‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ preview: Jesse Tyler Ferguson heads to Alaska

On Wednesday night’s new episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?“, you can prepare yourself to start to see a different side of “Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson. While we are used to seeing the stars of this show often venture to faraway places in an effort to discover a part of their past, typically Alaska is not on the list of likely destinations.

This is what makes Ferguson’s episode in particular so interesting. Given all of the gold-rush shows that are on the air right now, there’s almost a spiritual connection here as Ferguson heads north to retrace his great-grandfather’s footsteps as he previously tried to head up to what is now a state looking for riches. Take a look at what the TLC synopsis has to say about this below:

“In his episode, Jesse Tyler Ferguson follows the life of his great-grandfather, whom trouble seemed to follow at every turn. Throughout his journey, Jesse discovers a shocking crime within his family, and comes to learn that his great grandfather led an unprecedented expedition to the Alaskan Klondike in search of gold.”

The sneak peek video below further documents some of what happened to Ferguson’s great-grandfather, and just how difficult it was trying to navigate through the various hardships of the region. Not only are you dealing with incredibly low temperatures, but there is also terrain that was nearly impossible to move through given the technology of the time.

For those of you who haven’t caught the series yet (which airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time), we strongly recommend it as a way to look at history, but in the eyes of an individual rather than a collective. Sometimes, following a single story can give you just as much a sense of the larger picture.

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Photo: TLC