Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets — release date, what we know

Key art promo image for Shiny Happy People
Shiny Happy People (Image credit: Prime Video)

In the late 2000s, a TLC documentary series about a very large family captivated Americans and the world. Initially dubbed 17 Kids and Counting before eventually becoming 19 Kids and Counting, the series followed the Duggar family under patriarch Jim Bob and matriarch Michelle as they raised their large brood. Now, in the Prime Video documentary series, Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, the truth behind the series and the family's involvement in the controversial Institute in Basic Life Principles comes to light.

Jill Duggar Dillard will speak out for the first time about what happened behind the scenes of the family's show and what audiences didn't see on screen. She will be joined by close relatives and family friends who were there to see what was happening with the family and the IBLP.

Here's what you need to know about Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets release date

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets premieres worldwide on June 2, exclusively on Prime Video. All four episodes of the documentary will be available on release day. 

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets premise

Here's the official synopsis of Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets from Prime Video:

"Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is a limited docuseries exposing the truth beneath the wholesome Americana surface of reality TV’s favorite mega-family, The Duggars, and the radically controversial organization behind them: The Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). A number of ex-IBLP survivors bravely come forward and reveal the abusive practices that kept them in a living nightmare.  For the first time, Jill Duggar Dillard will go on the record with her own story and be joined by family and close family friends who witnessed what went on behind the scenes firsthand. While details of the family and their scandals unfold, we realize they’re part of an insidious, much-larger threat already in motion, with democracy itself in peril."

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets trailer

The trailer for Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is haunting, revealing what life was like behind the cameras for the famed TLC family. Take a look:

How to watch Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets

Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is a Prime Video original series, which means you'll need an Amazon Prime subscription to access Prime Video along with all of the membership benefits that come with a Prime subscription. 

Sarabeth Pollock
Editorial Content Producer

 

Sarabeth joined the What to Watch team in May 2022. An avid TV and movie fan, her perennial favorites are The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, true crime documentaries on Netflix and anything from Passionflix. You’ve Got Mail, Ocean's Eleven and Signs are movies that she can watch all day long. She's also a huge baseball fan, and hockey is a new favorite.  

When she's not working, Sarabeth hosts the My Nights Are Booked Podcast and a blog dedicated to books and interviews with authors and actors. She also published her first novel, Once Upon an Interview, in 2022.