You've never heard of "You Don't Know Jack???" Okay...here's a little education.

It has NOTHING to do with the television drama "24" and the character Jack Bauer. I watch that too...but "You Don't Know Jack!" is a game show...not a drama!

(From Wikipedia:)

"You Don't Know Jack (YDKJ) is a series of computer games developed by Jellyvision(tm), a division of Berkley Systems, Inc.. YDKJ, promoted as the games "where high culture and pop culture collide," combine trivia with (adult) comedy.

The games are known for their humor and challenge, as well as simple presentation. With some rare exceptions, the games never use graphics, and instead rely only on animated text art for visual content. This was not a purely stylistic choice; the game was designed to minimise the amount of disc accessing needed by keeping files small."

The show opens with a "green room" segment, in which the contestants introduce themselves to the audience while staffers are placing their names onto their platforms. The audio during this segment includes rehearsing singers, a busy producer, and a harassed studio manager/host. The segment ends and the game starts with a set of graphics and the annoucement "You Don't Know Jack!"

Most versions of YDKJ offer the choice of playing a 7- or 21-question game; some versions offer only 15 questions, and others offer only 13 or 11 questions. In a 21-question game, there is a brief intermission after the tenth question. Most questions are multiple choice.

Before each question, one player is given a choice of three different categories. Each category has a humorous name that vaguely describes what its corresponding question is about. After a short animated introduction, which is often accompanied with a sung jingle about the number of the question, the host asks the question. The first player to "buzz in" and give the correct answer wins the money for that question and gets to choose the next category. If a player answers incorrectly, he or she loses money (as on Jeopardy!), but not before the host wisecracks about it.

In multi-player games, players have the opportunity to "screw" an opponent, forcing him or her to give an answer within ten seconds. If the player who is "screwed" answers correctly, he or she wins the money while the player who "screwed" him or her loses money. Players are only allowed to "screw" once in each half of the game (they each receive a new "screw" in the second half of a 21-question game). This basic design has changed slightly in some versions of the game. For example, in The Ride, instead of just forcing an opponent to answer, players engage in 'FlackJack', where they launch multiple screws into the screen (partially or totally obscuring the question), then force another player to answer the question, even though it may be unreadable.

Some of the volumes have a feature called "Don't Be a Wimp", which is activated if one player has a very large lead. If no one answers a question, the host may deride the leading player, calling on the audience to shout "Don't be a wimp!", and forcing the leader to answer the question.

In some volumes, the host also punishes a player who buzzes in too early; the question and possible answers disappear, leaving the player with ten seconds to type the answer. For The Ride, this is replaced by a different punishment: the player is forced to pick from a list of four answers, all of which are wrong. This punishment is only triggered if a player buzzes in at the very instant that the question appears on the screen."

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE "You Don't Know Jack!" and I'm so very glad that the folks at Jellyvision didn't give up on their entertaining project.

Play the game -- and tell me that this isn't the best thing since "Concentration!" and "Hollywood Squares!" How can any network go wrong -- a show about trivial things combined with a host you never see, the opportunity for endless amount of money to win, and the humor and comedy (although much of it is of the adult variety...nothing really offensive to a 12 year old....but seven year olds won't get it at all!!)

I'm glad you're back...and yes...

I DON'T KNOW JACK!!

Settummanque!