Amazon Studios has been planning a docuseries exposing the Duggars, Plaths, and Bates for over a few years now. We have updates on when you can expect the Prime Video program that is (finally!) coming soon.
Followers of the Institute of Basic Life Principles will be examined by the same creators who unmasked the popular MLM LuLaRoe in the series aptly titled LuLaRich.
Institute of Basic Life Principles
Creators of the popular docuseries LuLaRich have a new target: The Duggars. For those who follow fundie families like the Plaths and Bates, you know that there are a lot of cobwebs in their closets that are sure to be revealed.
What do these famous family’s all have in common? They are followers of Bill Gothard’s teachings and the Institute of Basic Life Principles.
Why do many believe the IBLP to be “dangerous”? The homeschool and child rearing program has some questionable approaches – including blanket training and also promoting “the rod” when it comes to discipline.
Upcoming Duggar docuseries
First announced in 2021, Amazon has been planning a docuseries promising to shine a true light on the Duggars and their confidants.
Amazon Studios announced (…) the greenlight of an untitled new docuseries from the award-winning team behind this fall’s buzzy and critically-acclaimed LuLaRich. On the heels of Josh Duggar’s explosive criminal trial, the untitled project will expose shocking connections between some of reality television’s large, most famous large families and The Institute in Basic Life Principles, a controversial fundamentalist organization and homeschooling empire. In addition, prominent commentators, writers, and social media voices will explore the broader zeitgeist of reality television, social media, faith, fundamentalism, patriarchy, and power. The series, in production now, will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
The docuseries is currently in production and is being produced by Amazon Studios, The Cinemart, Story Force and Chick Entertainment.
Fans have been waiting for updates on this upcoming documentary, and we FINALLY have some news to report.
Shiny Happy People
An official title for the IBLP docuseries has been announced. Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets will be premiering on Prime Video soon!
According to Reddit users, we could get to see Duggars and Co. exposed by this summer… as a June 2023 release date has been rumored.
SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE: Major Update about Amazon Duggar Docuseries!
by u/Megalodon481 in DuggarsSnark
Deadline lists the documentary under TBD 2023, but the Shiny Happy People title seems to be officially confirmed.
What’s in a name?
Some may recognize Shiny Happy People as sharing its name with the REM song. So what’s the connection? Apparently it links back to Communist China and the propaganda the regime used to brainwash its people.
The song was released in 1991, two years after the Tiananmen Square uprising when the Chinese government clamped down on student demonstrators, killing hundreds of people in the process in an event which has left a scar on humanity ever since. With the song using the phrase ‘Shiny Happy People‘, which they took from Chinese propaganda posters, there began an attempt to con the world into believing into a very different image of what was going on under the regime in the early 1990s.
Conning people into a different image of what is really happening seems totally on par with the IBLP. Even the Duggars and Bates who have condemned the lifestyle have yet to really expose it’s darkest aspects.
Ashley Marie is a writer for Starcasm and the personality behind Twitter’s @RealityByAshley. You can contact Ashley via Twitter or email at realitybyashley(at)gmail.com
