The world first met the Duggar family when TLC introduced them on their very own show, 17 Kids and Counting back in 2008. The show quickly became one of TLC's most popular offerings, with millions of viewers tuning in each week to see this super size family function.

As Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar continued to add more children to their already large brood, the show changed from 17 Kids and Counting to 18 Kids and Counting to finally 19 Kids and Counting. However, after reports surfaced about eldest son Josh Duggar, TLC decided to take 19 Kids and Counting off the air.

The break wouldn't be long however, as fans still wanted their Duggar fix. So TLC introduced spin off show Counting On, which initially focused on the lives of the Duggar children minus Josh. The show primarily followed the lives of Jill and Jessa as they adjusted to becoming mothers themselves, and Jinger and Joy-Anna as they enjoyed newlywed life and courtship. While Josh was never featured on the show, his wife Anna has made a few appearances and many think she may just be a new addition to the show in coming seasons.

While TLC has had to make a few changes to their Duggar line up thanks to some big Duggar stories, it's clear they large family is still a big ratings draw. While we don't know for sure, we think there are definitely some things the Duggars must continue to do to stay on the network that has made them a household name.

6 Keep Having Babies!

Let's face it, part of the obsession many have with the Duggars and their television show is to see how a family can function with so many kids! Now that the Duggar children have their own spin-off show, Counting On, fans who have watched these kids grow up are loving watching them as they start their own families.

Every time a new Duggar child gets married fans start the countdown predicting when the pregnancy announcement is going come! It's almost like clockwork that a pregnancy announcement will happen within just a few months of a Duggar wedding, and fans simply can't get enough.

5 Keep Walking Down The Aisle

Everybody loves a wedding, and fans of the Duggars love to watch as each Duggar child walks down the aisle. TLC gives fans exactly what they want by covering the courtship, wedding planning and actual wedding as each the Duggar kids grow up before our eyes.

Duggar siblings Josh, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joy-Anna, Joseph, Josiah, and most recently John David have all walked down the aisle much to the delight of fans who eagerly place their bets on just how soon that pregnancy announcement will come.

4 Keep It Social

Thanks to social media, fans of the Duggars can follow along with their day to day lives, but only once they're in a relationship. After a Duggar family member has entered in to a courtship they can have social media accounts where they can promote their upcoming wedding and point people to TLC to watch when they're featured on television.

The Duggars who have social media and children often share pictures of their kids and family gatherings for fans, especially when their show is on hiatus. Having a social media presence allows the family to keep people interested in them and is another way for them to promote their show.

3 What's Jana Up To?

It's no secret that eldest sister Jana has many people confused. While most of the Duggar women enter in to courtship and get married while they are still teens, Jana Duggar is still a single woman living at home even though she's 28 years old, and fans can't help but speculate as to why?

In fact it seems the more TLC 'teases' us with news about Jana, the more people want to know about her! One person even commented on a picture of Jana's dog on Instagram posted by sister Jessa that they would love a 'Jana' episode.

"We need an episode on a day in the life of Jana. She's like a ninja... everywhere, quietly working and doing amazing things for everyone. It has been a while since there was a full 'Jana update'."

2 Stir up a little trouble

Although they may be uber religious, the Duggars have had their fair share of controversy over the years. Recently, Joy-Anna Duggar got people talking after she posted a photo of herself on Instagram.

In the picture, Joy-Anna and two of her brothers are seen holding their 'I Voted' stickers after voting early in the mid-term elections. While both brothers are seen holding their stickers between their thumb and forefinger, Joy-Anna is holding hers with her thumb and middle finger! Many people thought the mom of one was sending a hidden message and turned the picture in to a headline, but we're pretty sure she was simply showing off her sticker. Still, all press is good press!

1 But Not Too much

Not all Duggar controversies are as innocent as Joy-Anna's 'did she give us the finger?' voting picture. TLC actually ended up terminating Jill Dillard's husband Derick Dillard after the reality start and Duggar husband made disparaging comments about a fellow TLC star, Jazz Jennings.

Dillard was accused of bullying Jennings, the star of hit TLC show 'I Am Jazz,' by tweeting, "A 'reality' show which follows a non-reality," he wrote, along with comments disparaging her community. TLC later released a statement distancing the network from Dillard.

