The New Year is getting off to a busy start for Andy Samberg. His cop sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” returns for its sixth season on a new network (NBC) on Jan. 10. But first, Samberg will co-host the Golden Globe Awards with Sandra Oh on NBC Jan. 6 and appear in the first episode of the fifth season of the celebrity genealogy show “Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr.,” premiering on PBS Jan. 8.
Samberg, whose mother Marjorie was adopted, sought Gates’ help in finding her birth parents. She knew her birth mother was Jewish and born in Germany in 1920, and that she also had a sister who was a famous singer who lived in India in the 1940s. That provided a vital clue that led to her identity. Then, DNA testing and matching enabled researchers to find Sandberg’s paternal grandfather, who was from Sicily and met his mother in San Francisco in 1945. Samberg and his mother were able to meet several new members of their family.
“I’m overwhelmed with happiness for my mom,” he told Gates. “It’s fantastic, it’s finally something my mom gets to know.”
The episode also features “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin, who gets a big surprise from Gates, thanks to DNA testing. Martin always thought he was Italian, but it turns out that his grandfather was an Ashkenazi Jew.
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” premieres Jan. 10 at 9 p.m. on NBC, The Golden Globes airs live Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. on NBC, and “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.” premieres Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. on PBS
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