Duggar Family Dominates Ratings For TLC, ‘Jill And Jessa: Counting On’ Brings In Millions Of Viewers
The Duggar family is controversial at best. Over the last year, there have been two major scandals and many other incidents that have caused the family to come under fire. Josh Duggar caused a lot of grief for his family, and his choices also forced them to lose their television show last summer.
Since then, several fans have come out of the woodwork and demanded the family be placed back on the air. After putting up a good fight, TLC finally backed down and introduced a new series for the Duggar family. Jill and Jessa: Counting On premiered Tuesday night on the TLC network and received a lot of attention.
Since airing the three-part special in December, the Duggar family has gotten a lot of attention. Their fan base is full despite the damage done by their eldest son. According to Starcasm, the Duggar family drew in 1.9 million viewers with the premiere of Jill and Jessa: Counting On Tuesday night. That is pretty impressive for being off the small screen for nearly a year. In fact, when 19 Kids and Counting aired the final episodes, they were drawing in two million viewers.
The Duggar family has proven to TLC that they can bring in the viewers and keep the ratings high. Fans are excited about the numbers. There was some worry that people would avoid the program and the ratings would fall, but it appears that even the ones who abandoned the family can’t do much damage.
Right now, the Duggar family is focusing on healing. The premiere episode addressed Josh Duggar, with Anna Duggar doing all of the talking. She went to visit him and relayed messages to the family. It was apparent that some of the siblings were still uncomfortable talking about it, while others seemed to be moving forward and trying to let go. This is a very sticky situation for some of the siblings, especially the ones who had to relive the violation of trust that happened over a decade ago. Jill and Jessa: Counting On addressed that back in December, and the new series seems to be focusing on healing and moving forward with the adult Duggar children.
There have been discussions about whether or not the Duggar family would allow Josh to film with them. It appears that it is not a family decision, but a network decision. Because they are funded by sponsors, the answer appears to be that the Duggar family will continue to film without their eldest son. According to TMZ, the Duggar family is not allowed to let Josh film with them. This would be a breach of contract, and they could lose their show. Many fans have voiced agreement with the choice, but others are upset they are choosing to single out one of the children. Despite his issues, many feel like he could be a changed man after treatment.
Details surrounding the Duggar family and their contract with TLC are few and far in between. It is being assumed that the show will run 13 episodes, which is typical for a season. Fans are hoping the Duggar family will come out with some announcements following some of the rumors that have been plaguing them for several weeks. Is there going to be another Duggar grandchild? Are Jana and Jinger courting? There are so many possibilities, many of them exciting. The Duggar family is not a perfect family, but many of their fans respect them for being real. Plenty of critics are out there slamming their every move, but the ratings have proved over and over again that there are still several Duggar family supporters out there watching and waiting for them to succeed.
[Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images]
