Jessa Duggar and Jill Duggar became two of the most popular 19 Kids and Counting stars after viewers started following their courtships, marriages, and pregnancies. Now TLC is mulling over the idea of giving the sisters their own 19 Kids spin-off series, but there’s a possibility that it could end up boring viewers.
TLC knows that something has to be done in response to the huge backlash that the Duggar family is currently experiencing. Josh Duggar admitted to molesting four of his sisters and one other girl, and his parents focused more on protecting their son than protecting his victims. As Deadline points out, TLC probably won’t be able to satisfy disgusted viewers simply by removing Josh Duggar from the show — Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar’s actions (or lack thereof) have also appalled 19 Kids and Counting fans. The police report documenting Josh’s crimes doesn’t just reveal their cover-up — it also says that they used a rod to punish their children.
The most obvious solution would be to create a spin-off series that focuses on Jessa Duggar , Jill Duggar, and their husbands, Ben Seewald and Derick Dillard. As PEOPLE points out, 19 Kids and Counting got some of its highest ratings during episodes focused on the girls’ weddings and pregnancies.
“The show had begun to focus more and more on the next generation of Duggars, anyway – mainly Jill and Jessa and their marriages and babies,” a source stated. “That’s when the show got its highest ratings.”
Unfortunately for TLC, both girls are already married, and Jill Duggar has already given birth. The main draw of a spin-off would be the birth of Jessa Duggar’s first child, which isn’t expected to arrive until this November . 19 Kids and Counting fans have already watched one Jill prepare for the birth of a baby, so they might get bored quickly if the show focuses heavily on Jessa’s baby prep. Jessa’s birth episode could also be extremely awkward — Michelle Duggar will likely be there for the event, so TLC will have to edit her out if it’s spin-off plans work out.
Many 19 Kids and Counting episodes are already full of extremely repetitive filler in the form of clips from past episodes, and many of these clips feature Jill and Jessa Duggar’s parents. TLC could really struggle to come up with enough engaging material for hour-long episodes all about Jill and Jessa. Jessa Duggar is currently a housewife, and Jill no longer works as a midwife’s apprentice . Unlike Michelle Duggar, the girls don’t have children running around everywhere to interact with the TLC cameras, so it will be up to them to provide all the entertainment.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, fans are also very interested in the lives of the other adult Duggar daughters, Jana and Jinger Duggar , as well as Josiah Duggar’s new courtship with Marjorie Jackson. Longtime 19 Kids and Counting viewers might spend too much time wondering what the other Duggars are up to while watching the boring bits of Jill and Jessa Duggar’s spin-off series, and they might lose interest and tune out if they don’t get any updates on the rest of the family.
A Jill and Jessa Duggar spin-off probably won’t please all the fans of 19 Kids and Counting who aren’t ready to let go of the show, but Jill and Jessa might be relieved to star on a reality series that their brother is banned from. The police report documenting Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation of his sisters says that his victims forgave him for what he did to them. However, previous episodes of 19 Kids and Counting actually provide evidence that the girls didn’t completely move on — as the Daily Mail points out, Jill and Jessa Duggar both left Josh out of their wedding parties.
Do you think a spin-off focusing on Jill Duggar and Jessa Duggar would be too boring?
[Image credit: TLC]