Anthony Anderson is all about ‘Family’ now
Q: Since Anthony Anderson is hosting “We Are Family” now, does that mean “To Tell the Truth” is over? – Carrie Lowe, via e-mail
A: At least for the time being, especially since “Mama Doris” has traveled along with him to the new Fox contest. His ABC revival of “To Tell the Truth” had a good six-year run, and it achieved Anderson’s personal aim of making his mother a TV star, something she had hoped for, though she gave up that career ambition earlier to raise Anderson and his half-brother.
As it happens, Anderson wasn’t supposed to be the “We Are Family” host initially. Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corinne were to preside over the show, but a medical condition that reportedly hospitalized Foxx evidently necessitated another host. Foxx does retain an executive-producer credit on the program, however.
Q: It’s been interesting to see the 60th-anniversary celebration of “General Hospital.” As the only other two daytime dramas on broadcast network television, how long have “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” been on the air? – Helen Richards, Raleigh, N.C.
A: “The Young and the Restless” began in 1973 on CBS, expanding from a half-hour to a full hour each weekday in 1980, and it will mark its 51st anniversary in late March. Its success eventually prompted executive producers William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell to launch “The Bold and the Beautiful” as a separate but related show in 1987, and it also has an anniversary coming up in late March … its 37th.
Though “Days of Our Lives” now streams on Peacock instead of being broadcast by NBC, it’s another still-running daytime serial that deserves mention for its longevity. That program began in 1965 (it marked its 58th anniversary last November), and in 1975, it also expanded from a half-hour to an hour. It will be continuing its Peacock run at least through September 2025.