SOME THOUGHTS ON "FACES OF AMERICA"

I haven't seen all three episodes of "Faces of America" as yet. I missed
all of Part 2 and half of Part 3 due to my umm...vacation. But I do have
some impressions I'd like to share before the final episode is shown.

Like some others I'm not entirely pleased with the format. Ideally
there'd be an episode or a half episode for each of the celebrities and
more details given of the actual research. But this is PBS with less
money to spend and a limited number of episodes so I understand
the decision to go with a sort of theme approach. There's been some
criticism of Prof. Gates' style but he's not a tv host by trade, he's a
professor and he presents the information in a professorial manner.

That being said, I've enjoyed what I've seen. The expressions on
the faces and emotional reactions of the celebrities as Prof. Gates
shows them some pictures or documents are touching. Many of us
have experienced that moment ourselves when we discover things
we didn't know about our families. And as a historian I like how
the program shows how events around them shape the history and
fortunes of families.

So is "Faces of America" perfect?

No, but it's a fine program anyway and well worth viewing!