Roots Television; Genealogy goes mainstream

Note: an earlier edition of this blog announced that Roots Television was to close. Due to popular demand (and with some "tinkering under the hood") it will stay open.

In 2006, Megan Smolenyak introduced her new, tech-age genealogy website:

Whether you’re an archives hound, a scrapbooker, a cousin collector, a roots-travel enthusiast, a Civil War re-enactor, a DNA fan, a reunion instigator, a sepia-toned photos zealot, an Internet-junkie, a history buff, an old country traditions follower, a cemetery devotee, a story-teller, a multicultural food aficionado, a flea market and antiques fanatic, a family documentarian, a nostalgia nut, or a mystery-solver, Roots Television™ has something for you -- and that “something” is quality programming.

Thus Roots Television began. And in its three short years, the site has fulfilled its promise and become the go-to place for genealogy and family history related video.

Roots Television has helped genealogy become mainstream. I mentioned Faces of America last week and even Lisa Simpson from the Fox Television show 'The Simpsons' has caught the family history bug, prompting the headline: "Roots TV Becomes New Branch of Reality TV".

And, starting Friday March 5th, NBC will be premiering (after what seems like a long delay) Who Do You Think You Are? Talk about going mainstream! Check out this episode featuring Vanessa Williams:



As well as Brooke Shields (who - it turns out - is descended from French royalty), the new show also features Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Broderick and other notables. And it looks marvelous. Although, as one grumpy person comments on the NBC blog:

All very well showing stars researching their family but what about us commoners who have a long line of agricultural laborers and lace makers as ancestors and have to wait weeks to get a certificate and pay ... for the privilege?

Luckily, there is a place to go for help with your own genealogy video when you are not a superstar. Thank you Roots Television for helping Genealogy and Family History out into the sunlight (and the marketplace). Roots Television is alive and well; long live roots television.

Just getting started with your own genealogy video? Courthouses are a great place to start: Genealogy Video: Courthouse Secrets