I'm going to start off by saying that I knew almost nothing about Kim Cattrall before I watched her episode of Who Do You Think You Are? I knew her name because Sex and the City is so well known, but I have never watched that program. So I really had no preconceptions of what she might be like. Now that I have seen the show, I think she must be a very strong person to have decided to pursue the story she did. (Last season's comparable episode was that of Susan Sarandon, who pursued the story of her grandmother who disappeared. I remember when I saw that episode I was not surprised Sarandon would take on that kind of a challenge.)I think what stood out in this episode was that Cattrall really appeared to be doing most of the research because the bulk of the show was personal interviews with people, starting with her visit to her mother and two aunts. The three sisters didn't have much information, though, so the search would have gone nowhere without the work of the professional researchers. It was gratifying to hear the total lack of pretense on the part of Cattrall when she said she had asked a researcher to see what could be found. And without the pivotal marriage certificate found by that researcher (which generated a quite honest, and surprisingly unbleeped, response from Cattrall), there still would have been a brick wall.
After learning that her grandfather had married a second time in Durham County, Cattrall went there for further research. The archivist showed her the voter registration lists and the birth registers, but neither was bookmarked, and Cattrall turned the pages herself. Now, why she scanned the pages in the birth register instead of looking in an index for Baugh births, I don't know. She went from there to the most recent known address to look for more information about her grandfather. I would have tried to pursue city directories or phone books to try to track the family a few more years forward; maybe that was done behind the scenes?
I don't know if the show's researchers found Maisie's address or if she really was discovered by looking in the phone book, but finding her was a logical step. It was amusing to see when Cattrall arrived and Maisie's daughter opened the door, the daughter was obviously unsurprised to see the visitor but trying to act surprised. But during the conversation in the flat, even though you know it had to been somewhat rehearsed and the cameras were there, I saw a lot of honest facial expressions. It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of two very different perspectives on George Baugh.
Ancestry.com did not appear in the program until about 47 minutes past the hour -- a refreshing surprise. The use of it at that point in the research even made sense, because most people would not be able to just pick up and go to Australia to continue the research. The fact that Cattrall did not want to meet the Australian relatives was probably the real reason the show did not continue its habit of wide-ranging travel.
When Cattrall returned to Vancouver to tell her mother and aunts what she had learned, it was plainly a painful and emotional revelation. One hopes that on some level they are still happy they went through the process and found the answer, because now they no longer have to wonder.
When Cattrall said she did not want to meet the relatives in Australia, I was thinking things could get very awkward now that the episode was airing. It is emphasized when doing genealogical research to respect the privacy of living individuals; I didn't really think the show would air without prior notification to people mentioned in it. It was good to see the epilog that said her mother and aunts had made contact with their half-siblings.
In other news about Who Do You Think You Are?, NBC announced that it had already renewed the program for a third season.
