Law & Order: SVU Is Doing An Episode Based On The Duggars

The November 4 episode of Law & Order: SVU will cover a ripped-from-the-headlines story that's been in the news quite a bit lately. That's right: SVU is going Duggar on us. The show's Duggar-related episode actually isn't going in quite the direction you might think, though. One might assume the plot would deal with Josh Duggar's recent confession that he used Ashley Madison. Instead, it seems the story will focus on paternity secrets within a large family that has its own reality TV show, much like the Duggars and the erstwhile 19 Kids and Counting. According to E! News, "In 'Patrimonial Burden,' the Wednesday, November 4, episode of the long-running NBC drama, the squad investigates a famous reality TV family after it's discovered the 13-year-old daughter is pregnant. Naturally, there's a web of secrets at play in with [sic] this virtuous family." Now, the summary doesn't explicitly state who impregnated the daughter. Nevertheless, given Josh Duggar's confession this past June that he molested two of his sisters and a family friend when he was younger, it's possible the plot takes Duggar's shocking admission one step further in its fictional story line. We haven't seen the episode, but SVU does like to go for shock value. A brother impregnating his 13-year-old sister would certainly be shocking and get viewers talking. When E! correspondents visited the SVU set before the season premiere, Peter Scanavino, who plays Detective Carisi, spoke about the Duggar episode in a way that hinted the show's writers might be going down this path. "With the Duggar one, it was like the double-whammy because it was his sisters and the fact — I mean, honestly, I feel like we're dealing with some topics this season that feel a bit meatier than some lunatic fringe family… I wouldn't mind doing one, just because I have never been so infuriated with someone's level of hypocrisy, and lying, and then displacement of responsibility onto something else... When I think about that guy, it boils my blood," Scanavino said. SVU has certainly done some twisted, ripped-from-the-headlines story lines before, but this episode is setting itself up to be one of the most memorable in recent history. (E! News)