The TV Column

Duggar daughters keep the family in spotlight

Jill and Jessa: Counting On features the lives of the older Duggar sisters, including (from left) Jana, Jinger, Jessa Duggar Seewald (holding her son Spurgeon) and Joy-Anna.
Jill and Jessa: Counting On features the lives of the older Duggar sisters, including (from left) Jana, Jinger, Jessa Duggar Seewald (holding her son Spurgeon) and Joy-Anna.

Have you missed having your weekly Duggar fix ever since TLC canceled 19 Kids and Counting? Relax. They're back.

No, 19 Kids and Counting is still history, having been dropped like third period French following eldest son Josh's sudden fall from grace. Jill and Jessa: Counting On is more like Duggar 2.0. Catch an encore of the season premiere at 6 p.m. today on TLC, followed by a new episode at 7 and another at 8.

And it was a hard, hard fall for Josh that played out in the most public of forums.

"Our brother had been leading a double life," sister Jana says in a TLC video, "and he wasn't who he appeared to be. We had no clue at all."

Yes, 2015 was a roller coaster ride as it was first revealed that Josh had molested five underage girls (four of whom were his sisters) as a teen, and then, as an adult, had cheated on his wife, Anna, while a member of the Ashley Madison online dating service that facilitates extramarital affairs.

In August, Josh issued this statement: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the Internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife."

Josh then packed up, left Anna and their four kids behind, and checked himself into a long-term faith-based rehabilitation facility in Rockford, Ill.

Earlier this month, the Duggar family posted on their website: "Josh has completed his residential rehabilitation program. It was a crucial first step in recovery and healing for Josh. Josh has now returned to Arkansas, where he will continue professional counseling and focus on rebuilding relationships with his family."

But what was TLC to do after 19 Kids imploded? The series (formerly 17 Kids and Counting and 18 Kids and Counting) debuted Sept. 29, 2008. It was TLC's most popular show, averaging 2.3 million viewers per new episode in Season 10.

Duggar daughters Jill and Jessa to the rescue.

A three-part spinoff tryout, Jill and Jessa: Counting On, aired in December and was a ratings hit (by cable standards). It focused on the lives of newlyweds Jill and Derick Dillard, Jessa and Ben Seewald, sister-in-law Anna and several of the other adult Duggar children.

A second (full) season debuted March 15, and here we are.

Jill & Jessa: Counting On continues to follow the lives of the two married Duggar sisters as they deal with the challenges facing all young families.

The series begins with Jessa and husband Ben bonding with son Spurgeon, 3 months, while Jill and husband Derick balance caring for son Israel, 10 months, while working as missionaries in Central America.

(For the record, Spurgeon, named for an influential 19th-century British Baptist preacher, was born on Nov. 5. His cousin Israel was born April 6. Jessa and Ben say they're hoping to adopt a child as soon as possible.)

I've found the Duggar reboot to be more interesting and the lives of the kids as they've gotten older more relatable than the too-familiar troop movements of parents Jim Bob and Michelle. My main problem now is trying to tell all the kids apart.

Here, as a public service, is a list of all the Duggar kids you'll likely see on the show. The series will mostly feature the older daughters. I would be surprised if Josh, 28, shows up in any fashion, but I wouldn't rule it out in future seasons on a "very special" mea culpa episode involving Anna and their kids.

Duggars: Twins Jana and John-David, 26; Jill, 24; Jessa, 23; Jinger, 23; Joseph, 21; Josiah, 19; Joy-Anna, 18; twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah, 17; Jason, 15; James, 14; Justin, 13; Jackson, 11; Johannah, 10; Jennifer, 8; Jordyn-Grace, 7; Josie, 6.

In today's first new episode at 7 p.m., "Date Nights and Bright Lights," Jessa and Jana take on a lighting project while the rest of the family visits Jill and Derick in Central America. Later, Jessa and Ben go on a date for the first time since Spurgeon was born.

At 8, "Jinger Flips" finds Jessa going out for coffee with Jana and Anna, leaving Ben in charge of Spurgeon. Meanwhile, Jinger buys a car at an auction, Jana starts a new project with her brothers, and Jill and Derick introduce Israel to pickles.

Yes, pickles. See? Isn't all of this fascinating? Certainly more entertaining than keeping up with the Kardashians.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 03/29/2016

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