The True Religion of Reality Television |
Last week, the internet watched Taylor Frankie Paul throw barstools at her ex-boyfriend while another reality-star scandal received far less attention. On March 18, Arkansas police arrested Joseph Duggar on charges of child molestation. Later, they arrested his wife, Kendra, on separate child-abuse charges. One local report showed law enforcement at the gate of the Duggar family compound, a green-roofed monstrosity that defined an era of TV. There, under the all-seeing gaze of TLC, 19 Duggar siblings homeschooled, and ate tater-tot casserole, and planned the occasional prank. It didn’t end well for anyone. The family’s oldest son, Josh, has been in prison since 2022 for possessing images of child sexual abuse. In 2015, he admitted to molesting five girls — including four of his own sisters — while he lived in that famous home.
The younger Duggar now faces extradition to Florida, where he allegedly committed the crime six years ago. Paul’s fate is murkier, but whatever the outcome, she and the Duggars have something in common. In both cases, abuse became entertainment with religion the set dressing. There would be no Mormon Wives without the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No 19 Kids and Counting without Bill Gothard, who preached against birth control and resigned from ministry after women accused him of sexual harassment and assault.
Because I know how the Duggars turned out, I am skeptical of any reality show that puts religion on display. Still, I watched Mormon Wives when it premiered, or tried to. I finished the first season and never watched another because I thought I would be complicit in something familiar and wrong. On Mormon Wives, misery saturated every scene and every outburst, and I........