14 DAY TRIAL // TLC is desperate to keep its biggest brand right now, the Duggar family, star of the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, on the air even though the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle, Josh Duggar, has been exposed as a child molester. A compromise solution might be in keeping the show but axing Josh from it.
For the time being, 19 Kids and Counting is on a hiatus, while network bosses discuss among themselves and meet with advertisers to determine the fate of the show. The decision was prompted by the publication of police records confirming that Josh molested 5 minor girls, including some of his sisters, when he was a teen.
TLC won’t let the Duggars go
The first incident occurred in 2002 and went on through 2003, but the police did not become involved until 2006. By that time, the statute of limitations had passed and Josh and his parents, who had known about it from the start, refused to be interviewed as part of the ongoing investigation.
No charges were ever pressed. Moreover, some of the victims, presumably Josh’s sisters, had told the police that they had forgiven him for what he’d done and that they were happy God had helped them all through such a difficult period.
When word of this got out, the fans were shocked because the Duggars have always had the most impeccable reputation. Hearing that Jim Bob and Michelle had known about it and even, at one point, lied to the police about it, was even more shocking.
TLC pulled the show from its schedule over the weekend, with an announcement on the fate of the series pending. Now, TMZ is saying that they don’t want to cancel the series, but they know that something must be done to appease the outraged public.
In the case of a cancelation, this would be the second scandal that costs TLC a highly successful brand: in October 2014, they had to cancel Here Comes Honey Boo Boo after matriarch Mama June was caught sleeping with the convicted pedophile who, more than a decade earlier, had molested her own 8-year-old daughter.
Keep the Duggars, let Josh go
Because they don’t want to lose the Duggars and the money they bring, TLC is thinking of keeping the show but cutting out Josh from it. This way, he will be “punished” as the public demands it, but the family won’t have to suffer.
“There's a strong sense axing Josh would not materially hurt the show. We're told TLC has done research and it shows the daughters have become the driving force. The weddings of Jill and Jessa were ratings successes, as was the birth of Jill's baby,” the e-zine says.
Josh moved to Arkansas to pursue a career in politics, so it’s not like removing him from the series would be such an impossible task, the report further mentions.
Assuming advertisers continue to stick with the Duggars, TLC is relying on the show’s “strong, loyal evangelical base” to weather the storm and continue making crazy money.