I'm sorry I missed the previews for last night's "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. so I didn't alert you to watch the show. Featured on this episode were Bill O'Reilly, Bill Maher and Soledad O'Brien, all of whom had at least one Irish ancestral line. I was mesmerized. Episode 2 of the new PBS season was titled "The Irish Factor" and set out to "explore the shared Irish ancestry of three powerful social commentators of our times." I recommend you catch a re-run of the show or watch it online. Here's the website: www.pbs.org/show/finding-your-roots/. We family historians can appreciate how much time and expertise went into researching their stories. I have to admit I found it oddly comforting when the paper trail comes to a dead end. Even the experts hit brick walls before identifying an Irish townland of origin. Of course the views of O'Reilly and Maher are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, and discovering through DNA that they shared a common ancestor was amusing. (Sorry if I'm letting the cat out of the bag.) One doesn't have to be a personal fan to enjoy the stories. This was the best TV I've watched in a long time.