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This evening's U.S. version of Who Do You Think You Are? will feature Emmy Award winner Edie Falco as she sets off on a mission to learn the truth about her mother's family history and discovers a tragic event in her ancestor's life. Along the way, she tries to discover how an unknown shadowy figure ended up on her family tree.
If you missed an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC, don't forget that you can also watch it online on NBC's web site. The programs do not become available on the web site until a few hours after they have been broadcast on television. The episodes will be available online for about six months or so, but not forever.
The online versions can be watched at any time you wish, not at a set time determined by the network. Even better, many of the commercials have been deleted, although not all.
Last night's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured actress Rita Wilson. The show focused on the life of her father (shown with Rita in the photo to the left) who passed away only a couple of years ago. He apparently never talked much about his life as a young man and Rita found out why. He had suffered hardships and atrocities that he obviously wished to forget. However, Rita learned more about him than she had ever imagined possible.
Rita Wilson traveled to Bulgaria and Greece to find records and even to meet relatives. Since she does not read Greek or Bulgarian, all the work and translations had been performed by local experts before her arrival. She visited various archives where translated documents were waiting for her.
This week's U.S.version of the popuar genealogy television show, Who Do You Think You Are?, features actress Rita Wilson, wife of Tom Hanks. Her name at birth was Margarita Ibrahimoff (Bulgarian: Маргарита Ибрахимов, Greek: Μαργαρίτα Ιμπραΐμοβ). Her father was a Bulgarian, born in Greece, who worked at a Los Angeles racetrack. Before immigrating to the US, he had lived in Bulgaria and Turkey. Her mother, Dorothy, was born and raised in an ethnic Greek village (Sotire) in present-day Albania. Wilson's family changed their surname from "Ibrahimoff" to "Wilson," which was a name of a local street in Southern California.
A cute video is available on YouTube. It is essentially an advertisement for the New York Public Library, but should appeal to all genealogists. You might like to view it at http://youtu.be/xEIO4mWgS2E or click on the image below.
I thought Friday evening's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring guest celebrity Helen Hunt was one of the more interesting episodes I had seen. There were no revelations of slavery or terrible crimes or anything else that was sensationalized. Instead, Hunt's ancestry turned out to be a mix of some wealthy people and some others who lived in poverty. In other words, her family tree is typical of millions of Americans. I could identify with this episode.
On March 23, the U.S. version of the popular television program, "Who Do You Think You Are?," will feature Helen Hunt. The actress, film director, and screenwriter has won Emmy Awards for her performance in the television program, Mad About You, in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. In 1998, Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Carol Connelly in the movie As Good as It Gets.
Hunt's biography already states that her paternal grandmother was from a German Jewish family, and her maternal grandfather was born in England. Her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Fries (née Anderson), was born in Iowa.
Genealogy television shows are popping up everywhere on the networks. In the latest genealogy addition, hosted by the Harvard University professor, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. unearths the mystery behind the family lineages of some of America's most prominent figures. Among the black celebrities featured are actress Wanda Sykes, Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, civil rights legend and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, singer John Legend and actor Samuel L. Jackson. In addition, Martha Stewart, Robert Downey Jr., Harry Connick Jr., Barbara Walters and Kevin Bacon are among the other luminaries profiled in the series.
A new television show on RTÉ1, an Irish television network, will interest genealogists. In the program, genealogy researchers Steven and Kit Smyrl (shown in the picture to the right) spend their days finding relatives of people who died without a will, making sure any remaining relatives get the estate rather than the Irish Exchequer.
I haven't seen the show but published reports indicate the opening show was heavy on the history of Ireland, told through the living and dead relatives of Maura Byrne who died in 1999 without leaving a will. The program displayed a familiar story of poverty, emigration, industrial schools and elderly people who spent the vast majority of their lives separated from their blood.
In the end, descendants unexpectedly shared €100,000 that Maura left behind.
Reba McEntire was the subject of last night’s (March 2) NBC documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? McEntire was able to trace her ancestral roots back several centuries in America and England. She did discover things that pained her greatly, such as the fact that one of her great grandfathers was a slave owner while another was an indentured servant himself.
