Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDSThe long-running hit reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, based on the life of the Duggar family, has been officially cancelled by TLC due to the sex abuse scandal involving one of the Duggar boys.
FoxNews.com is reporting that TLC issued a statement today announcing that it is pulling the plug on one of their most popular shows.
"After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with 19 Kids and Counting. The show will no longer appear on the air," the network stated.
The show ran for 10 seasons and chronicled the home life of a Christian couple from Arkansas named Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and their now-19 children. Years ago, when the couple’s oldest son, Josh Duggar, 27, was a teenager, he molested five children, four of whom were his sisters. The incidents involved inappropriate touching.
The Duggar family issued the following statement after the announcement:
The Duggar family released a statement soon after TLC announced the cancellation of the show.
"Our desire in opening our home to the world is to share Bible principles that are the answers for life’s problems. With God’s grace and help Josh, our daughters and our entire family overcame a terrible situation, found healing and a way forward. We are so pleased with the wonderful adults they have all become."
The network is not ruling out a spin-off of the show which would chronicle the lives of one or more of the Duggar siblings.
TLC, which broadcasts many shows promoting questionable behaviors such as Sister Wives about a polygamist family and, most recently, I Am Jazz about a boy who is living as a girl, is suddenly claiming the high ground by teaming up with RAINN and Darkness to Light to raise awareness about child sexual abuse. It is planning to air a one-hour, commercial-free documentary sometime later this summer which will feature some of the Duggar children.
While this is a laudible plan and one very much needed in a highly sexualized society that too often makes victims out of children, we can only wonder why TLC hasn’t teamed up with organizations that assist women who have been victims of polygamists, such as Help The Child Brides or Polygamy.org.
The public would also derive great benefit from learning about the decades worth of research from medical professionals – including some who have been involved in the field for 30 years - who have found that people suffering from gender dysphoria are almost never “cured” by changing their gender. “Survivors” of the transgendered lifestyle also have an opposing point-of-view that is well worth airing in order to allow the American public to be fully informed about the latest cause celebre of the American media and PC police.
But of course, this will never happen, because these shows support TLC’s secular world-view and the Duggar's show did not. The only reason this overtly Christian show ran for so long as it did was due to its record-high ratings – which says a lot more about the public’s viewing interests than TLC will ever admit.
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