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Duggars: Does campaigning mean the show is done?


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Here's my theory:

 

17 Kids and Counting debuted in 2008- an election year. The Duggars did not attach themselves to any political campaign, at least not publicly, and made no appearances at any candidate's campaign. I don't even recall any stumping for Huckabee, and he was right there in Arkansas.

 

This year they are going all out for Santorum. TLC is not filming. In the past, even when the show was on hiatus, there have been reports of various trips with the TLC cameras present. Not anymore.

 

There may be a short season of previously filmed events (VSE about Jubilee, surely), but I'm thinking that's it.

 

Somehow I don't think TLC would allow the visible campaign presence of the Duggars if the show was continuing.

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Guest Anonymous
Here's my theory:

17 Kids and Counting debuted in 2008- an election year. The Duggars did not attach themselves to any political campaign, at least not publicly, and made no appearances at any candidate's campaign. I don't even recall any stumping for Huckabee, and he was right there in Arkansas.

This year they are going all out for Santorum. TLC is not filming. In the past, even when the show was on hiatus, there have been reports of various trips with the TLC cameras present. Not anymore.

There may be a short season of previously filmed events (VSE about Jubilee, surely), but I'm thinking that's it.

Somehow I don't think TLC would allow the visible campaign presence of the Duggars if the show was continuing.

'

I tend to agree. I believe that TLC, to avoid embarrassing the Duggars in public, notified them privately that the show will not be renewed. It can't have escaped TLC's notice that viewer numbers for the show have dwindled, and that the Duggars have drawn increasing criticism over the years, much of it from people who formerly liked them and their show.

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I think it's a distinct possibility.

TLC has taken some pains to generally only show the family as a mainstream, albeit huge, Christian family. They mentioned that JB was in politics, of course, but they've avoided making their politics a big issue. Why? It think it's a potential turn-off to moderate and liberal viewers who may tune in to watch how a family like that functions, or to watch the antics of Jackson and Hannie, etc.

Hypothetically, if (and I know it's a big IF) Santorum becomes the nominee, you could have the Duggars following him around at least some of the time for the next 9 plus months. (even if Santorum told him to buzz off, Josh would probably still stalk him non-stop, at least until the food vouchers were cut-off).

That could present a problem for both the filming schedule and TLC's desire to stay away from any overt politics on the show. Their use of the miscarriage as an anti-choice political vehicle could also present issues for TLC. And then there's Josh and his sudden freedom to post online any stupid shit that comes into his head.

So, long story short, yeah, I think it could very well be over or close to over.

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I think TLC will avoid showing the Duggars campaigning on any 19 KAC episodes that may run because under federal election law, TLC would have to give free and equal air time to every other candidate whether just Obama or in primary season, the whole crew.

While Duggar fans are supporting Santorum or state they will fiollow Duggar choices, I don't imagine TLC would b willing to give away air time that would otherwise be generating commercial and ad $ etc., just because Boob and Smugs support Santorum.

My hunch and fear is that Boob is gearing up for a return to politics on the national level and is leveraging the dying TV show and checks to build support and sheeple fellow Arkansans to get him started. Perhaps he thinks Santorum would appoint him as Education Secretary, or to the Fed. or to some other high-paying cushy political appointment until Boob decides to run for Congress or Senate...how scary is that! :angry-screaming:

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My Tivo lists nothing but reruns of the show for the next two weeks. They've gotta show new episodes during February sweeps, right? I think we'll know in another couple of weeks, since we'll then have listings for the entire month.

It would burn me up if Jubilee got a whole hour-long VSE. No insult toward those who've miscarried, but I don't think a miscarriage needs something that long on national TV. Grandpa Duggar was a living, breathing person and only got a crumby half hour of mourning!

ETA: riffles

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I think TLC will avoid showing the Duggars campaigning on any 19 KAC episodes that may run because under federal election law, TLC would have to give free and equal air time to every other candidate whether just Obama or in primary season, the whole crew.

While Duggar fans are supporting Santorum or state they will fiollow Duggar choices, I don't imagine TLC would b willing to give away air time that would otherwise be generating commercial and ad $ etc., just because Boob and Smugs support Santorum.