"We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future. We want to reiterate that Derick's personal statements do not reflect the views of the network," the network said.
"TLC is proud to share the story of Jazz Jennings and her family and will continue to do so."

Make People Wonder If They're Breaking The Rules!

As soon as a Duggar gets married people start wondering how soon it will be before the pregnancy announcement is made. The Duggars famously do not use birth control so there has typically been a pregnancy announcement made within just a few months of each Duggar wedding. However when Jinger Duggar married Jeremy Vuolo, fans of the show couldn't help but wonder if Jinger and Jeremy were using birth control. Although the couple are now proud parents of daughter Felicity, they were married a full year before announcing a pregnancy, which is basically unheard of for a Duggar! Naturally many people have and still do speculate that the couple were using birth control, which is a definitely no no in the Duggar family. Still, Jinger was the first Duggar woman to start wearing pants and shorter skirts and dresses, so if there's one Duggar who would break the rules we definitely think it would be Jinger.

Pregnant before the Wedding?

Like we said before, people love a bit of controversy, and Joy-Anna found herself at the center of a big one when she moved her wedding date up a few months. The couple were originally planning an October wedding but ended up moving their nuptials to May, which seems like a pretty extreme jump when planning a wedding. Rumors began to circulate the reason for the jump was that Joy-Anna was actually pregnant, and those rumors got even stronger when the newlywed announced her pregnancy a hot minute after she returned home from her honeymoon. With all those strict courtship rules the Duggars have it's not impossible to believe that one of them may have strayed a bit, is it?

Keep Fans Guessing About Jana's Love Life

As we said before, people love to wonder why Jana still isn't married even though she's 28. Now that twin brother John David has officially tied the knot, people are definitely turning their attention to the eldest Duggar daughter. It seems that Jana can't be within an arm's distance of a man without fans immediately assuming they're courting, which is exactly what happened recently when Jinger posted a photo of a few family members including Jana. There was an unidentified man in the photo and despite the fact he was sitting no where near Jana fans immediately assumed there was a connection between them. It seems many Duggar fans won't be satisfied until Jana announces a courtship, while others are thrilled that the young woman hasn't caved in to the pressure to marry before she's ready.

Welcome to the Next Generation

When we first met the Duggars we were really introduced to the older Duggar siblings — the ones we see on Counting On and who have gone on to start their own families. However, there are a bunch of younger Duggars who have grown up out of site of the cameras, and we are slowly being introduced to the next group of Duggar siblings. Jinger recently posted a picture of sister Johanna on her Instagram page and fans couldn't get over how grown up the now 13 year old Duggar sister looks! Johanna was just 8 years old when 19 Kids and Counting was cancelled, and now she's a teenager who bears a striking resemblance to her sisters. While fans are loving watching the older siblings as they get married and start a family, many are still interested in the younger siblings as they are growing up.

Mom Shade: Jessa's messy house

The Duggars are definitely no strangers to people questioning their parenting abilities and life choices in general. Jessa and Jill, who both are mothers of two sons respectively, have definitely received more than their fair share of mom shaming thanks to social media. It seems that people have something to say whether it's Jessa giving her son a bottle or Jill letting her son lay on the dining room floor during a family dinner, but Jessa really got blasted when she posted a series of photos of her messy house. While it seems that Jessa was trying to be 'relatable mom,' her post backfired and she was called out for her pile of diapers, messy kitchen and generally untidy house.

The Cameras Go Courting

The Duggars have a lot of strict rules about courting, like they can only give side hugs and absolutely no kissing, but they have no problem with the entire courting process being documented on camera, and fans are thrilled about that. Followers of the super size family have watched as the older Duggar siblings get to know the person who will quickly become their spouse and they can't wait to hear which Duggar will start courting next! Many of the Duggars start the courting process when they're just teenagers, but not all of them. John David Duggar, who recently wed Abbie Burnett was 28 years old when he announced his courtship. Courtships don't always work out either. Josiah Duggar actually entered into a courtship with longtime family friend Marjorie Jackson but the two never made it down the aisle, calling off the relationship. Duggar moved on and is now married to Lauren Swanson.

TLC Gets All The Exclusives!

