Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets | |
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Genre | Docuseries |
Directed by |
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Starring |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Cinematography | Brandon Riley |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Prime Video |
Release | June 2, 2023 |
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is an American limited television documentary series about the Duggar family and its relationship with the Institute in Basic Life Principles. The series premiered on Prime Video on June 2, 2023. It was directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason.
The series explores the dark secrets of the Duggar family, best known for the TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting . It investigates Josh Duggar's conviction for knowingly receiving and possessing child pornography, and the family's ties to the Institute in Basic Life Principles and its controversial leader Bill Gothard, showing how the organization has influenced the Duggars. [1] [2] [3] The influence of Christian youth organizations, including Generation Joshua, is also discussed in the documentary. [4]
On December 22, 2021, it was reported that an untitled docuseries on the Duggar family and their association with the Institute in Basic Life Principles was in the works, to be produced by The Cinemart, Story Force, Chick Entertainment, and Amazon Studios. [5]
The series was directed and executive produced by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason, and also executive produced by Cori Shepherd Stern, Blye Pagon Faust, Mike Gasparro, Jody McVeigh-Schultz, and Jenner Furst. [6] Jill Duggar Dillard is the only one of the 19 Duggar children featured on 19 Kids and Counting to appear in Shiny Happy People. [6] The series also features Jim Bob Duggar's sister Deanna Duggar and her daughter Amy King, and includes interviews with survivors of the Institute in Basic Life Principles' alleged abuse. [6] [7]
The trailer was released on May 18, 2023, [8] and the four-episode docuseries premiered on Prime Video on June 2, 2023. [6]
No. | Title | Original release date |
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1 | "Meet The Duggars" | June 2, 2023 |
2 | "Growing up Gothard" | June 2, 2023 |
3 | "Under Authority" | June 2, 2023 |
4 | "Arrows Activated" | June 2, 2023 |
Rich Juzwiak of Jezebel called the series "a damning portrait of a Christian organization that created a power structure leaving so many of its followers open to abuse, and a profile of exactly how that played out in one family." [6] Adrian Horton of The Guardian wrote, "A show that is initially about an odd corner of American celebrity morphs into a recounting of abuse within the family, to abuse propagated and protected by IBLP, and to the inroads fundamentalist, authoritarian-leaning Christianity has made in US schools, government and civic life." [9]
Oak Brook is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,163 at the 2020 census.
TLC is an American multinational cable and satellite television network owned by the Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by Discovery, Inc. earlier in the decade, the network began to pivot towards reality television programming — predominantly focusing on programming involving lifestyles and personal stories — to the point that the previous name with "The Learning Channel" spelled out was phased out in favor of its initialism.
William W. Gothard Jr. is an American Christian minister, speaker, and writer, and the founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), an independent fundamentalist Christian organization. His conservative teachings encourage Bible memorization, large families, homeschooling, aversion to debt, familial patriarchy, the submission of wives to husbands, and modest attire.
Jezebel is a 1938 American romantic-drama film released by Warner Bros. and directed by William Wyler.
The Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) is a nondenominational Christian fundamentalist organization that serves as an umbrella organization for several ministries established by American Christian minister Bill Gothard in 1961. The stated purpose of the organization is to provide instruction on how to find success in life by following biblical principles. This involves programs that include seminars for ministry, community outreach, troubled youth mentoring, and an international ministry. The IBLP has been described as a cult.
James Robert Duggar is an American politician and television personality. He appeared on the reality series 19 Kids and Counting, which aired from 2008 to 2015. From 1999 to 2003, he was a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Generation Joshua, often called "GenJ" by its members, is an American Christian fundamentalist youth organization founded in 2003 that aims to encourage youth participation in government, civics, and politics toward conservative Christian values. GenJ is a division of the Home School Legal Defense Association, which is a non-profit 501(c)4 organization, based in Purcellville, Virginia. The organization was founded by Michael Farris and Mike Smith and is located on the campus of Patrick Henry College.
