When Emmy-winning actress Lisa Kudrow decided to executive produce the American version of the British TV series “Who Do You Think You Are?,” she said at first it was a challenge to get celebrities to participate in the documentary-styled reality show, which features a different celebrity per episode researching his or her family history. But now, Kudrow says that so many celebrities want to be on the show, there is a waiting list. The main reason for this change, Kudrow says, is because the once the show aired, people realized that “Who Do You Think You Are?’ does not have tabloid intentions to expose scandals in a celebrity’s family, but rather it takes a historical and very detailed approach to how information is found on people’s ancestries.
Season 3 of the U.S. version of “Who Do You Think You Are?” premieres on NBC on February 3, 2012, at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time. The celebrities featured in the show’s third season are Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Helen Hunt, Reba McEntire, Jerome Bettis, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rob Lowe, Rashida Jones, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen. In a telephone conference call with journalists, Kudrow talked about what people can expect from Season 3 of the show, what she’s learned along the way, and which celebrities in Season 3 episodes filmed so far have the biggest surprises in finding out information about their ancestors.
What kind of advice do you have for people looking into their family history that kind of get frustrated or stuck?
There doesn’t have to ever be an end. That's what makes it such a great hobby. There doesn't really ever have to be an end. I think there's always research you can do on different branches, different cousins and you go back. And then also it's not just names and dates. Then when you start looking at where they were living, what was happening there at that time, you start looking at historical documents. And you can maybe draw some conclusions or guesses about what was motivating some of their choices in life.
If you come across bad news, how do you kind of approach that situation?
You know, most people go into it understanding. There's not a formal conversation, but most of them feel like I just want information whatever it is. Whatever it is. And they already understand that if somewhere in their ancestry there were some unsavory people or they did bad things then that's not who they are. And you can just focus on how the family turned itself around. I think people go into it understanding that this about getting information; it's not about getting what you want.
Are we starting to see an expansion of the number of episodes? Do you ever envision “Who Do You Think You Are?” being a 20-episode season?
I think a lot of people would love it to be a 20 episode season. So yes, expansion is good. We always think more is better.
The U.K. version of the show continues to be huge and they're just about to have another one of their annual conferences with like thousands of people showing up. Do you ever see maybe the U.S. version of your show tying into a national conference here in the U.S. for family history?
We're invited all the time — our researchers and some of us as executive producers — and we are invited frequently to different events pertaining to genealogy and other sort of historical archive places, so it happens.
So maybe participating, but not necessarily having a whole conference devoted to “Who Do You Think You Are?” like they do in the U.K.?
Right. Yes. I don't know, that hasn't come up yet.
On Martin Sheen's particular episode in Season 3, is there anything that you can illuminate on what he finds?
Sure. There are two segments in Spain. The first segment is in Ireland. But the first segment in Spain is he's finding out more than he ever knew about his uncle, his father's brother, who was the only one of the Estevez siblings in Spain who didn't leave the country. And he was actually stuck there, he got caught up in Franco's coup and actually tried to put it down. Like he was involved in trying to put it down very early on. So that was interesting and he was imprisoned many times for that. And it's also something that Martin really related to because he's an activist, he's been in jail, he's been jailed a couple times for that, and he could absolutely relate to and be proud of families who sacrificed for their beliefs in social justice and that.
More and more people are doing DNA research and medical history in terms of their family history. Are we going to see any of that on the episodes with Paula Deen and her recent diabetes diagnosis? Some people track depression and substance abuse through generations. Is there any focus on that in episodes?
No. We're still working on the research for Paula Deen and it hasn't come up as something that we'll be looking into. But we do not [deal] with the health aspect of genetic testing, but there have been big improvements. For Blair Underwood's episode, there have been a lot of improvements in what you can find out, so he submitted a DNA sample that would track his Y chromosome.
So his father's line. The Underwood’s line. And there are a lot of samples that have been gathered in Africa so that they could hone in on the closest matches and give them a better indication of where they're from, something more precise. And it's pretty precise.
Why is genealogy important to the immigrant experience?
I think it's important because so much gets lost once a family moves their roots. There's a lot that gets lost. And in a lot of cultures or maybe it's just a human thing, there aren't a lot of stories passed down if there was tragedy and a lot of difficulty and in order to keep moving forward and coping, you'd rather not dwell on those periods of hardship and victimhood. Otherwise, it's hard to press on. So I think that's why there's no information that gets passed down.
When people want their genealogy or their ancestry traced, are they generally interested in the culture that they came from or is it one or two individuals that they're actually wanting to look into and then they find out all the other information?
