You Don't Know Jack (game show)
| You Don't Know Jack | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Directed by | Keith Truesdell |
| Starring |
Paul Reubens as Troy Stevens Tom Gottlieb as Cookie Masterson |
| Country of origin |
 United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Marcy Carsey Andrew J. Golder Caryn Mandabach Robert Morton Tom Werner |
| Producer(s) | Denis Biggs |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Production company(s) |
Jellyvision Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Panamort Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Original run | June 20, 2001 – July 18, 2001 |
You Don't Know Jack was a short-lived game show based on the bestselling computer game series of the same name that aired on ABC in the summer of 2001. Paul Reubens, best known for his role as Pee-wee Herman on Pee-wee's Playhouse, played host Troy Stevens. Tom Gottlieb reprised his role as Cookie Masterson, who was the announcer. The show lasted only six episodes, and was replaced by The Wayne Brady Show.
Format
Round One
Three contestants competed. In round one, Stevens asked a series of questions worth $1,000.
After up to three questions were played, round one ended with a mini-round called "DisOrDat", which had a similar format to the computer game. Stevens gave the players a clue and the contestants had to choose one of the two possible answers or occasionally both. Correct answers were still worth $1,000. If any player gave an incorrect answer, the others could not steal; also, in the DisOrDat, a player giving a wrong answer took $1,000 away.
Round Two
Round Two was the same as Round One, but with dollar values doubled. Round Two ended with a feature called "The $2,000,000 Question". The question's value would start at $2,000,000 and decreased rapidly over time, starting from the moment Stevens began to read. While he was doing so, a lengthy distraction would occur, such as Stevens being attacked by ninjas or setting the question card on fire. During this time, the value continued to decrease; it would typically be under $200 when he finally finished reading the question. Whoever eventually answered the question correctly won the remaining money.
Round Three
Round three featured questions worth $3,000 apiece. Always popping up in this round was a question worth $3,000 under the category of "Things That Sound Dirty but Aren't."
For the final question of the round, worth $5,000, all three contestants were asked a math question involving several elements of pop culture and fact, performing the operations in the order they appeared in the question: for instance, the unit number on M*A*S*H added to the number of digits in a U.S. Social Security number, minus the number of Beatles on the cover of The White Album, and the result divided by the number represented by a roll of "snake eyes"; the answer would be (4077 + 9 - 0) / 2 = 2043. They had 30 seconds to solve the problem; during their thinking time, they would be distracted by such things as a crying baby, a mariachi band, and children poorly playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on violins. At the end of the round, the answer was revealed, and the players revealed their answers. Any players answering correctly earned $5,000. At the end of this question, the two highest scorers moved onto the "Jack Attack". The other player was eliminated and received a consolation prize; this player would usually would be seen on camera disappearing via a CGI effect.
Jack Attack (Round Four)
Round four was called the Jack Attack. It was played between the two remaining contestants. Stevens' head would pop up on the screen as both a comical sight and a possible distraction. The players were given a category and a series of clues. A series of answers then flew onto the screen. When an answer that fit both the category and the clue appeared on the screen, the players would buzz in and call out the answer. Correct answers were worth $5,000, but every incorrect answer given deducted $5,000 from the player's score. After six questions, the player with the highest score won the game and kept the money, while the other player received a consolation prize.
See also
- You Don't Know Jack (video game), the computer game the TV series was based on