Jon & Kate Plus 8, renamed Kate Plus 8 for the sixth and seventh seasons, is an American reality television series which aired from April 4, 2007 until September 12, 2011. After the success of two one-hour specials, Surviving Sextuplets and Twins and Sextuplets and Twins: One Year Later, the series aired on the Discovery Health Channel for the first two seasons before being moved to TLC. It follows the daily lives and challenges of the Gosselin family, consisting of parents Jon and Kate and their eight children: fraternal twins and sextuplets.

During its run, the series was one of the network’s highest-rated programs, with the fifth season premiere seen by a record 9.8 million viewers, the most watched show of that evening including broadcast television, twice as many viewers as the show’s previous series high.

After the Gosselins’ divorce in 2009, the final episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 aired on November 23, 2009, announced by TLC three days earlier. The series was later renamed Kate Plus 8 on June 6, 2010, focusing on Kate as a divorced mother raising the children, with Jon appearing less frequently. However, filming was later suspended due to Jon’s lawyers delivering letters to TLC demanding that they cease and desist production and barred production crews from the couple’s Pennsylvania property on October 1, 2009. This led to putting the show’s revamping on hold. TLC planned for “a series of specials” if the series did not go into production.

• Jon & Kate Plus 8