The Duggars: In the Media and TLC

[Churchhoney]

On 3/25/2019 at 10:19 PM, queenanne said:

Honestly, why does TLC keep them on the air?  Just think of the lost interest value inherent in making the littles keep quiet.

Good question. They must bring in enough money to cover the production costs plus a bit more....but it's kind of hard to see how....

Although I guess when a show has a certain number of very long-time viewers its continued existence may keep those people's eyeballs on the network (via the inertia that makes us not change channels?) to watch another show or two with more sponsors? 

Plus with the show staying on, TLC continues to get a fair number of media mentions about the Duggars -- and that, too, may drive some a bit of additional viewership for the network generally? 

Edited March 27, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Absolom]

The Counting On viewer numbers stay above and well above TLC's break even point.  Sad to say as long as the Duggars don't try to ask for mad pay increases, they'll stay on.  

[Minivanessa]

On 3/25/2019 at 4:46 PM, nan said:

I notice TLC is now showing reruns of Counting On many hours a day.

The Parents and younger kids back on in recent shows.

TLC is back to business as usual for the show it seems.

On 3/25/2019 at 9:01 PM, awaken said:

I knew they’d just lay low after the josh furor and wait for public outrage to die down, then go back to business as usual. 😡

Actually, TLC is *not* showing any reruns of Counting On at all. Last week, after the final episode of the season was shown on Monday night, TLC showed reruns of each episode of this (short) season over the next few days. Each episode was re-run only once, and the time slot was early mornings. But that was it.

I just looked at the schedule. I found that all the Counting On episodes, from all seasons, are shown as available on demand. But *none* of those episodes are on the schedule of TLC or any affiliated (DIscovery networks) channels. 

At this point "business as usual" is that TLC's not running any repeats of Counting On episodes. They may be reviewing how the limited repeats did last week, with an eye to doing that again.

As @Absolom has pointed out, the viewer numbers have been enough to keep the show going so far. But unlike the ad nauseum repeats of some of its other shows (Say Yes to the Dress for example), TLC's so far not filling its schedule with Counting On repeats.

[Adeejay]

Just saw a headline on MSN.com that says, "Duggar Baby News".  Must be a slow news days, because that's like saying, "Water is Wet."

[bigskygirl]

Water is wet?! No one told me! I am so glad you told me @Adeejay

[Temperance]

So Jessa is about 8 months pregnant. Kendra, Joy, and Anna are all due in the fall.  Anna is showing a #throwbackThursday picture and hinting at more announcements to come. I'm expecting (pun intended) for some kind of Mothers' day story, maybe in People. 

[Oldernowiser]

42 minutes ago, Temperance said:

So Jessa is about 8 months pregnant. Kendra, Joy, and Anna are all due in the fall.  Anna is showing a #throwbackThursday picture and hinting at more announcements to come. I'm expecting (pun intended) for some kind of Mothers' day story, maybe in People. 

Oh FFS. Couples had sex. Now they’re pregnant. This should not be some kind of cottage industry.

Excuse me. I will be over there in the FFS corner pre-gagging.

[BitterApple]

1 hour ago, Temperance said:

So Jessa is about 8 months pregnant. Kendra, Joy, and Anna are all due in the fall.  Anna is showing a #throwbackThursday picture and hinting at more announcements to come. I'm expecting (pun intended) for some kind of Mothers' day story, maybe in People. 

Oooooh, more announcements? What could it possibly be? Don't spoil it and tell me non-stop unprotected sex leads to pregnancy, I want to be surprised...

[FizzyPuff]

30 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Oooooh, more announcements? What could it possibly be? Don't spoil it and tell me non-stop unprotected sex leads to pregnancy, I want to be surprised...

One of them could have found out they’re having twins, Jessa perhaps 😉

[Sew Sumi]

Jessa's always having twins, until she has just the one big singleton.

[JoanArc]

Every day is Mother's Day for these fools.

[Temperance]

I'm still thinking there will be some kind of announcement/feature in the Tabloids for Mother's Day. Maybe even one from some of the Bates as well. 

[Sew Sumi]

Whitney already announced earlier today.

[Oldernowiser]

It’s the day AFTER Mother’s Day...NO DUGGAR PREGNANCY WAS ANNOUNCED.

It’s a miracle...

[Temperance]

It's really a miracle if no one else is pregnant. 

