I have really enjoyed NBC's broadcast of Who Do You Think You Are?
I have, however, found this season a little more disappointing than the
previous ones. It appears to me that the budget for the current season
per episode may be much less than what it was for previous ones. There
are far too many episodes that never cross the big pond.
Let's
take this past week's Helen Hunt episode. The episodes were largely
biographical focuses on only two of her ancestors. Both ancestors were
19th century figures. While there was a brief mention of the 18th
century in at least one of the lines, it was just barely mentioned. The
emphasis seemed to be on history -- the gold rush and banking in the
first part and the women's suffrage movement in the second. I must
confess that I found more of interest in the first part although I know
many enjoyed the second portion interesting.
I am a
huge fan of putting flesh on your ancestors through the type of research
that was done, but I'm missing the genealogical pursuit in this
season's episodes. Even when the pursuit does go back many generations,
such as in the Reba McEntire episode, they are handing the trees to the
celebrities without showing the steps it took to get to that generation.
I would love to see an episode where they actually documented the steps
they took to get to these earlier generations. For example, in Reba's
case, I had done earlier research on that Brasfield family of Monroe
County, Mississippi because Susan and her children lived near my great
grandfather's half-brother. I had followed their path back into Alabama
and had seen that they had come from North Carolina, but when I
discovered that they had been in the earlier counties at different times
than my Thorntons, I quit pursuing the line. It would have been
interesting to see the steps they took to get them to the specific
county and earliest ancestors mentioned. Having done quite a bit of
research in Mississippi and Alabama, I know that it is not always an
easy process to locate the ancestors in the Carolinas. (In some cases,
it's not as difficult, but in others, it can take a long time and a lot
of case building and proof arguments to reach a conclusion.)
My
other complaint with this season is that they begin re-runs before
they've made it through the new episodes. I had the same complaint in
the first season when they were showing the Sarah Jessica Parker episode
repeatedly, and it was one of my least favorites of the season.
I've
seen the posts showing how the ratings are lower this season than in
previous ones. I've heard some say they prefer to wait until they can
view it with fewer commercial interruptions. I had to watch one of the
episodes online because tornadic activity in our area pre-empted the
show. When I switched to the channel where they normally broadcast the
NBC programming if they pre-empt the main channel for weather coverage,
it wasn't showing. I found out that they started it a bit later, but the
show was already in progress by that time, and I didn't want to join it
already in progress. I've given up my usual Friday night activities
just so I can be home to watch WDYTYA to try to boost the ratings, but I
suspect a lot of people have not done this. However, I can't wonder if
the real reason that the ratings are lower this season is because people
are finding the series less engaging because people who have watched
the earlier seasons have tried to find their family and have not had the
success these celebrities have had because their ancestors are not
magically popping up when they do a search. I remember one case where
the person was searching for an ancestor, and the person typed in a
different spelling than the manner in which the celebrity spelled his or
her name. It is obvious the celebrity had been told how to type the
name. Many of the new researchers don't know the tricks that more
experienced researchers have up their sleeves.
It would
be nice if local genealogical societies or libraries with genealogical
collections could present programs that would address some of these
issues to keep them interested in pursuing their family history. In some
cases, the societies are inactive or non-existent. In some cases, they
won't pay the money to bring in speakers who actually could bring the
expertise to help people get over the the hurdles and their own local
speakers lack that ability. The genealogical society in my county meets
at a time when those of us who work cannot typically attend. Why in the
world does a society hold its meetings at 1:00 on Thursday afternoons?
It's obvious they are not interested in growing the society. I've been
able to attend two of their meetings. In both cases, all they did was
sit around and expect someone to ask them questions. I think I did ask
them once why they held their meetings at 1:00 on Thursdays when no one
could attend. I don't remember what their answer was, but it was nothing
but an excuse. (The society in the next county over is much more
active, but its meetings are held on the evening that I typically work.)
I certainly did not have research questions for them. The county was
one of the later counties to be formed so most of the records I really
need are in the parent counties rather than the current one. I have no
ancestors in the county so the only research I do in that county is what
I am doing for clients. With bad meeting times and poor programming,
they will never be able to reach those in our community who may be
struggling with their attempts to research their family history.
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