My hunch and fear is that Boob is gearing up for a return to politics on the national level and is leveraging the dying TV show and checks to build support and sheeple fellow Arkansans to get him started. Perhaps he thinks Santorum would appoint him as Education Secretary, or to the Fed. or to some other high-paying cushy political appointment until Boob decides to run for Congress or Senate...how scary is that! :angry-screaming:

I mentioned something like this in another thread. this is EXACTLY what the Duggars would love, Dim Bob and Smuggar both getting appointed political jobs.

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If I had to guess, I'd probably think TLC is currently trying to figure out the best way to go with the Duggars. Honestly, the viewer numbers are not that bad for TLC, but TLC also has a history of dumping these shows when the stars start to breed real controversy (see: Kate Gosselin), even if the ratings aren't that bad. I think the people at TLC are weighing the proven, solid if not spectacular ratings against the likelihood of a serious backlash against the Duggars. The usual M.O. in these situations is one more season, but with the editing of the show being a lot less sympathetic toward the family and more harsh. But in this case, they have to figure out what to do with the Jubilee stuff and I'm sure it's a massive headache figuring out where to go with the show.

Point is, I guess, I wouldn't be so sure the show is dead, but I certainly think there's some scrambling going on to figure out the best way to play this for the network.

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I think TLC will avoid showing the Duggars campaigning on any 19 KAC episodes that may run because under federal election law, TLC would have to give free and equal air time to every other candidate whether just Obama or in primary season, the whole crew.

A show like 19 Kids might be exempt from the Equal Time rule, provided they don't show any Santorum speeches or interviews or other similar stumping on his part. Just showing the Duggars with him and his campaign probably wouldn't be an issue. Although I don't think TLC would ever want to go there either way.

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Remember when TLC was just a nice little network with home decorating shows and people afraid of Hildy doing something crazy to their house? Those were the days.

I think they might give us a few episodes (if there are some in the can) and then a VSE and maybe a goodbye episode. And then probably reduce them to specials like the Roloffs.

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Remember when TLC was just a nice little network with home decorating shows and people afraid of Hildy doing something crazy to their house? Those were the days.

Oh my gosh, I remember those days, Now I feel old... and I'm 20 :D

If the show ends soon, which I think it will. Hopefully, without as much media as a tv show, some can escape slowly under the radar. A girl can dream right :P

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17 Kids and Counting debuted in 2008- an election year. The Duggars did not attach themselves to any political campaign, at least not publicly, and made no appearances at any candidate's campaign. I don't even recall any stumping for Huckabee, and he was right there in Arkansas.

I don't remember the details, but I thought they did campaign pretty publicly for Huckabee?

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I don't remember the details, but I thought they did campaign pretty publicly for Huckabee?

Even if they did, they weren't big enough for it to be noticeable at that point. JB may beg to differ however, seeing as how even then they were using canned auto-response emails.

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I don't know how we missed this... http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/fa ... pgn=fbtlc1

duggar-politics.JPG

J'Kid on the left is holding a Rick Santorum poster.

Excerpt from article:

In terms of supporting candidates, we pray about who we really feel like we need to get behind. We love a lot of the candidates -- I think that's a great thing about America: We can have a lot of people to choose from in one race, and this was a hard one to decide. But we felt like we got behind the man who has the family values that we stand for. We really felt like Rick Santorum was the man who we needed to get behind and support, who could out there and do what we really feel like needs to be done for this next election -- for the family values that we feel strongly about.

So we've been on the road in South Carolina helping with the campaign, and Jim Bob and the kids even went to Iowa a couple of weeks ago. I remember years ago -- we didn't even know anything about politics back then -- but we knew that we needed to get involved somehow, and the first thing we did was we to get behind the candidate that was in our area and some of the older kids and Jim Bob and I started making phone calls, putting out signs and knocking on doors and handing out his information about what he stood for. And that was our first introduction to politics back then.

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I mentioned something like this in another thread. this is EXACTLY what the Duggars would love, Dim Bob and Smuggar both getting appointed political jobs.

I know I know!!! Dimbulb could head the TSA. No more body scanners (they are invasive) no more full body patdown ( total lack of modesty) and since the TSA hires off of pizza boxes, even Joshie could get a job in an office doing next to nothing.

In a former life I spent 8 yrs attached to that nutball agency

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Guest Anonymous
I don't know how we missed this... http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/fa ... pgn=fbtlc1

duggar-politics.JPG

J'Kid on the left is holding a Rick Santorum poster.

