Recently, however, the answers have become much more complicated on the new NBC series Who Do You Think You Are? The premise is that celebrities search out their family genealogy. Not exactly a ratings blockbuster until you realize that they are about to rediscover history.
Ah, history class. I fondly remember many a good nap there. What could be duller than memorizing names and dates of people who died far too long ago for the teenage brain to care?
This is, of course, why I don’t strangle my niece when she tells me how boring history is while we’re discussing her homework. Yes, names and dates are dull. It’s in the people that the drama unfolds.
But we often find it difficult to relate to historical figures. They truly are just a name and a date.
Who Do …? focuses on those relations. The series actually began in the UK on BBC in 2004 and was an immediate hit. In 2007, CBC aired its own version, delving into the backgrounds of famous Canucks such as Margaret Trudeau, Don Cherry and Chantal Kreviazuk.
And now on NBC, the treasure hunt continues with Sarah Jessica Parker, Lisa Kudrow and Emmitt Smith among others.
Parker confronts frightening details about the Salem witch hunts when she discovers her ancestor was one of the last women accused in October 1692, only escaping death when the trials ended a week later.
Lisa Kudrow learns about her great grandmother’s murder by Nazi soldiers during a WWII genocide in Ilya. Like many Eastern European Jews, the rest of her history is lost. But she finds her grandmother’s final resting place – a mass grave – and a long-lost relative who meant so much to her father.
Emmitt Smith’s search focuses on the slave trade; how people were sold like cattle and families were torn apart. Smith even manages to trace his roots back to a town in Africa.
For one hour, history comes alive because it belongs to someone we know. Unfortunately, the show often turns into a giant ad for Ancestry.com. But the experts our celebrity gravediggers meet truly open our eyes to the world in which these people lived.
Of course, the show’s website offers links to Ancestry.com for those inspired to do a little searching of their own.
Locally, Dave Nicholson offers tips, links and services (http://my.tbaytel.net/pafwinfo/) specific to our area.
A program such as Who Do …? could be the key to breaking through the apathy that often exists regarding history. And if it inspires interest in a teen or two, I know a history teacher who would be thrilled.
Check out www.tbtv.com for more FiTV along with complete TB Television program listings.
