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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: February 16, 2009 Distributor: TLC Related Sites: · Official Duggar Family Website · IMDb: 17 Kids and Counting Grade: B

I recall one of my visits to the annual Toad Suck Daze several years back. I was trying this thing everyone was talking about called a 'deep fried twinkie.' Suddenly, marching around the corner, came this married couple dressed in patriotic garb, followed by their kids. And more of their kids. And even more of their kids.

There were fewer than seventeen of them at the time, but even then the immediate impact of seeing Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's sizable brood gave one pause. It was 2002, and the Arkansas state representative was vying for the Republican party's nominee for U.S. Senate -- and he had a home-grown campaign committee always within arm's reach.

So when the Duggar family began to appear on TLC in various reality show pieces, they weren't unknown to me, although the family continued to grow new members. Large families were vogue for television material, even moreso if you managed to produce your kids six at a time. And while viewers sometimes found themselves horrified -- even aghast -- at the unexpected results of fertility pills, Michelle Duggar kept plugging along the natural way, one child after the other (with two sets of twins being the only multiples). In a way, this intentional form of family growth has, at least, mystified some families who struggle daily with their own 2.5 children.

If you tune into 17 Kids and Counting expecting a circus of chaos or a freakshow of reproduction, then prepare to be disappointed. A more calm and orderly home environment could only be dreamed of by some parents. The rules are firm, driven by conservatism and spirituality; there's very little television or Internet usage, and the attire is plain for the boys and downright prairie-ish for the girls, whose dresses could seem to reflect the wardrobe restrictions of Pentecostals or fundamentalist Mormons.

And yet, the kids -- Joshua, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer and Jordyn-Grace (born at the end of this season) -- come across to the camera as some of the most level-headed and well-spoken you'll find anywhere. And while it may be easy for many viewers to eye-roll at oldest son Joshua's restraint from even kissing his fiancee until the wedding day, there's something admirable about the conviction of his beliefs and the superhuman restraint he shows, no doubt because of a since-birth inculcation of values. (A typical teenaged boy in other environs might very well explode at the concept of going without sex for a week, let alone withholding simpler intimate contacts until marriage.)

This ten-episode series is one of the more intrusive views into the Duggar family life, as we follow them to New York for a television appearance, at which Michelle announces to the seventeen kids that she is once again expecting. We share the hidden camera excitement as Joshua pops the question to his intended (after getting permission from her father, no less!), and watch the paintball war that erupts when one big family collides with another big family.

In these tough economic times, we could also take tips from Michelle and Jim Bob on cutting costs. Raising eighteen kids requires a lot of resources -- from grocery to laundry -- and you'll see how the Duggars cut the necessary corners to make everything work like a well-oiled machine.

This two-disc set also includes four bonus one-hour specials which previously ran on TLC: "14 Children and Pregnant Again!," "16 Children and Moving In," "Raising 16 Children," and "Duggars' Big Family Album." These are a bit difficult to watch in sequence, as they borrow extensively from each other, enjoying a large degree of overlap in continuity. Of particular interest is "16 Children and Moving In," which is narrated by Joshua Duggar, and which focuses on the house they built themselves to accommodate the many children. Ty Pennington and company would be proud of the size of this structure, as well as the features and amenities built in. Still, these bonus episodes are best enjoyed with large amounts of time in-between viewings to avoid the "Didn't We Just See This?" syndrome.