TLC isn’t ready to give up on the Duggar family even after a child abuse scandal centered on family member Josh Duggar forced the cancellation of the popular “19 Kids and Counting” reality show. On Sunday the cable channel launched a series of specials, “Jill & Jessa: Counting On,” focusing on two other Duggar siblings.
“Oddly constructed, these programs clearly mark a trial balloon on whether the lucrative TLC-Duggar made-for-TV marriage can be saved,” writes Brian Lowry in a Variety piece examining the tenuous state of the media franchise in the wake of the scandal.
“However embarrassing all this might have been to the family, the Duggars have become big business, to the point where Discovery had to take a write-down for the ‘content impairment charge’ associated with canceling ’19 Kids.'” Lowry notes.
We encourage readers to click above to Variety to read Lowry’s full analysis.
TLC. The Learning Channel. Right… Here’s what I’ve learned. As long as they think they’ll make a buck, they’ll continue to air lowest common denominator programming no matter how repulsive the off-screen behavior of people they focus on.