Who Do You Think You Are - Season Six

"Who Do You Think You Are?" returns to TLC on Sunday with a new season of celebrity genealogies. The eight guests scheduled for this season are:

• Julie Chen, CBS news anchor, and producer (Big Brother, Early Show, The Talk)
• Angie Harmon, Actress (Law and Order, Rizzoli and Isles)
• Sean Hayes, Actor (Will and Grace)
• Bill Paxton, Actor (Apollo 13, Aliens, Hatfields and McCoys)
• Melissa Etheridge, Singer-Songwriter
• America Ferrera, Actress (Ugly Betty, How to Train Your Dragon)
• Tony Goldwyn, Actor (Ghost, Tarzan)
• Josh Groban, Singer-Songwriter, Actor

In the past, I've stated that I'd naturally like for them to research a celebrity whose tree intersects with mine. For a brief moment in Season Two, back in 2011, I thought that might happen. Ashley Judd is a distant cousin of mine through Thomas and Katherine Stoughton. However, Judd's episode didn't focus on that branch of hers. So, that hasn't happened yet, and while I could be surprised, I doubt that it will happen for any of these eight. Perhaps next season.

While the shows haven't had a direct impact on my research, over the years I have seen parallels in the ancestries of some of the celebrities. For example, Sarah Jessica Parker's father is of Eastern European Jewish descent, and the show traced her mother back to Salem, Massachusetts. (I am distant kin to Salem's Chief Justice, William Stoughton. Fortunately, not a direct descendant.)

It has also been enjoyable to watch those celebrities who seem to actually conduct some of the research themselves, instead of simply react emotionally to what the researchers present to them.

I look forward to seeing what this season has to present.