It's always sort of sad when the season finale of your favorite show rolls around, because now you just have to wait for more. Or hope that the network is just as in love with your show as you are. Judging from their Twitter pleas, this is exactly how fans feel wondering if TLC's OutDaughtered will return for Season 4 or not.
The third season finished up in mid-September and there is still no official word yet from the network as to whether or not it will be renewed. When a fan tweeted at Adam Busy asking him about the future of the show, he seemed positive, responding, "we'll just have to wait and see!" and added a winking smiley face emoji and the crossed fingers one — that makes it seem like he's not too worried. Then again, he has five daughters to raise so he might have just been really busy when he answered. It's amazing that he and wife Danielle can get anything done with all the kids running around.
Sadly, there aren't too many hints about when we might know either. The show first premiered with just four episodes back in May 2016. It's renewal announcements since then have been all over the place, so its schedule is a little difficult to predict.
In August 2016, the show was renewed for a 13-episode second season that premiered in November and ran until January. It was picked up for a third season that same month, but didn't air until July of this summer. So the fact that there's no news about a Season 4 could mean two things: This is just how the network works with these shows and there's no rhyme or reason to the announcements — or it could signify that something's up.
The premiere of Season 3 was the highest rated episode of OutDaughtered since its series premiere, which means that viewers were finally catching onto the Busby family and tuning in, so it's likely that the network will try to harness that again for another season. Remember, no matter how great a show is, most of the time it all comes down to whether a network thinks enough people are tuning in to make it worth the effort, so the ratings matter. As does the buzz surrounding the Busby family. (No pun intended.)
It's also unclear as to whether or not the family even wants to participate in another season. During the Season 3 finale, there was a tense moment when Danielle spoke up about wanting to work more hours at their spin studio. She volunteered to pick up more work to save money make scheduling easier for everyone, saying in a confessional interview:
I’m really looking forward to the cycle studio helping me become me again,” she admits during a confessional. I feel like I’m the woman that’s known as ‘that lady who has half a dozen girls.’ But I had a career and I loved my job, and I’m just really excited about it.
Adam did not look very thrilled about the idea on camera. He looked at Danielle and told her that this was the first time he had heard that she didn't want to stay home with the quints all day while he worked at the studio. Adam asked, "Who's going to watch our kids?"
There was a tense exchange between the couple as Danielle said that she knew they were going to have to hire more staff at the studio but that she was willing to fill in in the meantime and get that career back up and running. "Well, it sounds like we’re going to have to hire staff at our house now," Adam said. He added in a confessional that he was just worried they would spend more on child care at home than she could bring in at the studio, which is always a concern for any family, but it's also important for Danielle to pursue any ambitions she has outside of motherhood.
Season 4 of OutDaughtered might not be cancelled, but it's entirely possible, given Danielle's desire to be more than the "mother of 6 girls" that the family and the network are figuring out how to make it all work before filming another season.
Giving them that space to work it out, might be worth the wait.
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