Desmond Tutu once said, “You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.” This is poignant when thinking of NBC’s new TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?”, an hourly reality program that takes celebrities and shows them their family history. “Who Do You Think You Are?” is produced by former “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow and is a partnership between NBC Entertainment and Ancestry.com, the latter helping to do genealogy research.
The first season of “Who Do You Think You Are?” included Sarah Jessica Parker, NFL Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith and Spike Lee. The second season premieres February 4th, and will include celebrities like Tim McGraw, Kim Cattrall and Vanessa L. Williams. Williams’ family history will be explored in the premiere.
“Who Do You Think You Are?” begins with some rudimentary information about celebrities’ grandparents or great-grandparents upon which researchers trace all available recorded facts. Kudrow was warned by the UK government that about 30% of the time, these searches have to stop because there are either no existing records or the people themselves are not interesting.
“The time it takes to get records from other countries…they don’t make the deadline for shooting,” said Kudrow in an interview with the Eagle. Kudrow said that she did not have much trouble, and sometimes did not even fully abandon searches.
Williams, the singer and former Ugly Betty star, will be documented finding out that one of her ancestors was one of 14 African American men to be elected to the Tennessee legislature following the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation.
“The fact that my ancestor was one of only 14 and had really, you know, been a trailblazer and created history,” said William. “That was really extraordinary for me.”
To those who may doubt “Who Do You Think You Are?”’s ability to entertain, it does include interesting revelations. One includes a story from Spike Lee’s family, in which his ancestor was forced to work in an ammunitions factory to make guns for Confederate soldiers.
For those who are interested in genealogy themselves, technical details about finding old documents and records can be found on the “Who Do You Think You Are?” website, which are loosely covered during parts of the show.
Who Do You Think You Are? airs Friday, February 4th at 8:00 p.m. on NBC.
