14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, TLC pulled the plug on 19 Kids and Counting, thus severing ties with the Duggars in light of the molestation scandal that started earlier this year. Jim Bob and Michelle are said to be “heartbroken” for having lost the amazing platform they had to spread the word of God.
Jim Bob and Michelle are the parents of said 19 kids named in the title of the show. Josh Duggar, their eldest son, molested 5 underage girls when he was a teenager, and a later police investigation, from 2006, was kept sealed until 2015, when the documents were released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Because the Duggars are very religious and very traditional, the news that Josh was a child molester / pedophile and that his parents knew about it and did nothing about it (except to protect Josh) came as a huge shock. The show started losing advertisers the next day after all this was made public and no amount of crisis management was able to limit the damage.
The Duggars are “sad”
So the announcement that TLC would no longer produce and air the reality series didn’t come as much of a surprise, except for the Duggars, who were somehow still hoping against reason to continue on the air.
The way they see it, a source close to them tells People magazine, it’s part of “God’s plan” that they be on television, because the reality series is giving them the ideal platform to spread His word. With TLC bosses washing their hands of the family, they’re left with few other options to do that, so they’re taking the cancelation very hard.
“The Duggars want to return to TV because they truly believe it was part of God’s plan for them to spread the word about their faith,” the insider says. “I think Jim Bob and Michelle honestly did expect people to just move on from this. Their thinking is, they put this behind them ages ago, so why wouldn’t the rest of the world?”
They did say something along these lines in their interviews defending Josh and their own course of action when they found out about what he’d done: Josh made a “mistake” in touching those minor girls, 2 of whom were his sisters and 1 of whom was as young as 5, but he prayed and got God’s forgiveness.
He was a changed man, one who had learned from his mistakes, they said. They had moved on from this family tragedy, so why wouldn’t the rest of the world?
Jill and Jessa Duggar almost got their own spinoff
In a separate piece, People confirms reports that TLC did their best to save the Duggar brand, even if that meant cutting off the parents and most of the family: indeed, network bosses considered a spinoff with Jill and Jessa Duggar, the eldest girls.
Strangely, their dad Jim Bob was the number 1 reason it didn’t happen, as he was opposed to the project because he didn’t like the idea of “shifting the focus like this.” Translation: he wanted to continue receiving top star billing.
Then, Jill and her husband left for Central America for a while, and all plans came to a permanent halt.
Jill and Jessa might not be the stars of their own reality series, but they will still get a bit more screentime on TLC, as they have agreed to be included on an upcoming documentary on child abuse and incest. They will continue to defend their brother saying he did nothing “that bad,” but they have agreed to share their experience to help others and raise awareness on the issue.