Faces of America, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. hosts the PBS series that shows common ancestry among such famous American as Meryl Streep, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols and Stephen Colbert.
Reporting from New York, when Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started his latest genealogical project for PBS, which used historical archives and cutting-edge genetic research to trace the ancestry of a dozen famous Americans, he already had one hoped-for outcome in mind.
This time around, though, he's shifted his focus, and the result isn't entirely for the better.
The first two seasons were called "African American Lives" because Gates poked into one of the most ill-lit corners of American history: the path of people whose ancestors often came to this continent as slaves.
Like the TV series "Roots," "African American Lives" had a surprisingly upbeat tone. It uncovered surprises, but more often it showed a great resilience of spirit, reflecting the will that enabled those ancestors to endure.
This year Gates has broadened his net, tracing ancestry for people of all races. Or more often, celebrities of all races.
Subjects include Meryl Streep, Eva Longoria, Steven Colbert, Mario Batali, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor of Jordan (originally from Washington, D.C.), Kristi Yamaguchi and Dr. Mehmet Oz.
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