ratings: The season five premiere of Jon and Kate Plus 8 delivered the best ratings in the series' history Monday, drawing 9.8 million total viewers, including 4.3 million in TLC’s target W18-49 demo.  

 The premiere also delivered the highest ratings in TLC history among W18-34 (9.1), M18-34 (3.6), and P18-34 (6.3). 

 The previous record holder was the season four finale, which aired March 23, 2009 and drew just over 4.6 million viewers, including 2.07 million W18-49. The premiere ratings were higher than anything on television Monday night, beating all of the broadcast networks.