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Amazon released Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, a bombshell docuseries about the infamous Duggar family, on June 2. The series has garnered a great deal of attention since its release and has been one of the streaming service provider’s most successful docuseries to date. The series might owe some of its success to LuLaRich, a docuseries Amazon released in 2021. Amazon TV chief Vernon Sanders recently explained how LuLaRich helped lay the groundwork for projects like Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. 

Vernon Sanders says ‘LuLaRoe’ has informed Amazon’s docuseries 

Before Shiny Happy People, there was LuLaRich. While the two docuseries cover vastly different subject matters, they have the same tell-all feel. According to Vernon Sanders, it wasn’t an accident. The Amazon TV chief spoke to Variety about the bombshell docuseries and revealed that LuLaRich taught the production studio a lot about the topics that interest people. 

He told the publication that during the research and development stage for LuLaRich, they discovered that a large community was deeply invested in the topic. Sanders theorized that the investment of that community would lead to success for the docuseries. The theory was correct, and the same has been true for Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. Just as there is a community for those wronged by LuLaRoe, there is a large community of people heavily invested in following the Duggars and other fundamentalist Christian families. 

Jill Duggar Dillard and Derick Dillard appear in the Prime Video docuseries 'Shiny Happy People.'
Jill Duggar Dillard and Derick Dillard appear in the Prime Video docuseries ‘Shiny Happy People’ | Amazon Content Services LLC
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They aren’t fans, that’s for sure. They are critics in the truest sense of the word. Many of those followers congregate on Reddit and a forum called FreeJinger. DuggarsSnark on Reddit has 180,000 members. Some members are simply people watching from afar, while others are people who have left the IBLP or ministries like it. There are several other large subreddits, too. Members of those communities were the company’s target audience, and they certainly watched. 

Will there be a second season of ‘Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets’?

Sanders discussed a lot in the sit-down interview with Variety. Still, he left things unsaid. The one thing to TV chief didn’t mention is whether Shiny Happy People will return for a second season. While season 1 delved into the world of the IBLP, it was hyper-focused on the Duggar family because they, in many ways, were the face of the organization. There are more tales to tell, though. 

When the series was ready to release, there was plenty of footage left on the editing room floor, and the team behind the docuseries didn’t have time to discuss the Bates family, the other IBLP reality TV family. Cori Shepherd Stern, an executive producer of the docuseries, is willing to return for a second season. During a Reddit AMA, Shepherd Stern teased fans about returning for a second season and even encouraged them to reach out to Amazon via social media. 

Still, the streaming service provider hasn’t mentioned any upcoming plans, at least not regarding the Duggars. Amazon does have plans to dive further into the docuseries genre, and we are here for it. 

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