Duggar family show to return to TLC months after molestation scandal

Associated Press in New York
Thursday 24 September 2015 22.48 BST

Months after a scandal involving a member of the Duggar family shut down TLC’s long-running reality hit 19 Kids and Counting, the network is resuming its on-air relationship with the Arkansas brood by starring daughters Jill and Jessa in at least two specials.

Production begins soon on the programs, announced on Thursday, with an anticipated airdate by year-end for at least the first of them. Two or three are currently planned, the network said.

So far untitled, they will feature Jill Dillard, 24, who, with her husband, Derick, and their infant son are preparing to move to El Salvador for missionary work, and sister Jessa Seewald, 22, who with her husband Ben is expecting their first child on 1 November.

A production source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the programs will not include 27-year-old Josh Duggar, the oldest of the Duggar siblings and the subject of revelations last May that, as a teenager, had fondled four of his sisters, including Jill and Jessa. More recently he publicly apologized for a pornography addiction and cheating on his wife. The source said he will not appear on any future TLC programming.

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