TLC is getting into the family reunion business with a new special by the producers of Who Do You Think You Are?, titled Long Lost Family.
“Hoping to find their biological families, two adoptees team up with hosts Chris Jacobs and Lisa Joyner to embark on an emotional journey,” TLC said in a press release.
One of those adoptees is 54-year-old Paula, who wants to know why her parents kept her for a few days only to choose adoption and cut off all contact when she was still an infant.
In what seems like it will be the more emotional investigation, a man named Christopher Hanson searches for his mom 30 years after she abandoned him in a grocery store parking lot when he was only 6. Christopher was eventually adopted by a loving family, but was always “haunted” with questions about “what happened on that day and discover exactly why he never saw his mom again.”
Christopher and Paula will be aided in their searches by fellow adoptees Chris Jacobs and Lisa Joyner, as well as Ancestry.com tools. Long Lost Family is based on the British series by the same name. Here’s what one critic said about the UK show…
“No need for convoluted plots and controversial politics — all that… [is] required to make millions of people start blubbing helplessly was a 40-year-old snapshot,” Christopher Stevens said for The Daily Mail. “After an hour of searching, we have two reunions. It sounds almost bureaucratic, but what makes each episode so moving is the sensitivity of the interviews.”
TLC traditionally tests potential series out with specials like this, so look for more episodes if it’s a hit.
Long Lost Family premieres on TLC on Sunday, March 1 at 10/9c.
