Saturday, February 13, 2010

Review of Faces of America

Like most of my genealogy buddies, I was plastered in front of the television Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. to watch PBS's, Faces of America.

I am surprised that so few actually have taken the time to review it! Oh, there are a few posts out there that I've found, but not nearly the response I had anticipated.

I have to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. While the information uncovered was good, it wasn't exceptional. And so far, the information could have been uncovered if the individuals had only asked their parents! Nothing substantially spectacular. However, they [PBS] didn't even begin to explain how THEY got the information they uncovered.

This was more of a replay of the old hit TV show, "This Is Your Life", but in playing the celebrities grandparents!

I don't know how anyone else felt, but the whole show felt a bit disjointed in that it jumped from celebrity to celebrity without completing any real investigation into a single one!

Maybe I am just being a bit "picky", since this is what I do for a living. But I'd like to see more of the "nuts and bolts" process used in obtaining the results of the investigations.

However, host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. did an excellent job. He was warm and inviting.

If I take away wanting to see more of the "technical" side of the process, I was entertained. It was interesting and fun to watch the expressions from the celebrities as they learned more about their ancestors. And the emotions that were evoked made the show worth watching. I suppose I was just expecting a bit more from my favorite network, PBS.

Yes... I will be tuned in again this coming Wednesday evening! It's still the best thing on television on Wednesday evening!

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