I guess in some ways I didn't expect an actual announcement on Mother's Day, because the tabloids come out Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Most of the couples who might announce (JD and Abbie, Si and Lauren, etc.) will probably have some press announcement like Joe, Kendra, Austin and Joy. 

[Barb23]

I think the Duggars are holding off on an announcement too. On Lilly & Ellie's Duggar Family blog site there has been a big gap between posts this week. There have been no posts at all until one posted today about the Dillard's farm trip.  No Mother's Day posts at all like Jana's message to Mechelle. (Last week there was the picture of Jinge & Mechelle that was taken another time & not on Mother's Day.)  There have been gaps between posts before when Ellie or Lilly are on vacation or gone for other reasons. My guess is they are holding off on their M. Day posts because of a  pregnancy or courting announcement which has to be held off because of the timing of the tabloids like @Temperance posted.  Who knows? Something just feels off to me esp since it's concerning Mother's Day which has to he one of the Duggar's major holidays..

[Temperance]

One thing I don't get is why does the news from the Duggars always seem to break complete with tabloid articles in late afternoon. Wouldn't it be better to announce in the morning? 

Also according to Lily and Ellie; Counting On returns in the fall. 

[Sew Sumi]

Lily and Ellie just pilfered from the People article, which announced the return time frame in the pregnancy announcement article this morning (still Monday here).

[galaxychaser]

https://people.com/tv/a-guide-to-the-duggar-family-photos/

[Ohiopirate02]

3 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

https://people.com/tv/a-guide-to-the-duggar-family-photos/

Damn that is a propaganda piece.  I wonder what agenda People is getting paid to push.  Josh's "inappropriate touching scandal" is included but not his Ashley Madison escapades.  The only unmarried kids to get their own slides are Jana and Josie?  I feel bad for the rest of the brood who are always lumped together.

[FizzyPuff]

16 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

https://people.com/tv/a-guide-to-the-duggar-family-photos/

Once they got to Josiah they gave up and said and the rest...guess these kids aren't important, except for Josie of course. 

[Temperance]

I checked the print magazines: People and Us Weekly and no word of the Duggars this week. 

[Churchhoney]

29 minutes ago, Temperance said:

I checked the print magazines: People and Us Weekly and no word of the Duggars this week. 

Here's hoping their name recognition has sunk to the point that they're only good for filling up the voracious maws of the gossip-rag websites. 

May they never adorn paper at the supermarket checkout again. 

[Albanyguy]

On 5/23/2019 at 2:58 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

Damn that is a propaganda piece.  I wonder what agenda People is getting paid to push.  Josh's "inappropriate touching scandal" is included but not his Ashley Madison escapades.

Wow, they really tried to gloss over that one, didn't they? There was no way they could simply fail to mention it, because that would provoke too much outrage among readers who know what actually happened, but they downplayed it as much as they possibly could. No mention of the fact that this "scandal" was a crime, that it involved his own sisters, that one of them was as young as five years old and that his parents did nothing except sweep the whole mess under the rug.

Of course, in an article about all the family members, they didn't have to rehash all the ugly details, but they could have done better than make it sound like a minor event that was made irrelevant by the babies that Josh and Anna continued to pop out.

On a superficial note, that photo of the Smuggars is the best I've seen Josh look in a long time. He's actually clean and neatly, if casually, dressed. He also looks like's lost some weight. His face and belly seem thinner, although his legs (and presumably his butt) are still heavy. But, no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig...

[Jynnan tonnix]

2 hours ago, Albanyguy said:

Wow, they really tried to gloss over that one, didn't they? There was no way they could simply fail to mention it, because that would provoke too much outrage among readers who know what actually happened, but they downplayed it as much as they possibly could. No mention of the fact that this "scandal" was a crime, that it involved his own sisters, that one of them was as young as five years old and that his parents did nothing except sweep the whole mess under the rug.

Of course, in an article about all the family members, they didn't have to rehash all the ugly details, but they could have done better than make it sound like a minor event that was made irrelevant by the babies that Josh and Anna continued to pop out.

On a superficial note, that photo of the Smuggars is the best I've seen Josh look in a long time. He's actually clean and neatly, if casually, dressed. He also looks like's lost some weight. His face and belly seem thinner, although his legs (and presumably his butt) are still heavy. But, no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig...

That photo of the Smuggars must be a few years old...there are only four kids in it, with Meredith being the youngest, and they have since had the fifth and are awaiting the sixth. They probably had to go back that far to find one of him looking presentable enough.

