The Bringing Up Bates family has long followed a courtship process before marriage. Gil and Kelly Jo Bates are parents of 19 children: Zach, Michaela, Erin, Lawson, Nathan, Alyssa, Tori, Trace, Carlin, Josie, Katie, Jackson, Warden, Isaiah, Addallee, Ellie, Callie, Jud and Jeb. Gil and Kelly Jo's expansive brood soon became the subjects of 2012's United Bates of America. Three years later, the Bates family returned to TV on UpTV's Bringing Up Bates, which ran for 10 seasons before its 2022 cancellation.