Archives, libraries and museums figure prominently on the hit NBC show Who Do You Think You Are? The series traces the genealogy of celebrities, often with surprising results.

Archives on TV � Who Do You Think You Are?

I am so very disappointed to report that NBC has just announced they are canceling Who Do You Think You Are. This is quality television programming, and it is an absolute travesty that the network would ax this show, yet keep some of what they decided not to cancel.

Kim, I responded to your first post by email, a la facebook. What happens to email responses? I didn't receive an undeliverable notice.

This is what I wrote:
Unfortunately NBC is cancelling the show. The week before on WDYTYA the DAR Library was featured. It is a beautiful library and museum building. It is undergoing some renovations and the lay lights in the ceiling of the library are being repaired. I also watch Tracing Your Roots with Louis Henry Gates on Sundays on PBS. He does much the same but includes a deeper history lesson. Thanks for your post Kim.

Francine, that is the only time I turn on NBC, to watch that show. TV is awful! I find myself watching the history channels, PBS, Christian TV, and some other networks that feature usually British shows. The Golden Age of Television is long gone.

"The series traces the genealogy of celebrities, often with surprising results."

The cancellation of such a show is no doubt a great loss to American culture.

Being into genealogy, I'm all for that show! Jason Sedeikis was on last week with some very surprising revelations about his grand and great-grand fathers.

That is exactly how it works. Jason wanted to find out more about his father's father. He found out he died on the church steps, probably from a fall. Turned out he was living on the street and had been ever since he abandoned his family. Then he found out that his great grandfather abandoned his family and moved to another state and married again, without a divorce.

Rob Lowe was featured one week, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire.

There is another show on PBS that is similar that features Prof. Louis Henry Gates and BYU-TV featured the Generations Project which does not showcase a celebrity.

Francine,

We also call it "dumbing down" over here and it is rampant! People seem to prefer The Bachelor and the Kardashians and all of that nonsense. It is depressing.

There should be room for something "smart" on 300 channels. I think it's also corporate greed. They have to have so many people watching it or it gets yanked, even if it's a reasonably high number.

AND they don't give things a chance anymore. WDYTYA was on for 3 seasons, so this doesn't really apply here, but so many times shows are canceled after one 6 or 8 week season, before they even have a chance to catch on.

A few decades ago, shows were on for years before they caught on with a large following. MASH was one of those shows!

I'm hoping another channel will pick it up. The Sing Off was also canceled, and I'm also heartbroken about that. Those groups had actual talent, because singing a capella is so much harder because you can't hide behind anything. And that show didn't purposely bring on people who were terrible just for ratings. It was about a love for singing.

*sigh* I'll be out in my garden. There's nothing worth watching!

Kim