It's a mixture. You know, everyone has something different that they want to know about. Sometimes it's a specific story that got handed down and they want to know if that's true. And sometimes it's very general because they don't know anything. So it's just very different.
A lot of times it's just “I want to do this for my mom; she's interested.” And I think it's partly what you were talking about and so as they're doing this for their mother or their father, they realize that they get caught up in it as well and and feel a strong connection themselves.
Do you find that more younger people are getting interested in genealogy?
Yes. I'm really surprised. Ancestry.com had a sweepstakes, and then they would come out and tour the “Who Do You Think You Are?” offices. And the winner was 26 years old. So I thought that was really surprising. That was, like, a very nice surprise.
When it comes to the complexity of the research that goes into the persons of African-American ancestry, do you have two teams: one who is researching the slave holder's ancestry and one researching the family found in freedom?
Our team of researchers they are usually history majors and they know how to conduct research period. And there's usually mostly one person assigned to a subject and then we have one or usually there's another person who's also helping on that. But they reach out to the experts in different areas of history, especially around those time periods or in African-American slave history and that kind of thing.
We don't have like one person dedicated to this area. Because, for example, on this season we have 12 people and there's such a variety of ancestry that we we can't possibly have just experts in whatever field would come up on staff.
How long does that research process take?
It varies. I mean Marisa Tomei and Rob Lowe, that's been going on since Season 1. We couldn't find information. And then there are other people where it's incredibly lucky. I think Blair [Underwood] went really fast.
What do you think are some of the biggest improvements in the series?
Fhe first improvement came after the first season when we didn't have that music video montage. That, to me, was a great improvement …
The drag for us is that it's like 40 minutes total. And we would love to even get into more history to get some context for what was going on.
And like I know in Helen Hunt's episode, I think that helped tremendously and really just helps you get invested in the people that we're looking at because we can see what was going on at the time and just how it motivated what they did. You feel like you kind of understand them.
Are you always there when filming is happening?
No, I am not there when filming is happening.
Can you give us some highlights on the episodes featuring Jason Sudeikis, Rob Lowe and Rashida Jones?
We haven't shot any of them yet. I think I know the most about Rob Lowe. That's going to start shooting very soon, if it hasn't already. Let me see. I don't know. I don't have that schedule. But that's an unbelievable story. And I can't talk about them at all because none of them have shot. They don't know what's coming. Yes, yes. It's always a surprise until they actually shoot it.
Now that you've done this for a few seasons, have you noticed any common elements as to why each person has become so successful in their own life?
No. That I haven't. I haven't thought about that because we've been mostly focusing on the people who are not famous that came before them. And then it's generations later that someone happened to become famous for whatever it is that they're doing. For every famous person, they've got like a hundred other relatives that aren't famous.
Now that people are familiar with the show, are celebrities more or less apprehensive than try were in Season 1?
Much less. Much less. We've got we've got a waiting list now. I think they know that we're not trying to catch them at something or make them look bad. That's not what we're interested in. We're really interested in just telling these stories as experienced by their ancestors. And hope that they're engaged because that always makes for a more interesting episode.
For you personally, which celebrity would you want to have featured on the show that hasn't already been on it?
Oh. No, I don't do that.
What influenced your decision to actually be a part of “Who Do You Think You Are?”
When I was in Ireland, it was on BBC and I thought it was the most riveting show I'd ever seen. And what a great way to talk about history and sort of the human condition.
Which world leader, dead or alive, would you want to have lunch with the most, if given the chance?
I have a lot of questions for George Washington. I'd like to like you have lunch with someone and you can see if they're as wonderful as you've heard.
How much of the research do the celebrities do themselves?
Rhey can certainly do the like get out their computer and look up stuff on Ancestry.com, like any of us can. But then when we depend on experts who have gone through archives and have original very rare documents, no, they can't. They wouldn't have access.
Is there anything in particular that you enjoy watching on television?
Yes, I like “Parenthood” a lot, and I think “30 Rock” is still the funniest show.
So when you guys do the research, have you ever come across in anybody's past like people that maybe don't want to help you or don't want to discuss it? How do you deal with that?
Yes. It comes up sometimes and so we just have to do the best we can without those sources of information.
What do you think is most challenging in your search?
There are different countries that have different privacy laws, so that's about getting documents, getting permission to look at documents or shoot documents. So that's one roadblock. Obviously, slavery is a big roadblock.
Eastern European Jewish history is a huge roadblock that a lot of the times you can't even get past World War II. You can get like a name of a parent of someone who came over, but there are no records over there. Period. At all. They've been obliterated.
So that one's pretty tricky. That's why there haven't been too many Eastern European Jewish stories. And I think we've tried to do like Korean subject or Japanese subjects and it's very tricky to get records.
