There might be a 19 Kids & Counting spin-off in the works


TLC has yet to announce if it will cancel 19 Kids & Counting following the release of a police report showing star Josh Duggar was investigated for child molestation as a teenager, but a source says the cable network is mulling a spin-off featuring popular Duggar daughters Jill Dillard and Jessa Seewald.
Although they have plenty of characters to choose from, the sisters — both newlyweds — have garnered more attention over the past year as they both moved out of the Duggar home to start their own families. "The show has begun to focus more and more on the next generation of Duggars, anyway — mainly Jill and Jessa and their marriages and babies," the source told People. "That's when the show got its highest ratings." Jill and her husband, Derick Dillard, welcomed their first child in April, and a two-hour special on the birth brought in more than 3.6 million viewers, TLC said. Jessa and her husband, Ben Seewald, are expecting their first child later this year on their first wedding anniversary.
The network stopped airing episodes of 19 Kids & Counting after the police report surfaced last week, and companies like Walgreens, Pure Leaf Iced Tea, and Choice Hotels have pulled their ads from the show. TLC did not respond to requests for comment from People.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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