Who Do You Think You Are?

I was a big fan of Who Do You Think You Are? on NBC. I saw every episode and loved the very personal, very relatable experiences the celebrities encountered. Anyone researching family history has felt the same frustrations, angers, fears, joys, and heartbreaks of learning about the past.

It was a phenomenal show, which of course meant NBC promptly cancelled it. (Side note: Like many good shows, the original series was a BBC production. Look on You Tube for episodes from the UK version - they're fantastic. I particularly recommend the episodes on Martin Freeman and J.K. Rowling.)

Imagine my excitement to learn that TLC, once known as a channel about learning, was resurrecting the series! Of course, I was a little scared it would take on a new tone (this is the land of Honey Boo Boo, folks), but the first episode, featuring Kelly Clarkson, was very much like it always was. Last week's episode featuring Christina Applegate was extremely powerful. It makes me excited to see where the season takes us.

One thing that always kind of irritates me about WDYTYA? is how quickly they learn so much. Granted, it's only an hour show (40 minutes without commercials) and they have to encapsulate the entire journey into that short, easy-to-digest segment, but still. It's so frustrating to watch them look up someone's great-great grandfather on Ancestry.com and say "Oh, it looks like you have to go to Bulgaria." and suddenly they're traipsing through eastern Europe.

That irritation arises mostly from jealousy. What really irritates me is how they always seem to find their answers on Ancestry.com. Now, I understand that's a sponsor and as a subscriber I can tell you I do find a lot on there, but it is definitely not universal answer to every family history riddle. I have run into many dead ends on Ancestry, as well as incorrect information (though most of that comes from personal trees that can't be blamed on the site, just on sloppy researchers).

I wish I could have the WDYTYA? experience in my family history research. I've spent 15 years searching for my great-great grandfather, Loren A. Finch, an abusive alcoholic who abandoned his family in 1909 and vanished seemingly into thin air (in fact, a lot of Christina Applegate's investigation into her grandfather felt similar to the story of Loren's family). I have not been able to find him after the day he left and I would love nothing more than to hire a bevy of investigators and professional genealogists to hunt his sorry ass down. Even though he is long gone and the last of his children died in 2006, I want to find him. The rest of the family says they don't need to know what happened to him as he wasn't a part of their life. While I agree with that, I also think that allowing him to remain unaccounted for allows him to remain "free" - it feels like he won. I don't want to allow him to think he got away with it.

I need to find him. I'm not a celebrity, but I do have a compelling mystery. What do you say, TLC?