Love Bloggo: NBC's Who Do You Think You Are?

Occasionally I worry that because of the synchronization of Glee simultaneously dominating my blog and swirling down the toilet, this place has become far too negative and nitpicky.  I love things, I promise!  And it was recently suggested to me by an anonymous reader that I should share more of the things I love - books, television, music, etc.  

So, in an effort to spruce up this bloggo with positivity and sunshine, I present the first in what will hopefully be a continued trend of sharing random things I love, to balance out the long-winded criticisms occupying the archives.

The first thing you should know about me (which you probably already do) is that I am an extreme nerd.  Now, as we all are aware, there are different types of nerds.  No need to lump us all together in one big category.  There are math nerds, science nerds, video game nerds, comic book nerds, sci-fi nerds, music nerds, film nerds, book nerds, word nerds, history nerds, humanities nerds, art nerds - you get the idea.  I happen to be a conglomeration of the latter five, give or take.  I also happen to be a genealogy nerd.  It sort of combines my love for history and sociology and humanities with my penchant for organization and documentation, with added storyteller and mystery intrigue thrown in.  As such, I am a huge nerd for NBC's Who Do You Think You Are?

It doesn't seem like something that'd ordinarily do well on television: every episode follows a celebrity on a journey to discover their family history.  They talk to a relative to get a few leads, then, as most of them are part of America's historical "melting pot," whisk away to their original homelands to trace the steps.  They meet up with genealogists and hold original documents in awe, and walk the same paths their ancestors did, if they're lucky.  It's part documentary, part reality show, and part mystery hour.

But at the same time, every episode promises intrigue and self-discovery, as every subject inevitably compares their ancestor's circumstances and choices to their own life experiences.  The urge to look at the family that produced you to try and find some similarity in yourself is universal and singularly human, and it's amazing to see the connections people actually legitimately make to their pasts.

Tonight, Who Do You Think You Are? returned with Martin Sheen as its celebrity subject, which means that we also learned the ancestry of Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen!  Sheen traced an uncle on his mother's side to the rabble-rousing half of the Irish Civil War and a great-uncle on his father's to the law-abiding half of Spanish Civil War, and both parties on either side spent significant time in jail.  As a result, this episode quickly became a sober reminder of history's atrocities and how they affected so many people so permanently.  And for me, it's this that is the most powerful aspect of Who Do You Think You Are? and genealogical research in general.  

There are events in human history that bind countless people together, and affect them irreversibly.  Sometimes it's happenstance, like famines and illnesses and outbreaks.  But mostly, it's the dark side of humanity and human actions, where wars reach into every home and disturb a family enough to create a lasting mark on the lives of their descendants, most of whom never even realize. 

So that's what Who Do You Think You Are? is for: for the descendants to understand the realities their ancestors faced, the stories they lived in real life, the seemingly random or mundane events of their life that were woven inextricably into the fabric of their contexts, and dominoed just so, thereby creating the descendant's entire existence, mostly likely taken for granted.

In the case of Martin Sheen, he discovered a half-a-dozen-greats grandfather in Spain that was a judge hellbent on persecuting a young woman in the village who aborted a baby fathered by a married man above her status.  She was lucky enough to escape, and eventually moved away to start a new life in another town.  Then, lo and behold, four generations later, her great-great-great-great granddaughter married her persecutor's great-great-great-great grandson.  And of course, no one realized this until now, when the zoom-out is so cosmic that every piece of information tracked down takes on a strange meant-to-be aura and makes you think about every little thing that happens in your life and how it will affect your future.

So, if you are in fact a history nerd, sociology nerd, mystery nerd, documentary nerd, humanities nerd, genealogy nerd, or OH-MY-GOD-THE-TINIEST-THINGS-BLOW-MY-MIND nerd (like me) -- I highly recommend checking out Who Do You Think You Are?  This season features, along with Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis, and Paula Deen.  Actually, according to Executive Producer Lisa Kudrow (another reason to love the show, frankly) Rob Lowe's and Marisa Tomei's stories have been in the works since the first season, so I take that to mean they are epic and mysterious!  Tomei's is next week, and the preview hinted strongly at murder and conspiracy theory, so tune in!

(It occurs to me after all this overjoyed plugging that I should make note that I do not work for NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? in any way, shape, or form.  Although, frankly, I would love to.  Your move, Lisa Kudrow.)

In Defense of "Who Do You Think You Are?"

This spring, NBC premiered a show called "Who Do You Think You Are?" which endeavors to do genealogical research about celebrities and uncover interesting stories from their pasts. Frankly, I'm not sure how popular it is, but I've thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

It must be known first that I am a genealogy nerd. I've spent the past year or so trying to decipher the mysteries of my mom's family line, and despite the weird discoveries we've made, I've enjoyed every second of it. So, I'm probably more likely to enjoy this show than others.

I've read, however, a few critiques of the show that I can't entirely disagree with. The first of which being that the show is about celebrities - as if their histories are inherently more interesting than the common person's. Not true. But, I can see why they need celebrities to do this: it's network television. They're familiar faces. If I wanted to turn on the TV and watch, for all intents and purposes, a documentary about some middle-class stranger, I'd watch the History Channel or Discovery. This is NBC. That's not going to fly unless they're trying to win some sort of competition or have strange habits that people can laugh at. (I'm looking at you, "Minute to Win It" and "The Marriage Ref.")

The second main critique is that the show is a touch over-produced, embellishing a bit too much on some stories. There is also some truth to this: the show is a bit too polished. It's like they're trying to edit "Who Do You Think You Are?" to be like "The Biggest Loser" with its intense music and cutaway cliffhangers before commercial. On top of that, the research on each celebrity's family is done ahead of time, and so it predictably feels a bit plotted as the celebrity moves from one researcher to another, each holding the exact document they need in their hands.

But: to me, the show's merits far outweigh its weaknesses. Inevitably, each story that is told is remarkable, and, celebrity or no, watching someone learn more about their past is extremely touching.

The thing about history is this: even just two generations back, there were so many more hardships involved with living every day life. Not to mention in every other generation, there was a major war - and for WWI and WWII it was two in a row. The things you can learn about your ancestors are astounding.

What the show is particularly good at is turning dates on a page into an actual human story. Each celebrity gets to travel to the locations involved in their ancestor's histories, and in doing so, it allows both them and the viewer to understand the reality of what they're learning. These are real stories of real people who got tangled in history, and all that's left of them are vague stories and ink on the page. But they existed, and their existence suddenly becomes hugely important to their descendants, who have embarked on these journeys to know where they've come from. It's a weirdly spiritual experience for these people, and to me, it's an overwhelmingly compelling emotion to watch. And that is where "Who Do You Think You Are?" finds its true value, and why I enjoy watching it.

And also why I end up crying at least three times per episode.