The Willis family, the singing group forever tied to a Chicago family’s tragedy, is returning to reality TV.
Brenda and Toby Willis and their 12 talented kids will be the focus of a 13-episode series debuting May 5 on TLC, the cable channel announced Thursday.
The show will follow the clan, based just outside Nashville, as they record an album, perform live and try to keep some semblance of order at home.
Toby Willis lost six siblings in 1994 when a van driven by his father, the Rev. Duane “Scott” Willis, hit a stray truck part in Milwaukee and burst into flames. The Chicago minister and his wife were on their way to Watertown, Wis.
The tragedy became the symbol of the licenses-for-bribes scandal that eventually took down former Illinois Gov. George Ryan.
The young Willises are no strangers to TV cameras, having starred on another reality show on Great American Country in 2013 and advanced several rounds on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” last summer.