While some of the Duggars may have their own social media pages and blogs, it seems that TLC still gets all the exclusive Duggar news. That makes complete sense since TLC is the network that made them household names, so of course their cameras are there when there's a big family announcement like a new courtship, wedding or baby announcement. Fans can visit the TLC website to watch exclusive clips of the family members and see never before seen backstage moments. Of course they're always there with their cameras to record all the milestone moments for the Duggars, which often seem neverending!

They Must Space Out Those Big Announcements

TLC is always there to bring us the most up to date Duggar news, but do they make sure it's spaced out for maximum exposure? Fans are convinced there is at least one pregnancy announcement coming from the Duggars, but they think they're waiting because John David Duggar just wed Abbie Burnett. Fans of the show are convinced there are two new Duggar babies on the way with speculation running rampant that Lauren Swanson, Josiah Duggar's new bride is expecting their first baby and Joy-Anna is rumoured to be expecting baby #2 with Austin Forsythe. The belief is that they're waiting until after the excitement from John David's wedding to settle down before making another big baby announcement.

The Cameras Come Everywhere

Fans have literally watched the Duggars grow up. From courting to marriage to babies, the TLC cameras have been there to bring the Duggars in to our homes and their vacations are no different. While the thought of bringing such a huge family on vacation may make your eyes start to twitch, Jim Bob and Michelle have always loved to go on huge family vacations, and naturally the TLC cameras are there to capture every minute. The Duggars once brought their entire family to New York City for an appearance on The Today Show as well as done a road trip to LA. They've also travelled as far as Japan, China, Malaysia, El Salvador, Jeruselum and Australia!

Even On Honeymoons!

The cameras tend to go on most vacations with the Duggar family, including honeymoons! The Duggar kids have gone on some pretty lavish honeymoons over the years, with Joy-Anna and Austin heading to Switzerland while Joseph and Kendra travelled to Greece and Josiah and Lauren headed to Austria to celebrate their marriage. Many fans have speculated that TLC helps with the cost and planning of these lavish and expensive honeymoons in return for being able to film the newlyweds so fans don't miss a moment of their lives as husband and wife.

Wedding Exclusives

While you may see some official photos of a newlywed Duggar on popular entertainment websites, the first photo is typically posted on TLC's site first. They also always have a sweet video of the newlywed couple addressing fans shortly after they say 'I Do,' where they promote an upcoming Counting On episode that will feature the wedding as well as episodes leading up to the big day. Fans who download their TLCGO app can also get a first look at the big days just after they happen meaning TLC has everything a Duggar fan could hope for.

Counting On....

TLC cancelled 19 Kids and Counting after the Josh Duggar story was publicized, but people still wanted to see their favorite large family on television. Counting On is the spin-0ff show which initially began as a show that followed the lives of Jill and Jessa Duggar as they were getting married and having babies. Now, as more Duggar siblings are starting their own families, they are also featured on the show. Despite Josh not being featured on the show, his wife Anna has been seen often and as each new Duggar sibling gets married and has babies they seem to secure themself a spot on the spin off as well.

Always Keep Fans Guessing

In the Duggar world there seems there's always a new baby on the way! In 2018 we've seen three new Duggar babies born, with Joy-Anna Duggar welcoming son Gideon in February, Joseph Duggar's wife Kendra Caldwell welcomed their son Garrett in June while Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo became parents when daughter Felicity was born in July. Fans are already convinced that Joy-Anna is already expecting baby #2, while stories are also circulating that Josiah and new wife Lauren are expecting their first baby. In a family that shuns birth control and believes that all babies are God's blessings fans love to keep guessing about who will have a new baby next!

Always Be Supportive (And Promote Each Other!)

The Duggars are definitely a close knit family who are very supportive of each other. They also know the value of some good cross promotion. Family members love to post pictures on social media when there is a big family function happening. Both Jessa and Jinger posted a number of pictures of their family attending the most recent Duggar nuptials of John David and Abbie, and the siblings are all supportive of each other and ensure they do their best to promote any specials they may have on TLC. References: intouchweekly.compeople.comradaronline.comromper.com, reddit.comnydailynews.comintouchweekly.comokmagazine.com, intouchweekly.comokmagazine.comromper.compeople.comtlc.com, okmagazine.comintouchweekly.compeople.comtlc.comtlc.com, celebrityinsider.orgokmagazine.com