You can read more about the show in an article Amy Sciarretto, published in the Taste of Country web site, at http://goo.gl/XRuZo.
Writing in the Investor's Business Daily web site, Patrick Seitz has produced an interesting article about how the ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ television show picks the celebrities to be featured. In fact, "a lot of the show’s research into celebrity family trees doesn’t make it on the air. Sometimes researchers either hit a dead end or the stories they uncover don’t make for compelling TV."
“We have an amazing team of researchers who pore through documents and censuses and death records, you name it,” said executive producer Al Edgington. “For every celebrity who is interested we will find everything we possibly can.”
Lisa Kudrow says family histories of fellow actresses Marissa Tomei and Helen Hunt are included in season 3 of the series 'Who Do You Think You Are' she produces for NBC and shares how learning her background in season 1 affected her. You can watch the two minute nineteen second advertisement for the program at http://youtu.be/XEAkKPi07ds or click on the video below:
Who Do You Think You Are? returns for its third season on Friday, February 3 at 8/7c on NBC, when 12 more celebrities will trace their ancestors and discover hidden stories from their past.
Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jason Sudeikis, Jerome Bettis and Paula Deen will explore their roots in the NBC genealogy show.
When NBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? returns with its third season Feb. 3, a new crop of celebrities will explore their family history.
Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, former NFL running back Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen will be featured on the series executive produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky.
Another genealogy series is about to be launched on television in the U.S. "Finding Your Roots" with historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. will launch on March 25. That will be the first episode of a 10-part series on PBS stations.
The new series will feature two people in each one-hour episode, including husband-and-wife actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, who jokes she's afraid they might turn out to be cousins. "They are indeed distant cousins," revealed Gates. "Talk about six degrees of separation, right?"
Check your local listings for the exact time and channel in your area.
Constance Potter is an archivist at the National Archives in Washington, DC, specializing in federal records of interest to genealogists. She is an expert on the U.S. census records. In a YouTube video, Connie delivered a talk on the intricacies of the U.S. Federal Census records from 1790 to 1930 and how they can be used for genealogical research.
The Executive Papers of Governor Thomas Jefferson, 1779-1781, have been named one of Virginia’s top ten endangered artifacts by the Virginia Association of Museums. The letters and manuscripts documenting Jefferson’s service as the second governor of Virginia address the challenges he faced during the Revolutionary War, the drafting of the Articles of Confederation, the negotiation of the boundaries of Virginia and her neighbors, and the dangers of the frontier. The papers are currently undergoing conservation treatments thanks in part to a $110,000 grant received from Save America’s Treasures. You can watch as a YouTube video shows Leslie Courtois, Senior Conservator with Etherington Conservation Services, as she works to restore these valuable records in the Library of Virginia’s conservation labs.
Nick Barratt - author, broadcaster, historian and genealogist - is best known for his work on the "Who Do You Think You Are?" television series in the United Kingdom. He is seen frequently on television and is a popular speaker at genealogy conferences. Now he is providing video programming on the Internet.
The first two episodes of the Show are now available free of charge at www.familyhistoryshow.net where you will see Nick discuss - with Laura Berry, editor at Your Family History Magazine - the latest happenings in the UK genealogy community, including record releases, helpful genealogy courses, new online resources and more.
NBC has announced the new midseason schedule. Of interest to genealogists, the new season of Who Do You Think You Are? will be broadcast on Fridays from 8 pm to 9 pm, beginning February 3, 2012.
Check your local listings for times and stations in your area.
The 1940 census will become available to the public on April 2, 2012. The date was chosen to comply with the requirement to protect privacy for 72 years. If you want to watch a vintage video, you can learn more about the contents of the 1940 census in a 10-minute movie created by the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. The movie was created in 1939 or 1940 and is typical newsreels of that time.
The movie focuses on the role of the enumerators (census takers) but explains who was counted and also provides many details about the 1940 census. You can watch the video on YouTube at http://youtu.be/OwZk6rASC8k or click on the image below.
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