For the first time in a long time, NBC has some great programming on its hands.
Tucked away in the network’s Friday schedule and on its second episode this week, "Who Do You Think You Are?" is a show all about family.
It is, without a doubt, one of NBC’s finest hours of programming.
It is a different kind of reality TV – one that doesn’t involve someone winning a prize, drama from squabbling roommates or Howie Mandel.
It is, without question, reality TV.
For one hour each week, the audience follows a celebrity as they slowly learn about their family history and complete their family tree.
The first episode features Sarah Jessica Parker ("Sex In The City") tracing her lineage through the Gold Rush of the 1850s and also the Salem Witch Trials.
Parker’s journey is an excellent introduction to the series as it shows how ingrained our families may be to important historical events.
The actress learns a relative once believed to have died while traveling in 1849 to take part in the Gold Rush had, in fact, been recorded in census data a year later.
If that revelation wasn’t enough, she soon learns a distant relative – Esther Elwell – was arrested and charged with witchcraft in the town of Salem, Mass.
"This has completely changed how I think of myself," Parker tells the camera, weeping at Elwell’s grave, learning she had been hanged for witchcraft.
The emotions present are genuine, and we can identify them. There’s something almost mystical about family heritage, which is what makes this show work.
How many of us have ever wondered what our roots are, how far they go back and whether or not we’re intertwined with history?
The show shows us how we can go about finding some of our relatives.
While we don’t have the resources of a professional production, we can still take some cues to look at census data and other documents that may have proven a barrier before.
NBC and executive producer Lisa Kudrow, a celebrity featured herself in a later episode, deserve some credit for the show’s success.
The show is, like much of NBC’s output – an adaption of a British series by the same name.
"Who Do You Think You Are?" is a well-paced, entertaining production that lets the drama of the moment unfold without much prompt.
There are, at times, adding "cliffhanger" moments from overenthusiastic background music and narrator – such as when the show cut to commercial before she found out whether or not her Elwell as an accuser or accused member of the Salem Witch Trials.
They are annoying, but easily dismissed. The plugs for www.ancestry.com can be tiring, but this is commercial television after all.
It’s not often said these days, but NBC has something special.
This series will take these celebrities around the world, finally giving TV some much-needed reality.
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