David Harsanyi Is Hooked on the Duggar Family
The new season of 19 Kids and Counting is here. For the unfamiliar, 19 Kids and Counting is a reality television show featuring the Duggar family of northwestern Arkansas. The Duggars are devout Independent Baptists, a fundamentalist offshoot of Baptism, who engage in the reactionary act of producing a large number of offspring. It is decidedly wholesome and un-artistic—and yet it may be the most countercultural show on TV these days, argues David Harsanyi. 19 Kids and Counting cuts against many cultural notions we have about family: what children strive for, what parents owe their kids, how a family acts towards one another, and what young people are capable of.