| Genre: | Docuseries |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 4 |
| Cinematography: | Brandon Riley |
| Network: | Prime Video |
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets is an American limited television documentary series about the Duggar family and its relationship with the Institute in Basic Life Principles. The series premiered on Prime Video on June 2, 2023. It was directed by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason.
The series explores the dark secrets of the Duggar family, best known for the TLC reality series 19 Kids and Counting. It investigates Josh Duggar's conviction for knowingly receiving and possessing child pornography, and the family's ties to the Institute in Basic Life Principles and its controversial leader Bill Gothard, showing how the organization has influenced the Duggars.[1] [2] [3] The influence of Christian youth organizations, including Generation Joshua, is also discussed in the documentary.[4]
On December 22, 2021, it was reported that an untitled docuseries on the Duggar family and their association with the Institute in Basic Life Principles was in the works, to be produced by The Cinemart, Story Force, Chick Entertainment, and Amazon Studios.[5]
The series was directed and executive produced by Olivia Crist and Julia Willoughby Nason, and also executive produced by Cori Shepherd Stern, Blye Pagon Faust, Mike Gasparro, Jody McVeigh-Schultz, and Jenner Furst. Jill Duggar Dillard is the only one of the 19 Duggar children featured on 19 Kids and Counting to appear in Shiny Happy People. The series also features Jim Bob Duggar's sister Deanna Duggar and her daughter Amy King, and includes interviews with survivors of the Institute in Basic Life Principles' alleged abuse.[6]
The trailer was released on May 18, 2023,[7] and the four-episode docuseries premiered on Prime Video on June 2, 2023.[8]
Rich Juzwiak of Jezebel called the series "a damning portrait of a Christian organization that created a power structure leaving so many of its followers open to abuse, and a profile of exactly how that played out in one family."[8] Adrian Horton of The Guardian wrote, "A show that is initially about an odd corner of American celebrity morphs into a recounting of abuse within the family, to abuse propagated and protected by IBLP, and to the inroads fundamentalist, authoritarian-leaning Christianity has made in US schools, government and civic life."[9]