If you haven’t been keeping up, Amazon Prime Video has a docuseries on the Duggar Family (brought into the public spotlight thanks to TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting). Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets showcases the Institute in Basic Life Principles and its horrendous teachings and practices, how opens families like the Duggars to abuse, and teased how this trickled down to a crazy Christian culture in the 90s and 2000s.
Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War comes out July 23rd, 2025 and is the continuation of this big picture on the poison in Christianity. While it looks like it will show Teen Mania’s rise to glory, I imagine that there will also be discussions of similar groups. Watching the trailer above, I am happy to recognize only two people in the whole trailer (aside from Ron Luce and Dave Hasz).
The crew behind this series did reach out to me and I was hoping to get involved somehow, but communication lines broke down so it wasn’t in the cards for me to contribute directly. I hope that the crew was able to take advantage of the blog, but I am unaware of any mentions in the final product. I certainly haven’t signed anything. That said, I am excited for this documentary and am looking forward to watching it with my wife and maybe even some alumni friends.