Apr 21, 2010 Filed Under: News & Rumors,Paper Man,Who Do You Think You Are? Comments (0)

Actress and producer Lisa Kudrow will appear tomorrow on PBS’ “Tavis Smiley” to discuss her latest projects, a starring role in the film “Paper Man” and her role as executive producer of the genetics-based series, “Who Do You Think You Are?” on NBC. Check your local listings for air times.

During the interview, Kudrow shares how researching her own family history, particularly around the Holocaust, on an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” helped her to gain insight into her family dynamics:

“There’s also that aspect of, ‘oh, now I know why my grandmother was the way she was.’ Which was, just a little bit bitter. There had just been so much tragedy in so many areas of her life. Not to mention this really terrifying – this horror that her entire family was just wiped out like that. You know, and that’s who raised my father, and his response to that. And you can see how all these events however far you go back, it really informed how the next generation behaved or experienced the world.”

Kudrow also discusses her pride at broadening the scope of network television with the introduction of the history-focused series:

“It’s something I’ve been afraid to sort of say out loud, but part of it was this secret fantasy that if it’s possible to bring this kind of show to network television which seemed, I have to say, it seemed almost like an impossibility. Then it would be such a, to me, such a huge accomplishment because it’s really, I think it’s enriching, you know? I mean it can’t go all the way over to a documentary series like it is in the UK because after all, it is on a network during primetime, but boy, I think it’s taken what that is on network television a little further along and it makes me proud.”

Source: Tavis Smiley