Jon & Kate Minus a Whole Lotta You

Cable hit's post-split return sustains huge viewer defections from June's record-setting divorce episode

Too much trainwreck—or not enough of one?

That's the question after more than half the crowd that gathered for Jon & Kate Plus 8's divorce bombshell tuned out the show's postsplit return.

Overall, the back-to-back new episodes averaged 4.1 million viewers, per TLC. And while that number is cable big, it's not Jon & Kate big—certainly not when compared to May's season opener (9.8 million) or June's aforementioned "big announcement" episode (10.6 million).

Last night's shows, while addressing the estrangement of the now separately couched Jon and Kate Gosselin, focused on activities with the eight Gosselin children and steered clear of Kate 2.0 and other tabloid topics.