TLC exec opens up on Josh Duggar scandals: 'We have had our challenges'
Just how did the TLC network feel after news surfaced that Josh Duggar from the Christian reality TV show "19 Kids and Counting" molested several underage girls when he was a teenager, including his two younger sisters, and later cheated on his wife Anna using the website Ashley Madison?
For the most part, the network kept mum about the issue, but it did cancel "19 Kids and Counting."
Much later, it continued working with the Duggar family in creating documentaries such as "Breaking the Silence" and "Jill and Jessa: Counting On."
TLC Executive Vice President and General Manager Nancy Daniels recently talked about how she and other network officials handled the controversies as well as how they truly feel about the tight-knit Duggar family.
"We have had our challenges," she said during the network's Television Critics Association panel, as reported by Variety. "As soon as we found out about (Josh Duggar), we did work with the family."
Daniels said they were actually very sympathetic towards the Duggar family. "Every decision we've made has been done very thoughtfully and very carefully about what is in the best interests of the people involved and the network," she said. "Our first priority is making sure of the health and well-being of our families first and foremost. We feature stories of different families with real people and real things happen."
It is in this vein that they thought about making a documentary about sexual abuse featuring Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald, two of Josh's victims. "These are people who had something happening in their lives a long time ago," she explained. "We took the show off the air and immediately connected with two well-respected agencies to figure out the appropriate response. And one of those responses was the documentary to put the word out about a situation that doesn't really get talked about."
When asked if they are planning to make a spinoff series featuring the Duggar sisters, Daniels replied: "We're still talking and considering it, but we have not made a decision yet."
