After running previous episodes since May 22, TLC has finally decided to remove the reality show, '19 Kids and Counting' featuring the Duggar family, Washington Post reports.
This decision of the TV network came two months after the eldest son, Josh Duggar, 27, confessed to molesting multiple young girls, some even his sisters, when he was a teenager. As an offshoot of the confession, he also resigned from his job at Family Research Council.
This revelation did not come voluntarily, but a police report from May 2006 was released in In Touch Weekly. It listed the allegations against Josh, but no formal investigation was made. These supposed molestation occurred before their show, '19 Kids and Counting' started.
The cancellation comes as a big loss to the Duggar family. They enjoy the fame and money of being TLC's most popular show, reaching an average of 2.3 million viewers per episode in their Season 10. Aside from their reality TV show, they have written books and made multiple product endorsements. Some advertisers have already pulled out.
'19 Kids and Counting' is a reality TV show that has been airing since 2008. It tells the story of a family who, at the start, had 13 children. In a statement, the Duggar family said they wanted to show that children are blessings, gifts from God. They intended to use it to share Biblical principles about family and parenting. A representative is quoted, 'it was not a show; it's our lives'.
The head of the Duggar family is Jim with wife, Michelle. They now have 19 children - 9 girls and 10 boys, and all their names start with the letter J. since the show started 7 years ago, 3 of the children have been married, and they now have 7 grandchildren.
Mixed reactions flood the social media about the cancellation. Bashers have come out of the woodwork to claim they never really liked the show, that the Duggar's were haughty and bizarre. They call the cancellation a 'moral victory'.
