TLC dumps Duggar '19 Kids' show for good

Goodbye to the amazingly fertile Duggar family, or at least for their reality show on TLC.

The network permanently cancelled the family's enormously popular 19 Kids and Counting show on Thursday.

It was a long time coming but it wasn't a surprise.

After tabloid revelations in May blared news that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's eldest son, Josh, had admitted to molesting five underage girls, including his own sisters, when he was a teenager and that his parents had kept it secret, the show about the family and their many progeny had been in jeopardy.

"After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with 19 Kids and Counting. The show will no longer appear on the air, the network said in a statement on its website. "The recent attention around the Duggars has sparked a critical and important conversation about child protection."

The Duggars also posted a statement, on their website, declaring gratitude to TLC, the film crew and God, and reiterating their belief that having lots of kids is a gift, despite the logistics. They also said they've all moved on.

"With God’s grace and help, Josh, our daughters and our entire family overcame a terrible situation, found healing and a way forward. We are so pleased with the wonderful adults they have all become," the statement said. "It is our prayer that the painful situation our family went through many years ago can point people toward faith in God and help others who also have lived through similar dark situations to find help, hope and healing, as well."

Marjorie Kaplan, group president of TLC, Animal Planet and Velocity networks, told the Associated Press that the network spent weeks trying to decide what to do with the show. The network and the Duggars had been under enormous pressure for weeks on social media to cancel.

"We spent the past month and a half in thoughtful consideration about what is the best way forward here," Kaplan said.

"We took it as an opportunity to step further than just 'How do we protect ourselves?' and step into 'How do we protect our audience and protect children? Our hope is to do more of that, in a way that's thoughtful and respectful of the victims of child abuse — in the Duggar family and across America."

The network said it plans a documentary about sex-abuse with some of the Duggars, including oldest daughters and self-described victims of Josh, Jill and Jessa. The documentary will be made in partnership with two sex-abuse support groups, Darkness to Light and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network).

"We are partnering with both organizations on a multi-platform campaign to raise awareness and educate parents and families about the issue." the network's statement said. "TLC will work closely with both groups and with the Duggar family on a one-hour documentary that will include Jill and Jessa and other survivors and families that have been affected by abuse."

TLC said the documentary will be commercial free, and will air later this summer.

The response on Twitter to TLC's decision was mixed.

The Duggars' show, which began in 2008, had been one of TLC's most profitable, for the family and for the network. Jim Bob and Michelle had become politically active as Christian conservatives, demonstrating their family values on their show.

Josh, now 27, had married and moved from Arkansas to Washington where he was a lobbyist against abortion rights and gay marriage for a politically powerful conservative group, the Family Research Council. He resigned that post hours after InTouch magazine published a story on May 21 on police documents that showed he was investigated for molesting underage girls when he was a teen in the Duggar's Arkansas home town.

Immediately, activists on social media, especially gay activists, angrily denounced Josh Duggar and his family as hypocrites, for allegedly preaching family values while covering up an embarrassing past.

Major advertisers abandoned the show. TLC pulled the show from its rerun schedule but said it would wait until later to decide whether to cancel permanently.

The Duggars show is not the first TLC reality series to hit the skids: The network also cancelled popular Here Comes Honey Boo Boo last year after it came out that the family matriarch was allegedly dating a child molester.

But 19 Kids was even more successful.

“It’s no secret that 19Kids and Counting’ was a really, really hit show,” Kaplan, acknowledging the scale of that loss.

She said TLC is in the midst of repositioning itself as “a brand with purpose,” with such shows as I am Jazz, about a transgender teen, Jazz Jennings, and how she's transitioned with support from her close-knit family.

But that show, which premiered this week, might not be as accepted by the the huge, conservative audience that watched the Duggars.