"Who Do You Think You Are?" returns next week, y'all

I don't know about you, but after NBC failed to renew the family history program "Who Do You Think You Are?" I was definitely disappointed. For anyone who reads my blog regularly, you know that I cry at pretty much every episode. And that my genealogy passion gets reinvigorated after each viewing. Well, in case you didn't know, TLC picked up the show and new episodes air beginning next Tuesday, July 23, 2013.

Also in case you haven't heard, the Kelly Clarkson episode is available to download for free from iTunes. In it, she traces the journey of her Civil War soldier ancestor Isaiah Rose. As someone with my own Civil War ancestor, Charles Haase, I find those stories intriguing. Clarkson herself didn't really draw me in so much but in answer to your most pressing question, yes, I did tear up anyway during the episode. I blame it on the hormones and on being a new mother, but the trend continues. And while I didn't LOVE this first episode, it did whet my appetite for more stories. I always get a little jealous when I see people who don't know anything about their family history finding out all these new things. I just have to remind myself that even though I feel like I know everything about my family tree, I don't. Even though I've made a lot of those new exciting discoveries, there are still stories and people and hidden gems to find.

WDYTYA isn't a perfect show. It's basically an advertisement for Ancestry.com. I'll admit that. It's no secret. And while the celebrities involved do pretty much NONE of the research, they DO go beyond using Ancestry.com to go to actual research repositories and visit actual historical and research locations, which is SO important in any genealogical pursuit. But no matter how you feel about that, you have to appreciate anything that makes genealogy more mainstream and brings it to people's attention - the more people who become interested in researching their family trees, the more personal family history knowledge and heirlooms and stories and records will be available for all of us!

So, July 23 on TLC - be there!