This article by Megan Smolenyak was posted at the Huffington Post:
HBO’s Family Tree First of Four Genealogy Series to Air in U.S.
Posted: 05/02/2013 10:29 am
Though there’s been a bit of a vacuum in genealogical programming in the U.S. over the last year or so, that’s happily about to change. First up is Christopher Guest and Jim Piddock’s mockumentary series, Family Tree (HBO, May 12th, 10:30 p.m.), starring Chris O’Dowd as Tom Chadwick. Having lost both his job and girlfriend, Chadwick seeks his roots as a way to find himself.
Fellow genealogists will recognize themselves in this trailer, meandering cemeteries, meeting far-flung cousins, and fancying connections, physical and otherwise, to long gone forebears. Though I expect the mirror being thrust in our faces to provoke a fair number of “oh, man, I did that” winces, it’s also something of a badge of honor to be the subject of a Guest mockumentary, so I’m bracing myself in anticipation. Slated to launch in both Canada and the U.S., this show will also run on BBC, though a date has not yet been announced.