TLC announced last week that "19 Kids and Counting" was officially canceled after news broke that the oldest child, Josh Duggar, had sexually molested five young girls when he was 15 years old. No one was more saddened by the news of the cancellation than the Duggar's, a source told People.
The show was canceled two months after a 2006 police report surfaced that revealed Josh molested girls, including two of his sisters, Jill and Jessa. The source said the evangelical Christian family is "heartbroken that they've now lost that platform. The Duggars want to return to TV because they truly believe it was part of God's plan for them to spread the word about their faith."
"I think Jim Bob and Michelle honestly did expect people to just move on from this," the source, who worked closely with the family, added. "Their thinking is, they put this behind them ages ago, so why wouldn't the rest of the world?"
The Duggar children were also saddened about the cancellation because they thought they "would be on TV forever," the Daily News reported.
"Some of the older kids in particular are really upset about the show's cancellation. These kids loved the spotlight," the source said.
While TLC did cancel the series, there was talk of giving the popular Jill and Jessa Duggar their own spin-off show, something father Jim-Bob was not a fan of.
"He absolutely wanted to be back on TV and was never thrilled about the show suddenly shifting focus to his daughters," a different source told People of Jim Bob, 50.
Even though "19 Kids and Counting" was canceled, the Duggars will return to the network to appear in a TLC documentary special on survivors of child abuse.
