Amazon.com: Who Do You Think You Are?: Season 1, Episode 3 "Lisa Kudrow": Amazon Instant Video

Who Do You Think You Are? Season 1, Ep. 3 "Lisa Kudrow"

Emmy Award-Winner Lisa Kudrow travels from Los Angeles to Belarus and uncovers the answer to her father's life long unanswered question.

Runtime: 42 minutes
Original air date: March 19, 2010
Network: NBC

Episode 3, "Lisa Kudrow"

Synopsis: Emmy Award-Winner Lisa Kudrow travels from Los Angeles to Belarus and uncovers the answer to her father's life long unanswered question.

Original air date: March 19, 2010

Runtime: 42 minutes

ASIN: B003DA66MA

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,414 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Who Do You Think You Are? Season 1

Synopsis: Today's most-beloved and iconic celebrities star in "Who Do You Think You Are?" allowing television viewers an intimate look as they embark on a journey of self-discovery to trace their family trees. Each episode will reveal surprising, inspiring and sometimes tragic stories that are often linked to events in American and international history. Each week, a different celebrity is taken on a journey into his or her family history. The journey is one of surprising and deeply emotional encounters with the result being one of the most compelling reality formats of recent years.

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Mocean Melvin

Supporting actors: Peter Barton, Taff Gillingham

Genre: Documentary

Executive producer: Dan Bucatinsky

Network: NBC

ASIN: B003B2RS1I

Rights & Requirements

Purchase rights: Stream instantly and download to 2 locations. Details

Format: Amazon Instant Video (streaming online video and digital download)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tracing Your Roots January 20, 2011

By Michael B. Druxman

Format:DVD

In this seven-episode one-hour NBC-TV documentary series, seven popular celebrities (Sarah Jessica Parker, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Broderick, Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon, director Spike Lee and football star Emmitt Smith) look back through time, exploring their ancestral histories and sharing their life-altering discoveries.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? plays like a fascinating mystery, as stars travel cross-country and, in some cases, across the globe to learn the stories of their ancestors.

Sarah Jessica Parker, for example, not only discovers that one of her ancestors took part in the California Gold Rush, but that another was accused in, yet survived, the infamous Salem witch trials.

In a later episode, her husband, Matthew Broderick, learns that his grandfather was a WW1 hero and that his great, great grandfather fought at Gettysburg.

Dallas Cowboys' legend Emmitt Smith traces his roots back to the days of slavery, and even journeys to Africa where his family originated.

In what is certainly the most heart-wrenching episode, Lisa Kudrow, who is also one of the series' executive producers, traces her father's family back to Europe where she learns the horrifying facts of how her great grandmother was murdered by the Nazis, but she also meets a distant cousin who managed to escape the Holocaust.

Discoveries made by Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon and Spike Lee are equally fascinating.

Aside from being entertaining, this documentary series is also a helpful "how to" guide for viewers who might wish to explore their own ancestral roots. The various historians explain how old census records and visits to libraries can serve as an invaluable starting point for a search into one's past.

If the series has a flaw, it's that the individual episodes do not have enough material to fill a one-hour program. This results in a lot of annoying repetition; unnecessary recapping at the start of every segment of material we've already seen.

Hopefully, in future seasons, the producers will shoot more footage, perhaps of the subject interacting with his/her immediate family, or if that proves impractical, maybe the show should be cut down to a half-hour length.

� Michael B. Druxman

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor second fiddle to UK version. January 11, 2013

By David S. Graham

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am an amateur genealogist and I do love the UK series because of the stories that unfold and the tips on genealogy work. A USA version is a great idea, I mean the format is already a proven success in the UK so it must be a similarly good show for a USA version right? WRONG. There are several issues in the USA production that make this version almost unbearable to watch. This DVD has been taken straight (unedited) from the TV screenings, In a really frustrating trend that seems to be the norm in the USA producers feel that the viewers, having sat through a commercial break, have forgotten what they saw before the break and need to re-watch half of what they just saw. Personally I don't think americans have such a short attention span but most americans I know are academically oriented so maybe the general population does forget what they just watched before a commercial break. So there may be a reason for the constant re-visitations when shown on TV, but on a DVD without commercials? It just gets plain frustrating and almost unwatchable. Furthermore, the constant re-hashing of already seen footage means that a 45 minute show in reality only has about 30 minutes of original footage. Not good value for viewing or purchasing! Another annoying habit is to indirectly tell the viewers what is coming after the commercial break but try and make it sound like a mystery. Example.. in one episode the narrator tells the viewers the star will head to the fields of France in search of a missing relative. What will she discover? Well duh, obviously the relative was killed in WW1 so where's the mystery? In fact, why bother watching it when you know what she will discover.
So in summary, it gets 2 stars for the few limited genealogical tips it presents but otherwise this show is poorly presented, low on original content and very frustrating to watch if you have any sort of half-decent memory.

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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Reality TV Show March 16, 2011

By MasterAP

Format:DVD

We finally have a reality show that isn't based on smut or horrible "acting". Who Do You Think You Are? is a fantastic program that follows a number of celebrities on their journey to discovering their ancestors.

Sarah Jessica Parker learns about her connection to the Salem Witch Trials, Emmit Smith learns about his slave ancestors, Lisa Kudrow discovers a relative from the Holocaust, Matthew Broderick has family who served in the Civil War, Susan Sarandon had a relative who "got around", Brooke Shields has royalty in her blood and Spike Lee has an unexpected surprise.

These stories are top-notch. Whenever I think of genealogy, I tend to get bored, but this show will keep you captivated as you discover family answers to the stars.

There's obvious marketing going on as each person uses a certain database to help find their great-grandparents, but it's all worth it whenever they travel to small towns and foriegn countries in search of their heritage.

Who knows, maybe this program will entice you to look up your ancestors.

Whoever said Reality TV was the downfall of our society has not seen Who Do You Think You Are?

This DVD was provided for review, at no cost, by Acorn Media.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it

My mom likes this show. I was waiting for a long time for this season to come back. when it did I am glad I jumped on it.

Published 4 months ago by Jeffrey Schultz

5.0 out of 5 stars good show

So sorry to hear it has been cancelled on television. I enjoyed all the episodes and got this for a friend who like genealogy.

Published 5 months ago by Vera L. Ziegler