[Barb23]

2 hours ago, Albanyguy said:

On a superficial note, that photo of the Smuggars is the best I've seen Josh look in a long time. He's actually clean and neatly, if casually, dressed. He also looks like's lost some weight. His face and belly seem thinner, although his legs (and presumably his butt) are still heavy. But, no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig...

That's an old picture of the Smugs Family when they had just four kids. Mackenzie was still the baby  & Mason wasn't born yet.  Most of the pictures People used in the article are old. 

[Churchhoney]

5 minutes ago, Barb23 said:

That's an old picture of the Smugs Family when they had just four kids. Mackenzie was still the baby  & Mason wasn't born yet.  Most of the pictures People used in the article are old. 

Guessing that means they didn't care enough to scare up new ones. 

Yay. 

[beckie]

Mackynzie is the oldest.

[Barb23]

9 minutes ago, beckie said:

Mackynzie is the oldest.

Oops, I got them mixed up. Meredith was the baby then. 

[Albanyguy]

Josh Duggar made the cover of this week's National Enquirer as one of "America's 25 Most Hated TV Stars". This is quite an accomplishment, since he hasn't been on a TV show since "19 Kids and Counting" was cancelled four years ago.

[Sew Sumi]

I saw that in the checkout line on Sunday but forgot to post about it. They used one of his worst pics which cracked me up.

[xwordfanatik]

hehe, I'm going to read it standing in line next time I go to the store.  I quit buying that rag a long time ago.  

[Sew Sumi]

I didn't read the article, but the cover had pics of several celebs, including Kim K, Gordon Ramsay, and Joy Behar. 

[MsJamieDornan]

5 hours ago, Albanyguy said:

Josh Duggar made the cover of this week's National Enquirer as one of "America's 25 Most Hated TV Stars". This is quite an accomplishment, since he hasn't been on a TV show since "19 Kids and Counting" was cancelled four years ago.

Please post on the Duggar twitter and instagram !

[Temperance]

I keep forgetting to post this.  This week's People has Chip Gaines on the cover. People has a running section called "Passages" where they print a few lines and photos of celebrities hitting various milestones. The milestones include births, deaths, marriages, lawsuits, arrests, divorces, etc.

This week in the "Passages" section People announced the birth of Ivy Seewald. Just a few lines about how Ben and Jessa welcomed their third child, a daughter named Ivy. She joins bigs brothers Spurgeon, 3 and Henry 2.  There was a picture of Ben and Jessa and the two boys (from when she announced her pregnancy?) and a separate picture of the baby. Both of these photos were seen before. 

Edited June 13, 2019 by Temperance

[Temperance]

So People (the print magazine) comes out on Friday and it's dated Monday a week in advance. This week's cover is Mariska Hargitay and Peter Hermann. No mention of Grandma Mary and her passing. Like even in their "Passages" section. So I think next week it will be mentioned somewhere. 

[Lunera]

Reposting from the Benessa thread

[Rabbittron]

I bet you that TLC will switch to a  very special Duggar episode on 6/26 because who wouldn't welcome back Smuggar back to the show because of the Mary passing episode?

[Temperance]

I think there might be some kind of story/announcement soon. Either a story about the Duggars with stuff we already know or even a new announcement (pregnancy, courtship, etc.).  There also might be announcement from the Bates family; their fans are eager for Trace to formerly announce a courtship. 

[Oldernowiser]

On 6/19/2019 at 1:38 PM, Rabbittron said:

I bet you that TLC will switch to a  very special Duggar episode on 6/26 because who wouldn't welcome back Smuggar back to the show because of the Mary passing episode?

Okay, as I have confessed before, I have a dark and twisted mind. 

But if anyone had a motive for sending Grandma into the pool it was Smugs. They’re desperate to have the show revived. The exiled Duggars are desperate to get back on the payroll. And I suspect Mary had more than a few things to say about Smugs massive screwups. If she’s headed straight for the arms of Jesus anyway...

And I could see Michelle egging him on.

It would make a great murder mystery...

[Jynnan tonnix]

2 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

Okay, as I have confessed before, I have a dark and twisted mind. 

But if anyone had a motive for sending Grandma into the pool it was Smugs. They’re desperate to have the show revived. The exiled Duggars are desperate to get back on the payroll. And I suspect Mary had more than a few things to say about Smugs massive screwups. If she’s headed straight for the arms of Jesus anyway...

