Hi, this is Julie. This is Liz. This is Sheila. This is Monica. This is Leanne. We are the satellite sisters. You are listening to satellite sisters to go.

You are listening to satellite sisters. This is a very special satellite sisters. I'm Leanne Dolan here in Pasadena, California. I'm with my sister Julie Dolan in Dallas, Texas. And Julie, what day is it here on satellite sisters?

Leanne, it's Madam Secretary Day. Yeah, it is. We didn't know it, but we got confirmation yesterday that we were going to be able to talk to the executive producer and the showrunner of Madam Secretary.

And so that you were going to hear that interview later on in the day. So we're just devoting the whole day to Madam Secretary, aren't we?

Yes, it seems appropriately. I mean, it's a great show. And we're going to go in deep on all topics associated with Madam Secretary.

That's right. We've got the recap for this week's episode coming up. But let me tell you about the showrunner and the executive producer, because Barbara Hall, who created Madam Secretary, she has a list of TV credits that will just make you cry.

If you ever wanted to be a TV writer or love TV, she created the series Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia. She was the co executive producer of Homeland, and she is the creator and showrunner of the CBS series, Madam Secretary.

But she's written for every TV show you ever loved, Northern Exposure, Chicago Hope. I'll fly away. Moonlighting. I mean, I know.

I was so happy. I saw that she wrote for moonlighting. I was like, I love moonlighting. I know. It's a great show. Explain what a showrunner is.

They're the actual writer on the show. They are the ones that have conceived of the idea. Maybe they've worked with other executive producers at Can Barber's case she has, but they have created the characters, like written the initial three or four page outline.

They pitched the show and then when the show gets bought and generally they write the pilot on their own, and then when the show gets bought and goes into production, as in the case of Madam Secretary, those other fantastic shows, they literally work in the writer's room and run it.

They hire all the writers. They create the story arcs for the season. They, you know, assign the writing assignments and they work on every script. So that's what a showrunner does.

And then Lori McCreary is joining us. She is the executive producer. She runs Morgan Freeman's production company. And so she helped create the show. Her job in the case of Madam Secretary is to actually be on the set and get things going.

When we talk to them, you'll see Lori is a New York concept where they film Madam Secretary in Brooklyn and Barbara is in Los Angeles, like working with the writers, but they have constant contact in how the show is executed and moves forward.

But Lori has an interesting background herself. She actually is a computer scientist and came out of the tech world. And she was sort of so, she kind of wanted to get into show business. So she invested in Boba.

And Morgan Freeman was assigned to direct that film. And then they ended up filming a production company. Their revelations is the name of their production company. And they sort of focus on projects that reveal truth.

That's what their company motto is. So she's like, for instance, they produced through the wormhole with Morgan Freeman that, you know, was on discovery and various things like that.

And she and also Invictus, which was, I mean, I saw that movie on a plane land. Talk about a sob fest. It was I was just I think I had to take one of the airplane blankets and put it over my head because I was crying so hard.

It was so wonderful. So, yeah, so they both have these crazy impressive resumes. So even if you haven't been watching Madam Secretary, stay on for the interview because it's really fascinating to hear them sort of break down the creative process and the production process and how they work. And that's a complicated show, you know, because it deals with sort of current current events, but also creating memorable characters.

So we are going to talk to Lori McQuerry and Barbara Hall after this week's recap. All right, you'll, what do you think of this episode overall?

Well, three words, Leon, kale, Cuba and car crashes. Okay, I was I loved it.

Okay, because my feeling was like, whoa, I did they call this episode the kitchen sink because everything was in there. Cuban embargo, Ferguson, Black Panthers, religious freedom.

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