TLC Replaces Duggars with New Anthrax Reality Show: 'Nine Labs and Counting'

Network dives right into failure instead of waiting around.

photo credit: via Wikimedia Commons

MBATTLED network TLC is fighting back against the critics after the Duggar scandal by wasting no time in replacing the family story with a medical reality dramedy, based on the Department of Defense's very recent admission that a U.S. Army laboratory in Utah mistakenly sent live anthrax samples to labs around the country.

Entitled Nine Labs and Counting, the new reality show opens with a riveting scene of actual medical staff in the hallways of the DoD, fighting over the anthrax scandal and pointing fingers.

"It's compelling and hilarious television, all in one," said a TLC executive on condition of anonymity. "I mean, you just have to laugh when one DoD guy says to another, 'Where the hell were the Utah guys trained, in Iran??'"

Execs at TLC say they're "confident" that more labs will report having received live anthrax from the Utah lab, an outcome likely to keep ratings at least as high as 19 Kids and Counting.

In addition to scenes at DoD headquarters, TLC has already sent film crews to three of the labs identified as having received the deadly virus.

The network is tight-lipped about many of the details in order to draw new viewers, but one source inside the network described a "side-splitting episode in Wisconsin where about 15 lab workers rushed to the exit after hearing the news and got stuck in the doorway. I just about died laughing," the source said.

On the much lighter side, TLC announced it is also planning another reality show "strictly for laughs" to begin airing in the fall, tentatively titled Nine Republicans and Counting.