Television network TLC has not made official plan whether to cancel the faith and family oriented reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting or not, after the much-publicized sex scandal involving one of the show's stars, Josh Duggar. But rumors of a spin off to focus on the lives of Jill and Jessa Duggar continues to spread like wildfire.
However, the recent decision of Jill and husband Derick Dillard to fly to the earthquake-ravished city of Kathmandu in Nepal together with their infant Israel David, is seen to jeopardize the planned 19 Kids And Counting spinoff.
Inquisitr cited a source by the Mail that the couple decided to visit Nepal, which was hit by magnitude-7.9 earthquake on April 25, 2015 upon hearing news that aid and relief are lacking in the region, leaving thousands of survivors fighting over limited food and supplies.
Nepal plays an important place for Jill and Derrick. It was in that country where Derrick asked Jill to start their courtship.
Earlier, we reported that TLC still has promotional materials on the network's web site. You can still look and see snippets from episodes, which means that even though TLC immediately pulled all episodes of 19 Kids and Counting after Josh Duggar's investigation for child molestation in 2006, the 19 Kids brand is still being kept alive on TLC.
The spinoff is seen to rebrand the Duggar family in order to move farther away from Josh's sex scandal which happened 12 years ago when he was still 14 years old. Since the controversy broke out, Josh has admitted and apologized for his improper behavior as a teen, wherein he confessed of touching five younger girls, including four of her siblings, inappropriately.
The new show will focus on newlyweds like Jill and Derick Dillard as well as Jessa and Ben Seewald. Considering the show had begun to shift its focus away from the next generation of Duggars, specifically Jill and Jessa and their marriages and children, that would make sense. The show achieved its highest ratings during that time of focus, according to Hollywood Take.
In an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, Jessa Duggar kept mum on the rumored spinoff as the future of 19 Kids and Counting remain uncertain. She said during the interview, "Life goes on, really. We're not a TV family; we're a family who just happened to be on TV."
In the same interview, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar defended how they handled Josh's sexual molestation action when they learned about it more than 10 years ago. Michelle also said the family will accept whatever decision TLC will make on the show, even if the network cancels the show completely and added, "[we are] "at peace," regardless of the show's future."
Jim Bob added, "We are fine whether they film us or not."