Have you spoken to the other celebrities who have done this show?
Usually after, if I do at all. You know. There's a recurring theme which is that was a lot to process and I'm still processing it. It's something that really lingers. And that's usually what someone says afterward.
How do you feel like it's changed you, since you went through it yourself?
I think it made me, in certain psychological ways, it's made a difference because I usually like to avoid unpleasant things, especially emotionally unpleasant [things], and that's not a great way to go through life. So I think having to just stay with it when I did my show because that's kind of difficult information to hear and just be there.
You put yourself in the situation and you're walking the same road they walked before they were all murdered. And at one point I remember when they said, “And it's right up here,” I actually stopped. My instinct was to stop and not take one more step. And so I think what was good is to push on and to understand that the good news is that this is not happening to me.
And now there's a witness for it and it's bigger than me. It's beyond just me having this experience. It's something that it's a story that you're sharing with other people.
You mentioned that there's a waiting list for the celebrities to be on the show, but do they approach you now about wanting to be on it?
Yes. Absolutely. They do. I saw Blair Underwood at a party and just walking by each other he said, "I want to do your show." And I said, "All right." Done.
It's easy enough to get going because it all has to start with a conversation with a researcher and then they get going. And like I said, it can take two years … It can take a while sometimes.
Would you be interested in possibly playing Brittany's mom on “Glee”?
No, I've seen the show. Yes. I get why people suggest that. I don't sing. No one's asked.
Has there ever been a discussion about doing a sequel to “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”?
Well, it hasn't happened. Robin Schiff who wrote and produced the first one, she has had really good ideas for sequels, but it hasn't happened.
Have you reached out to any of your former “Friends” cast mates, and have any of them expressed interest on finding about their pasts?
Yes, some have and some haven't and then it's a scheduling issue.
Yes, is there any that are currently being worked on or is it kind of just waiting for another season to be ordered before that would start?
No, everything's on hold right now, in terms of any of them.
Is there any big reveal that you can kind of tease us on for the rest of the season or at least the episodes that have shot?
They all have big reveals. Blair Underwood has a huge reveal, I think. Reba McEntire does too. they all do. And Marisa Tomei, her great-grandfather, the story was that he was killed by a jealous lover and that he was a philanderer, so that's just how they always saw him. And she goes and investigates and finds out that it's a different story and people didn't have to be even a little ashamed.
Of all the subjects so far, knowing that not all of them have kept in touch or maybe some of them have, but what's been the biggest after effect? Has anyone relocated relatives or bought property that they learned once belonged in their family?
That's a good question. I'm not sure about that update. I only know about a couple of people where it impacted one in the raising of their kids. One person used these new family names that they discovered to use as middle names for children that have been born afterward and they've just sort of integrated it into their own family history, which it is. They just never knew it was. But it's a great question about buying property or that used to belong to the family. That's great.
Have you thought about having a famous people in their teens or early 20s on the show?
Yes. That's a great point. The Rashida Jones is the youngest person we've had do the show. And I think it's trickier to get even younger people because they're not necessarily interested yet. Usually it's once a person has children that they become interested. Usually.
And then with boys, it seems even harder because they're young men and they're looking forward and they don't want to look back. Yet. So it's a big generalization, but it comes up. It seems to come up. So it's great that we have Jason Sudeikis too. Because he's also younger.
That's why a lot of people do it, they can't wait to tell their kids. And they want their children to know where they came from and what the real story is.
Have you thought about producing a musical either for the stage or TV or a superhero sci-fi movie? What's next for you?
Not a musical and not a super hero sci-fi movie. Unfortunately. Because those things are popular.
Maybe another sitcom or two?
Yes, possibly. Yes.
What you hope viewers take away from watching the show?
I hope what they take away from the show is that that we're pretty strong as human beings. Those of us that are here, it's like almost a miracle that we are here. And the only reason we're here is because we come from strong stock. So I think that should give us all a feeling of inspiration and strength that we can draw from that. Because it's not easy to survive this planet.
Have you always been interested in history and ancestry? Was there a point in your life where this became something that you were interested in it?
I was always interested in parts of history. But like I said, when I saw “Who Do You Think You Are?” on the BBC when I was in Ireland, I thought that this was such a fascinating show and what a great way to deliver history on such a personal level. You personalize it and it takes on a whole new meaning. And then what a great thing to offer an audience who wants to see it. And luckily, we have a lot who show up to watch.
For more info: "Who Do You Think You Are?" website
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Interview with Lisa Kudrow for "The Other Woman" (Toronto press conference)
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