom, once a hub of Black resilience and ingenuity under strict and brutal segregation becomes the perfect backdrop for a sweeping saga of survival and criminal enterprise.

Blair shares how he chooses which projects to champion, he reflects on his own remarkable career (L.A. Law, Gattaca, Deep Impact, Sex and the City), and shares his Obama related history!

Joe ponders his personal approach when writing screenplays vs. novels and shares a powerful story connecting the haunting legacy of “Strange Fruit” to our current political moment.

We also explore the hidden history of Detroit’s underworld, from its prohibition-era bootlegging routes to the layered decades of Black Bottom’s rise and fall under so-called “urban renewal.”

Crime, family bonds and cultural touchstones coalesce in this tightly written work of fiction that reflects the real struggles of black experiences, painting a vivid portrait of a unique time and place in our shared American history.

In recommendations--

Weezy: Stick, Apple TV+ Series

Fritz: Movie, Sunday Best on Netflix

Path Points of Interest:

Sins of Survivors by Joe McClean and Blair Underwood

Sins of Survivors Audiobook Preview

Joe McClean on Wikipedia

Joe McClean on Instagram

Blair Underwood on Wikipedia

Blair Underwood on IMDB

Blair Underwood on Instagram

Stick

Sunday Best - Netflix

Media Path Podcast

Improv is so much more than hilarious. It’s a comedy writing tool, a key to unlocking our truest selves and a valuable collection of life lessons. Whose Line’s Colin Mochrie is here to enlighten and entertain!

He starred in the British and American versions of Whose Line Is It Anyway for over 30 years while also making hundreds of TV, film and stage appearances. Colin is an author, an actor, a touring performer and an activist.

His stage shows include Asking For Trouble with fellow Whose Liner Brad Sherwood, and Hyprov… a unique blend of hypnosis and improv with noted hypnotist, Asad Mecci.

Joining us on the panel to learn from Colin is Chicago’s 13-year-old Lane Tech Improv Team Member Rowan Keel. His first question? “What do you do when you get a bad audience suggestion?” Colin is not stumped.

We did, however, him a curve when we requested too much intel about his appearance in the first American Girl Doll movie, Kitt Kittredge in a rousing round of IMDB Roulette.

But Colin was able to provide details about his time spent on the sets of: The Paul Anka Show, Goosebumps, The Drew Carey Show, The Tonight Show, Ted Lasso and his newest film, Magnetosphere!

Plus, Colin shares improv wisdom as it applies to real life, his intriguing connection to Animutation and the powerful lessons he is learning from his trans daughter, Kinley.

In recommendations--

Weezy: Building The Band on Netflix

Fritz: Apple TV+ Documentary Series: The Long Way Home

Path Points of Interest:

The Long Way Home - Apple +

Building The Band

Colin Mochrie on Wikipedia

Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood - Asking For Trouble

Hyprov: Comedy Under Hypnosis

Colin Mochrie on Facebook

Colin Mochrie on Instagram

Not Quite The Classics by Colin Mochrie

Magnetosphere

Magnetosphere Trailer

Can disinformation really take down a democracy from the inside? This week’s guest, Barbara McQuade, thinks so — and she’s here to show us exactly how it’s happening and what we can do about it.

Barbara is a former U.S. Attorney, a law professor, an MSNBC legal analyst and the author of Attack From Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America, now out in paperback.

We begin with breaking news that could directly affect our political landscape. A big chunk of the MAGA faithful are suddenly side-eyeing Trump over his failure to drop the long-promised Epstein file (does the public have a right to see it? Barbara has thoughts). She breaks down how our American system relies on the good faith of three branches — and what happens when any one of them stops playing by the rules.

Barbara explains the Squid Strategy: imagine a squid firing ink at a predator to obfuscate and slip away: that’s Trump making wild statements to change the subject when the heat is on. We talk about the liar’s dividend, that neat trick where so much fake news is swirling that important facts get waved away.

She pulls back the curtain on how Trump built the coalition that resulted in the Big Harmful Bill. It consists of: a working-class MAGA base, the evangelical right, and billionaires. Trump does the bidding of big business while kissing up to Christian Extremists and feeding his base conspiracy theories that keep them eating their rage right out of his hand.

Barbara does find hope in history: other countries have seen strongmen rise and fall when the promises ran dry and the citizens remained vigilant. She gives us her best advice for cracking Trump’s hold on friends and family (it involves empathetic listening, not doomscrolling).

We also get into Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — mend it, don’t end it — and why unregulated social media is the Wild West. We talk spon-con, paywalls, knowledge gaps, and how your news feed might be failing you.

A cautionary tale, a civics lesson, and a pep talk all rolled into one, strap in, there’s still time to fight the ink cloud!

In recommendations--

Weezy: The series Outrageous on Britbox

Fritz: Apple TV+ Documentary, Bono: Stories of Surrender

Path Points of Interest:

Barbara McQuade

Attack From Within by Barbara McQuade

Sisters-In-Law Podcast
with Barbara McQuade, Jill Wine Banks, Joyce Vance and Kimberly Atkins Stohr

Barbara McQuade on Wikipedia

Barbara McQuade on Instagram

Barbara McQuade on X

Outrageous on Britbox

Bono: Stories of Surrender on Apple TV+