You Didn't Want to Watch Jon & Kate, but You Did

Series premiere of tabloid-tracked reality-TV parents draws whopping 9.8 million viewers

The law of trainwrecks—hard to watch, harder not to watch—was in full effect during last night's Jon & Kate Plus 8.

The reality show's heavily promoted fifth-season premiere, featuring octoparents Jon and Kate Gosselin addressing the state of their tabloid-tracked marriage (from separate couches, no less), averaged nearly 10 million gawkers.

With 9.8 million viewers, per TLC, the episode drew more eyeballs than Farrah Fawcett's recent NBC cancer documentary and more people than all-time top-rated cable fare such as the original High School Musical.

Unfortunately, there is no Nielsen stat on how many people just felt bad for the kids.