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We haven't forgotten. Many of us in this forum discussed that show extensively.
It was a mostly-good show, but its negatives (my opinion, not necessarily the other posters) were:
--Too quickly going through each person (it was literally like Antiques Roadshow)
--Too much focus on finding "famous" ancestors (I personally don't care about the famous, just the interesting).
I watch the show, but I have zero interest in the celebrities. To me it's about the family history that gets uncovered. I don't think people who are into "celebs" are the target audience for WDYTYA, it's people with an interest in genealogy. I hope the creators of the show don't make it too celebrity-focused.
I was a little let down with last night's episode, after last week's incredible story. They seem to focus a whole hour on one ancestor instead of a few of them. With a woman who served time in prison in the 1800s for murder of her abusive homicidal husband, and then rebuilt her life, yes, that deserves a whole hour. But a dishonest, family-abandoning, criminal ancestor? Nah, they could have spent maybe half the episode on him and the rest on other ancestors.
More than that Tracy -- I wish they would show the person DOING the work, instead of it being handed to them. It would show people this is absolutely do-able, and teach people about the different resources out there and maybe teach some old dogs a new trick or two.
When Jesse googled his great grandfather and found that article, I was amazed. Amazed that no one had ever thought of that before. I mean -- DUH.
Would anyone else like to see a whole other series spawn out of this show?
Wouldn't it be cool if they took one very interesting family tree, and created an entire series focused on learning about fascinating people in that tree? Each episode could dig deeper or move onto the next fascinating person down the line. The entire series would kind of mesh together major events or ancestors, leading up to the season finale that would end with the current living person.
They wouldn't have to be famous people in the tree, just ancestors with a great story to "tell."
Would anyone else like to see a whole other series spawn out of this show?
Wouldn't it be cool if they took one very interesting family tree, and created an entire series focused on learning about fascinating people in that tree? Each episode could dig deeper or move onto the next fascinating person down the line. The entire series would kind of mesh together major events or ancestors, leading up to the season finale that would end with the current living person.
They wouldn't have to be famous people in the tree, just ancestors with a great story to "tell."
They could do a new family tree each season.
I would watch that. I'd be glued. No celebrity would be necessary, just a regular person. But not like that other PBS show that was on briefly, that seemed to portray stories with a political agenda. I don't want celebrities, I don't want an agenda, I just want an interesting genealogy journey.
I really like the show. I have to agree, it makes doing genealogy look waaaay too easy!
Agreed. It makes it look like people can walk in and command the staff to do all the work for them. Not something genealogy librarians are likely to enjoy dealing with.
Also I noticed this season that sometimes they are identifying the researcher's employer, saying what university or what have you the person they're speaking to is from. And it doesn't always match the place. They may be in the Midwest, but the researcher is a prof from California. In other words, they're using people chums of the producers know or refer them to, not necessarily the "boots on the ground" at the location they're researching.
I would watch that. I'd be glued. No celebrity would be necessary, just a regular person. But not like that other PBS show that was on briefly, that seemed to portray stories with a political agenda. I don't want celebrities, I don't want an agenda, I just want an interesting genealogy journey.
Me too. Part of the intrigue would be seeing how the lives and choices of ancestors got the current person to where they are in life at this time.
I completely agree with bjh on the Ferguson episode. Sadly, it was almost amusing how Jesse tried to pull "good qualities" from his murdering/embezzling/thieving/womanizing/quitting/lawyer ancestor. Did he really say "perseverance"????
Although it would have been nice to find out what became of the first family, I laughed out loud when he was talking about how "caring" his ancestor was to raise the children. I looked right at my husband and said "Being a lawyer, he probably had her committed and then lied to the children about it!"
Regardless, this is the only show where I sit and actually w-a-t-c-h everything and so far, I'm enjoying this season. I just hope it gets better. And no...I'm not sorry that the PBS show isn't on anymore. Talk about annoying...ughh!
Bummed I don't get TLC and can't afford to pay to watch. I do enjoy the Celeb stuff but I'd love to see one segment on an ordinary person. Our family has a HUGE brick wall that we've been working on for decades. My cousins are LDS and have been to SLC even, I've hired pro genealogists twice and got ripped off, these were listed on a reputable site and did report them but I didn't get my $ back.
Anyone know if there's a freebie site to watch the episodes, I went to the TLC site and all they offer are clips.
I just checked on Youtube for full episodes and guess what---I found FULL episodes of Who Do You Think You Are-UK!!!!
There is evidently a UK version! I noticed JK Rowling being one guest and Alex Kingston from ER as another.
Guess what I'll be watching this weekemd!!!
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