19 Kids and Counting is an American reality television series that aired on the cable channel TLC for seven years until its cancellation in 2015. The show features the Duggar family: parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their 19 children – nine daughters and ten sons – all of whose names begin with the letter "J". During the duration of the show, two children were born, three children were married, and four grandchildren were born.
Joshua James Duggar is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality. The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar and his family gained fame as the focus of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, spun off from a series of television specials. Duggar served as the executive director of FRC Action, a lobbying political action committee sponsored by the Family Research Council, from June 2013 to May 2015. He resigned from the position after he was reported to have molested multiple underage girls, including four of his siblings, when he was aged between 12 and 16.
To Train Up a Child is a 1994 parenting advice book written and self-published by independent Baptists Michael and Debi Pearl, which has generated controversy for encouraging child abuse. The book has been endorsed by the Institute of Basic Life Principles. To Train Up a Child gained notoriety after methods recommended in the book were found to have contributed to several high-profile cases of child death.
Jill Michelle Dillard is an American author and former television personality. She is known for her appearances on TLC as part of the reality television shows 19 Kids and Counting (2008–2015) and Counting On (2015–2017), and in the 2023 Amazon Prime documentary Shiny Happy People, about her upbringing within Bill Gothard's financially and sexually exploitative Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and Advanced Training Institute (ATI) organizations, for which her parents were important proselytizers. As Jill Duggar, she also co-authored a book with her sisters Jana, Jessa, and Jinger titled Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships. Her second book, Counting the Cost, was released in September 2023.
Jessa Lauren Seewald is an American television personality. She is known for being part of the cast of TLC's reality shows 19 Kids and Counting (2008–2015) and Counting On (2015–2021). She also co-authored a book with her sisters Jana, Jill and Jinger titled Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships.
The Real Housewives of Potomac, abbreviated RHOP, is an American reality television series that premiered on January 17, 2016, on Bravo. Developed as the eighth installment of The Real Housewives franchise, it has aired eight seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of women living in and around Potomac, Maryland.
Counting On is an American reality television show that aired on the cable channel TLC from 2015 to 2020. A spin-off show of 19 Kids and Counting, it features the Duggar family: Jessa Seewald, Jinger Vuolo, Joy-Anna Forsyth, and fifteen of their sixteen siblings, as well as their parents Jim Bob and Michelle. The show was created in the wake of the molestation scandal concerning Josh Duggar and subsequent cancellation of 19 Kids and Counting.
Jinger Nicole Vuolo is an American television personality and author. She is known for her television appearances on TLC reality shows 19 Kids and Counting (2008–2015) and Counting On (2015–2021). She also co-authored a book with her sisters Jana, Jill and Jessa titled Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships.
Joy-Anna Forsyth is an American television personality. She is known for her appearances on TLC as part of the reality television shows 19 Kids and Counting (2008–2015) and Jill & Jessa: Counting On (2015–2021).
Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story is an American documentary television series that premiered on July 30, 2018 on Paramount Network. The six-episode series documents the killing of Trayvon Martin and explores the racial tension in the United States that was brought about in its wake. The series is executive produced by Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin, Jay-Z, Chachi Senior, Michael Gasparro, Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason, and Nick Sandow. Furst and Nason also directed the series as well.
Shiny Happy People may refer to:
Julia Willoughby Nason is an American director of documentary films.
Snark subreddits are subreddits created to gossip about and express frustration toward, or "snark" on, public figures, largely female influencers such as YouTubers and TikTokers. Members of snark subreddits are known as "snarkers". Some snark subreddits, such as r/Blogsnark and r/NYCinfluencersnark, discuss influencers in general, while others focus on particular individuals or families. "Fundie" snark subreddits—such as r/DuggarsSnark, which discusses the Duggar family of the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting—include discussions on Christian fundamentalist influencers and often consist of ex-fundamentalists. Snark subreddits have been criticized, both by critics and by their targets, as a form of cyberbullying and as invasive of their subjects.