Tonight's episode of King of the Hill features a genealogist—perhaps the first in animated television history.
An heirless Bill becomes despondent when alley talk turns to what the guys will pass down to their sons. After Bill meets with a genealogist to find his relatives, everyone with the Dauterive last name which the "genealogist" searched on the Internet is invited to his house for a party. But when his cousin Gilbert is the only one to show, Bill learns that they are the last of the Dauterive line. [Link]The scare quotes around "genealogist" are appropriate. The guy has a sign outside his office that reads GENEOLOGIST.
Recently on The Simpsons, Lisa refused to write a paper about her family's boring lineage. Instead she concocted a cringe-worthy faux Native American heritage.
Anyhoo. There's a scene where Lisa is sitting at a computer and you can see genealogy how-to books stacked up next to her.
I loved it!!
Doh! How could I have forgotten that!
I should also have remembered that Peter on Family Guy found some black ancestry a few seasons ago, and that a week or two back he tracked down his birth father in Ireland.
I'll revise my statement and say that this was perhaps the first professional genealogist ever animated.