Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Who Do You Think You Are? returns to NBC this summer

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I was very excited to learn that NBC is bringing back the docuseries Who Do You Think You Are. According to this article in the Hollywood Reporter, it will make its premiere on July 10. The subjects for the upcoming season season are Allison Janney, Zachary Levi, Nick Offerman, Billy Porter, Zachary Quinto and Bradley Whitford.

Co-produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky, the show aired on NBC from 2010 to 2012 before moving to the cable network TLC, where it aired from 2013 until 2018. I don’t have cable, so I wasn’t really able watch it on TLC. I’m delighted that it’s back and easy to find on NBC.

One thing I like about WDYTYA is that the celebrity subjects whose family histories are traced are more involved in the research process (as compared with, say, Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.) I feel that approach makes doing genealogy on your own feel more possible. The very first episode I watched, in 2011, featured Ashley Judd. It was a thrill for me because she and I shared a Mayflower ancestor, William Brewster (at least I’d been told I was descended from him–I still need to verify that). I was just starting with genealogy back then and that episode opened my eyes to the fun possibilities of genealogy research.

I look forward to the return and I hope it sparks passion and curiosity in other beginner genealogists as it did in me!

What I’m watching: Finding Your Roots on PBS

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findingyourrootsI’m not sure why I’ve never really watched PBS’ Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. before. I think I originally became aware of it when Who Do You Think You Are? was on NBC and didn’t see the need to be watching two of these shows.

Then Who Do You Think You Are? moved to TLC (I don’t subscribe to cable) and I watched it online occasionally. Just this week, I realized that full episodes of the (perhaps slightly more erudite) PBS show are available to watch on PBS’s website.

I think one of the reasons I enjoy these shows so much is that it gets me really excited about doing my own research and making my own discoveries. Watching an episode can be a real motivator to doing research, especially right now when I’m so busy with clients I don’t have much time at my desk.

(One could argue that my desk time is better spent doing research than watching Finding Your Roots, but sometimes my energy level is more suited to passive endeavors.)

It appears that the new season of Who Do You Think You Are? premieres July 23. Assuming I can watch it online, it looks like I’ll have plenty of televised genealogy research to keep me entertained this summer!

 

Who Do You Think You Are? available online

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I was delighted to learn that the cable network picked up the show Who Do You Think You Are? after NBC canceled it. The season debuted a week ago with an episode featuring Kelly Clarkson.

Since I don’t subscribe to cable TV, I feared that it wouldn’t be able to watch it. But I just learned that TLC is making full episodes available of their website. I’m about to watch the Kelly Clarkson episode.

Here’s a preview of tonight’s episode, which features Christina Applegate:

I don’t know how long episodes will be available online, so I’m going to plan to watch weekly!

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