TLC not done with Duggars yet, at least not Jill and Jessa

Maria Puente | USA TODAY

The TLC network isn't finished with the damaged Duggars yet: Get ready for specials starring Duggar daughters Jill and Jessa, by the end of the year.

But don't expect to see Josh Duggar on TLC again.

At least one of the Duggar daughter specials, announced Thursday, is expected to air by the end of the year. Two or three are planned, the network said.

So far untitled, they will feature Jill Dillard, 24, who, with her husband, Derick, and their infant son are preparing to move to El Salvador for missionary work, and sister Jessa Seewald, 22, who with her husband Ben is expecting their first child on Nov. 1.

The network moved fast to set up the specials now that the daughters are embarking on major changes.

"What we will be following in these specials is Jessa preparing for her first child," TLC General Manager Nancy Daniels told The Associated Press, "and we'll be watching Jill preparing to make a major move to Central America with her family, which we know is something our audience will be interested in."

The specials could end up attracting the same high number of viewers who made the Duggar family's reality show, 19 Kids and Counting, such a big success for TLC. Or at least that's the hope.

It's been the hope ever since TLC — under tremendous pressure from advertisers and on social media — reluctantly cancelled 19 Kids in July, after concluding it was no longer tenable to do business with a family swamped by a sex scandal involving eldest son, Josh, 27, married and the father of four.

After tabloid revelations spilled out earlier this year, Josh admitted he molested underage girls, including his sisters, when he was a teen, and that parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar had hushed it up until the statute of limitations had expired.

Then, shortly after the cancellation, Josh, who had become a conservative political lobbyist in Washington, was embroiled in another sex scandal, this one involving his accounts on the hacked Ashley Madison marital cheating website. In an online confession, he acknowledged he was a "hypocrite" campaigning for "family values" while being a porn addict and cheating on his wife.

So you would think the name Duggar would be mud around TLC, but you'd be wrong. Even at the time 19 Kids was cancelled, the network was considering how to resume its relationship with the popular conservative icons, and specials involving eldest daughters Jill and Jessa were at the top of the wish list.

The two daughters made an impression when they went on Fox News to talk about the molestation scandal in June. Weeping, they told Fox's Megyn Kelly that they were more upset that Josh's secret came out rather than the molestation itself, since they said they didn't realize it at the time. They said they had forgiven Josh and that the entire family had moved on.

Later, the two daughters appeared in a documentary, Breaking the Silence, that TLC commissioned and aired to raise awareness of child sexual abuse nationwide.

Viewers have watched Jill and Jessa and their 17 siblings grow up on the family reality show, which made them stars and their parents politically influential in conservative politics. Over nearly a decade, the show became TLC's most watched series, averaging 3.2 million viewers, until it all came to tears.

The Duggars still have supporters, including two Twitter fan accounts. But hardline Duggar critics, especially among gay-rights activists, are already shifting their ire towards TLC, suggesting the cultural divide over Duggars is not closing any time soon.

Omg, no. #TLC really went & did it. Dipping back in the #Duggar well for more of them scandal related bucks/ratings. http://t.co/noTOzCWZFo — Kimberly (@CheekyBeckett) September 24, 2015

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Boycotting any business that advertises on TLC. DISGUSTING. TLC specials to focus on Duggar daughters Jill and Jessa http://t.co/y0nYH4NTzX — ⚾SportsBelle⚾ (@Pitcrewprincess) September 24, 2015

Here we see @TLC continuing to profit off abuse while slyly pretending not to. https://t.co/2PnOTI14wA — jennifer michelle (@missjenmichelle) September 24, 2015

Contributing: The Associated Press