Links, 2.07.11: WDYTYA Edition

Another season, another round of celebrity ancestor-gazing!

First up for Season Two of NBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?: actress/singer Vanessa Williams. How did it go? I’ll start close to home with David Hinckley’s review in the New York Daily News, which was positive but did note: “How many times can we listen to one woman say ‘Wow!’?”

(Aside: The “wow” thing nails one of my few general WDYTYA peeves. I didn’t even mind last season’s chronic episode recapping all that much, although I seem to be in a distinct minority on that one.)

Here’s where the premiere ranked in the ratings rundown.

Grace at Genealogy Insider provides a step-by-step look at the details uncovered in Wiliams’ tree. Don’t read it if you like surprises and you haven’t watched the episode yet.

Thomas MacEntee does a pluses-and-minuses rundown, rejoicing that the “inane” episode recaps were absent this time around. (And as Susan Peterson points out, he also unveiled a Geneabloggers Internet radio blog talk show immediately after the episode.)

Bill West liked that the stories told in the episode reached beyond tried-and-true perceptions, showing “that there are many facets to our ancestry.”

Dick Eastman “liked tonight’s episode better than any of last year’s shows” and thought that the manner in which the research was depiected looked a lot more like a typical genealogy experience than previously.

You can watch the episode online here, if you missed it.

---