Forthcoming genealogy-themed shows on American TV

Skip Gates' Faces of the Universe America, featuring Yo-Yo Ma (Paris-born Chinese), Queen Noor (half-Syrian resident of Jordan), Malcolm Gladwell (British-born Jamaican mulatto Canadian), Eva Longoria Parker (Mexican), Mike Nichols (Jewish), Mehmet Oz (Turkish), Stephen Colbert (Irish), Louise Erdrich (Amerindian), Kristi Yamaguchi (Japanese), Elizabeth Alexander (black), Mario Batali (Italian/English/French Canadian), and Meryl Streep (American), airs this February on PBS.

Should Faces of America leave you wanting to be forcefed yet more amazing tales of diverse American ancestry, you're in luck. NBC has scheduled the premiere of the American version of Who Do You Think You Are? for March:
Among the celebrities featured are Matthew Broderick [half-Jewish], Lisa Kudrow [Jewish and executive producer of the series], Spike Lee [black], Sarah Jessica Parker [half-Jewish], Susan Sarandon [Welsh/Irish/Italian], Brooke Shields [Irish/Italian] and Emmitt Smith [black]. Ancestry.com is NBC's official partner on the series.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Utah (95% white ) BYUTV is running The Generations Project kind of like these but not with celebrities, with normal people such as "An African-American with southern heritage, Durrell Daniels begins researching his ancestor. Lumina Infinite Gershfield wonders if family is worth all the struggle. "

Chris said...

Blacks like "Skip" just love them some diversity. What better way of assuming the appearance of cosmopolitanism, sophistication and benevolence all the while sticking it to whites?