This Friday, Who Do You Think You Are? premieres on NBC.
From Executive Producer Lisa Kudrow (“Friends,” “The Comeback”) — in conjunction with her production company Is or Isn’t Entertainment and the U.K.’s Wall to Wall productions, “Who Do You Think You Are?” is an adaptation of the award-winning hit British television documentary series. The seven-episode program will lead celebrities on a journey of self-discovery as they unearth their family trees that reveal surprising, inspiring and even tragic stories that are often linked to crucial events in American history.
In the first episode, Sarah Jessica Parker visits her hometowns of NJ and Ohio, first to NJ to visit her mother (and NYC to visit her brother, Timothy B. Parker who appears in Wicked on Broadway) to fill her family in on her search for their ancestry. The introduction was constructed quite well, as viewers got a very quick background and overview of Sarah’s immediate family.
Next, Sarah visits Ohio to meet with a genealogist for further research on Sarah’s mother’s side of the family. The genealogists and historians Sarah meets lead her to California, walking the land one of her ancestors walked during the Gold Rush as well as New England to read the original legal documents detailing her ancestors’ involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. Incredibly, Sarah is able to trace back her ancestry to the 1630s and that is a fascinating discovery, considering all of the troubling events her ancestors lived through, giving life to Sarah and her 7 siblings.
What fascinating discoveries viewers get to learn and in many different states, not just through online/library research. Now although the idea of finding out about one’s ancestry is quite intriguing, many may find that the overly dramatic attitude of Sarah almost made this seem like more of another job in front of the camera for Sarah than a documentary. Sarah was all to aware of the cameras rolling in the sens that her emotions and reactions to the revelations were quite over the top. Plus Sarah’s voice over doesn’t help make this feel any less like hearing Carrie narrate an episode of Sex & the City. Of all 7 episodes, this is actually one of my least favorite episodes specifically because of this reason. Aside from this, there is no doubt that this series will inspire many to log onto ancestry.com and begin to research their own ancestry in order to find out more about their identity.
Who Do You Think You Are? premieres March 5th at 8/7c on NBC.