Episode 1 of Who Do You Think You Are: A Review

Ancestry.com partnered with NBC in Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are?

Episode 1 aired tonight.

Viewers followed Vanessa Williams on her journey to find her father's ancestors. She learned that on both sides her ancestors included men who blazed trails and opened doors. I drooled when photographs of two of her ancestors were shown to her. One was a black ancestor who fought in the Civil War and had sent a tintype of himself in his uniform when he applied for a pension. It was wonderful to see Ms. Williams' reaction to each new bit of information.

Best of all, the constant rehashing after every commercial, as we endured during Season 1, was absent! It was a very welcome change - to jump right back into the story after a commercial instead of repeating what we'd seen before.

It was also encouraging to see Ms. Williams taking notes and to see the research steps taken and suggestions for further research she would have to conduct.

All in all I thought it was the best episode shown to date. I'm excited to see next Friday's episode!