Excerpt from article:

In terms of supporting candidates, we pray about who we really feel like we need to get behind. We love a lot of the candidates -- I think that's a great thing about America: We can have a lot of people to choose from in one race, and this was a hard one to decide. But we felt like we got behind the man who has the family values that we stand for. We really felt like Rick Santorum was the man who we needed to get behind and support, who could out there and do what we really feel like needs to be done for this next election -- for the family values that we feel strongly about.

So we've been on the road in South Carolina helping with the campaign, and Jim Bob and the kids even went to Iowa a couple of weeks ago. I remember years ago -- we didn't even know anything about politics back then -- but we knew that we needed to get involved somehow, and the first thing we did was we to get behind the candidate that was in our area and some of the older kids and Jim Bob and I started making phone calls, putting out signs and knocking on doors and handing out his information about what he stood for. And that was our first introduction to politics back then.

I'm surprised the Duggars let this photo be shown. The kid next to the one on the left, in the vest, looks like he's trying desperately to suppress a barf.

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I'm surprised the Duggars let this photo be shown. The kid next to the one on the left, in the vest, looks like he's trying desperately to suppress a barf.

Jason or James?

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A show like 19 Kids might be exempt from the Equal Time rule, provided they don't show any Santorum speeches or interviews or other similar stumping on his part. Just showing the Duggars with him and his campaign probably wouldn't be an issue. Although I don't think TLC would ever want to go there either way.

Wouldn't they clear that with Stainyrump? I mean, he's just oh-so-proud of not having a campaign bus (which makes the Dugger's uber bus so laughable-and someone needs to get that picture of the bus in front of a church to some trash site to see if they could fool people by saying he's violating law), and him making people his gophers would ruin his "normal joe" image.

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Jason or James?

That's Jason with the twins to his right.

Maybe he's just experiencing some residual jaw pain from when he fractured it last summer. You know, the time he fell an entire story and Mommy was kind enough to cheerfully record his agony.

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If I had to guess, I'd probably think TLC is currently trying to figure out the best way to go with the Duggars. Honestly, the viewer numbers are not that bad for TLC, but TLC also has a history of dumping these shows when the stars start to breed real controversy (see: Kate Gosselin), even if the ratings aren't that bad. I think the people at TLC are weighing the proven, solid if not spectacular ratings against the likelihood of a serious backlash against the Duggars. The usual M.O. in these situations is one more season, but with the editing of the show being a lot less sympathetic toward the family and more harsh. But in this case, they have to figure out what to do with the Jubilee stuff and I'm sure it's a massive headache figuring out where to go with the show.

Point is, I guess, I wouldn't be so sure the show is dead, but I certainly think there's some scrambling going on to figure out the best way to play this for the network.

I also think this is happening with the TLC regarding the Duggars. Last year, TLC was cleaning house a bit, they were tired of Kate Gosselin and they ended that show and later one of the tattoo shows got canned. The ratings for 19KAC weren't too bad last season. TLC at this point knows about the growing dislike for the Duggars since Michelle announced her pregnancy and then later on with the Jubliee pic controversy. When the Word Tour specials aired, I noticed that the editing of those episodes didn't hide a few of the Duggars' extreme beliefs or attitudes. Boob acted like a jackass during his interaction with the atheist street performer in Scotland and the Duggars' attitudes towards British culture was awful and that was aired on the show. I have a feeling some of the people working on the show are finding small ways to throw the Duggars under the bus. I think most of the crew members and the editors don't like the family at all. The crew members sometimes focus the cameras on things that show some of the Duggars' stupidity such as the girls wearing flip-flops in dangerous situations and they have also shown the younger kids sleeping on the floor several times.

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I don't remember the details, but I thought they did campaign pretty publicly for Huckabee?

They did, but Fuckabee was out of the race by the time they started filming the series in May (Mother's Day in NYC). They have subsequently been seen sledding down hills on unused Fuckabee and Holt yard signs.

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That's Jason with the twins to his right.

Maybe he's just experiencing some residual jaw pain from when he fractured it last summer. You know, the time he fell an entire story and Mommy was kind enough to cheerfully record his agony.

He's checking out the stage to see if there's an opening he could fall through and disappear forever, then a familiar pang in his jaw reminds him what that thought got him in to in Atlanta!

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He's checking out the stage to see if there's an opening he could fall through and disappear forever, then a familiar pang in his jaw reminds him what that thought got him in to in Atlanta!

Or Anna farted.

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