The hit series "19 Kids and Counting" is expected to soon make a return to TLC despite the troubles surrounding one of the show's stars, Josh Duggar, according to numerous reports.
As reported by The Gospel Herald, the show was canceled last May after it emerged that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's oldest son had molested five underage girls as a young teen, including several of his sisters.
At the time, multiple advertisers, including Sherwin Williams, CVS pharmacies, Ace Hardware, Crayola, and Party City pulled their support from the show as a result of the revelations.
Just a few months later, Josh, 27, admitted to cheating on his wife, Anna, and struggling with a pornography addiction after it was revealed that he had active accounts on Ashley Madison, a website created to facilitate adulterous affairs.
According to Variety, the executive vice president of TLC, Nancy Daniels, recently revealed how the series coped with the scandals, as "19 Kids and Counting" was the network's highest-rated show at the time of its cancellation.
"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 that there's a health and well-being of our families first and foremost. We feature stories of different families with real people and real things happen."
Several months after the cancellation of the show, TLC released three episodes of a spinoff series, "Jill & Jessa: Counting On," which focused on how the sister's lives had changed following the scandals. The follow-up series saw massive success, with the premiere pulling in 2.2 million viewers.
In January, Inquisitr announced that TLC will be bringing back "19 Kids and Counting" to the small screen. The report notes that a TLC camera crew was recently seen with the Duggar family in several locations, including a lumberyard and a thrift store.
A separate report from Hollywood Gossip reveals that the focus of the new season, which is expected to premiere sometime in 2016, will focus primarily on Jim Bob and MIchelle's eldest daughter, Jana Duggar. However, it is unlikely that Josh, who is currently spending time at a faith-based rehab, will appear in the new series.
The Duggars are likely excited to return to TV, as a family source told People Magazine last August that the evangelical Christian family was "heartbroken" after losing their "platform."
"The Duggars want to return to TV because they truly believe it was part of God's plan for them to spread the word about their faith," the source said.
"I think Jim Bob and Michelle honestly did expect people to just move on from this," the source added. "Their thinking is, they put this behind them ages ago, so why wouldn't the rest of the world?"