And I could see Michelle egging him on.

It would make a great murder mystery...

Oh, I've been wanting to make that observation ever since the news of where she was found first broke - I could just see Columbo going back to ask "just one more question" of half the cast...What sort of inheritance/life insurance might we be talking here...

But I figured that my sense of humor was probably just too twisted, and it really might not be appropriate. 

As long as I'm not the first one, though.

[Zella]

5 hours ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

I could just see Columbo going back to ask "just one more question" of half the cast...

Oh God I would love to sic Columbo on all of them in general! 😂😂😂

[dariafan]

I listen and watch too much true crime ( if there is such a thing as too much) for it not to have passed my mind 🙂. 

[MsJamieDornan]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:43 AM, Oldernowiser said:

They’re desperate to have the show revived. The exiled Duggars are desperate to get back on the payroll

I'm guessing Josh is still on the payroll. As we've all mentioned, JBOOB is probably in charge of finances from the show. I'm sure he takes a huge percent and divides the rest up among the married Duggars. Remember, they think Josh didn't do anything wrong. All for one and one for all.

[BigBingerBro]

Duggar Sister's privacy lawsuit to go forward:

https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/federal-court-duggar-sister-privacy-lawsuit-can-proceed/

[GeeGolly]

6 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

Duggar Sister's privacy lawsuit to go forward:

https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/federal-court-duggar-sister-privacy-lawsuit-can-proceed/

I'm actually one of the few posters behind this lawsuit. I just wish they would agree to donate any financial award to an appropriate cause.

[ginger90]

Submitted in December, 2018, filed yesterday:

https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/duggar-ruling.pdf

[doodlebug]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I'm actually one of the few posters behind this lawsuit. I just wish they would agree to donate any financial award to an appropriate cause.

I dunno, it seems to me that the authorities were kind of between a rock and a hard place.  They had a legitimate FOA request from In Touch, they couldn't refuse to release anything.  Meanwhile, in the years since the molestation, the Duggar family exploited all of their kids on reality TV which made their identities much more difficult to disguise.  Even if the ages and the address and Jim Bob and Michelle had been redacted out of the paperwork; the public would have been speculating based on the Duggars' lifestyle and it wouldn't take much to figure out that some of the sisters were his victims.

As I recall, the Duggars had an opportunity to request that the case files be destroyed by requesting it on behalf of the girls before they turned 18.  For a family that is so concerned about their image, that created a false aura of wholesomeness and goodwill in order to get viewers; JB and M were rather lax in keeping the skeletons in the closet.  And, of course, if Michelle could've kept her views on homosexuality to herself instead of campaigning for restricted public bathrooms, their gay neighbors wouldn't have taken it upon themselves to tip off the press as to where the real perversion lay.

The Duggars also confessed in front of their whole congregation and, apparently, more than a few people spilled the beans and the story was well known in Tontitown.  I doubt the gay women who told the press were in church for the confession.  If the girls want to sue anyone, they need to take a look at what a terrible job their parents did in protecting them from their brother and then from the fallout.

ETA: I have no doubt that my feelings about this are colored by the fact that JB and Michelle are despicable human beings and that, somehow, should their now adult daughters win in court or settle the case; the parents will somehow manage to grab as much of it as possible just as I am pretty convinced they controlled all income from the original show.

Edited July 13, 2019 by doodlebug

[Ohiopirate02]

I don't see how the Duggar girls can actually win this lawsuit.   When the news broke with the words Josh and molestation, I knew his victims included his sisters.   The family has not been shy about how they insulated themselves from the secular world.   The pool of possible victims was always very small.  And then you have JB and Michelle handling this situation in ways that made the FOIA request happen.   The records could have been sealed if JB and Michelle were not both lazy and arrogant.   

[PikaScrewChu]

3 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I'm actually one of the few posters behind this lawsuit. I just wish they would agree to donate any financial award to an appropriate cause.

Any financial award will be minimal and likely ate up by all the lawyer fees incurred from the beginning. The lawsuits against InTouch, their employees, and the other employees in Springdale were dismissed. The Duggars were represented by a bigwig firm at the time and I imagine it wasn't cheap. It looks like they have a local lawyer instead now. 

I cannot imagine how expensive this lawsuit has been. The real payday was Bauer Media. Although I think we all know JB is a gambling man. He had no issue slamming down a cool quarter of a million on a Senate bid while grifting for love offerings. He's really bad at gambling when it involves actual money.