Duggars Filming TV Show After Jill & Jessa Duggar Specials Scored, Despite Josh Duggar New Scandal & Backlash
After TLC cancelled 19 Kids And Counting following the revelation that Josh Duggar, the Duggars’ oldest son, had molested several underage girls when he was a teen, the network seemed resigned to losing its cash cow reality TV show. And the scandals centering on Josh didn’t stop there, because subsequently, the Ashley Madison cheating website hacking revealed that Josh had paid for accounts. Josh then confessed that in addition to molesting those girls as a teen, he had recently been unfaithful to Anna as well as become addicted to pornography. Despite those scandals, TLC announced that it was unveiling a three-part special featuring two of the sisters molested by Josh: Jill (Duggar) Dillard and Jessa (Duggar) Seewald.
Entitled Jill and Jessa: Counting On, the show began airing in December and was described by TLC as featuring the sisters and their families, as well as how other members of the family, including Josh’s wife, Anna, reacted to the scandals generated by the 27-year-old.
At this point, TLC has not gone public with the revelation that they are filming again with the Duggar family. However, Jana and John David Duggar were spotted filming when they were given the task of taking their little brothers and sisters to a lumber yard to buy the items needed for a tree house. Jim Logsdon, the manager of Ridout Lumber in Fayetteville, Arkansas, served up the filming details to Radar.
“The production company from Nashville called me last week, It was the day before they wanted to come in and film. Then the normal camera guy for the family called me and then John David did,” said the company rep.
Following the list that Jim received of the items needed for the tree house project, he put it all together. Logsdon subsequently met with Jana, John David, and several of their little siblings, trailed by the camera crew.
The Duggars spent $3,500 on their tree house project.
TLC Offers Statement On Duggar Family
As for what TLC has to say about the Duggar family and the backlash from those specials, the network’s general manager, Nancy Daniels, addressed the topic during a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour, reported Variety.
“We feature stories of different families with real people and real things happen,” said Nancy.
Questioned about the show featuring Jill and Jessa Duggar, Daniels emphasized that the shows did well, scoring more than 3 million viewers.
“We just aired the three specials during the holidays. They did very well,” she said. “The audience clearly cares about these girls.”
Despite the report that filming is ongoing, however, TLC’s general manager kept it non-committal regarding the future of shows featuring the Duggars.
“We’re still talking and considering it, but we have not made a decision yet,” added Nancy.
Josh Duggar Faces New Scandal
While the filming continues, Josh Duggar is finding himself in the midst of a new scandal, as the Inquisitr reported.
Porn star Danica Dillon’s battery lawsuit is headed to court, alleging that Josh injured her emotionally and physically on two occasions when they met for paid sex. Although Duggar tried to plead with the court claiming that he never met Danica, $500,000 in damages are at stake, and the judge sided with the porn star. A pretrial conference is set for January 21.
Jill & Jessa Duggar Experience Their Own Backlash
And Josh isn’t the only Duggar to find himself at the center of a controversy, although none of the others Duggars have come close to his onslaught of scandals. When Jessa Duggar posted about God in autumn, for example, she was slammed for being “close[d]-minded,” reported She Knows.
“Trying to be happy without a sense of God’s presence is like trying to have a bright day without the sun,” wrote Jessa in her quote from Christian author A.W. Tozer.
Followers attacked her that quote.
“Sad you’re so close minded to see that people can be happy without…you don’t have to look down on others who find happiness differently from you. I don’t believe in a higher power however I find happiness in my children, husband and the joy they provide me,” wrote one.
“I’m an atheist and perfectly happy about it. You can be happy with or without a deity in your life. No hate but you should know that is not an accurate statement,” chimed in another.
In addition, Jill Duggar and husband Derick Dillard found themselves under fire after being accused of seeking donations for their mission work and then going back to the U.S. after only two months, reported ET.
Derick and Jill asked for people to donate via Dillard Family Ministries, a tax-exempt organization, but critics complained that they repeatedly went on vacations after soliciting the money, raising questions as to whether donation money was used to fund their trips.
[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]
