# You Don't Know Jack (game show)

You Don't Know Jack was an American game show based on the video game series of the same name which aired on ABC in 2001. Paul Reubens played host Troy Stevens. Tom Gottlieb reprised his role as Cookie Masterson, who was the announcer. The show lasted six episodes.

## Development

The franchise of You Don't Know Jack began with popular CD-ROM-based trivia games for computers in 1996. Development had begun in 1997, but was halted for several years as Paul Reubens, whom the developers selected as host, was uncertain about accepting a role outside his most well-known character Pee-Wee Herman. Despite this reluctance, he ultimately agreed to do the show, and production began in 2001.

## Format

Three contestants competed for the first three rounds, with only two going on to the final "Jack Attack" round.

### Round One

In Round One, Stevens asked a series of questions, usually worth $1,000, although some opening questions were asked for lower amounts. Most questions were multiple choice (like in the computer games), but some were simply open-ended questions with no choices. The contestant who signaled in and got the answer right won the money, but an incorrect answer incurred no penalties.
After up to three questions were played, round one ended with a mini-round called the "DisOrDat", which had a similar format to the computer games. Stevens gave the contestants a clue and all three of them 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, that player lost $1,000 and the correct answer was revealed immediately. DisOrDat in the game show lasted 6 questions, compared to 7 in the computer games.

### Round Two

Round Two was the same as Round One, but with each question's cash value doubled. Round Two ended with a feature called "The $2,000,000 Question". The question's value would start at $2,000,000, but decreased rapidly over time as soon as Stevens began to read the question. While he was doing so, a lengthy distraction would occur, such as Stevens being attacked by ninjas, setting the question card on fire, or fighting for possession of the card with a dog. 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. A wrong answer meant the other contestants had a chance to steal for the cash, but the question's value would keep decreasing until a contestant buzzed in with the right answer.

### 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, the contestants on either end of the row put up an opaque partition between themselves and the middle contestant. All three of them were then 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 using a dry-erase board and marker; 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 partitions were removed, and the correct answer was revealed by Stevens. The contestants then revealed their answers, usually in high-to-low score order. Any contestant answering correctly earned $5,000. At the end of this question, the contestant with the lowest cash score was eliminated from the game, while the other two moved onto the "Jack Attack". In an event of a tie for second place, one more "Sudden Death"-style question was read to the tied players. The first to signal in was the only one to give a response. If they answered correctly, they advanced to the "Jack Attack"; if they got it wrong, they were out of the game. The eliminated contestant received a consolation prize and would usually be seen on camera disappearing via a CGI effect (often exploding in a cloud of flames).

### Jack Attack

Round Four was called the Jack Attack. It was played between the two contestants. Stevens' head would pop up on the screen as both a comical sight and a possible distraction. The contestants 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 contestants had to buzz in and call out the answer. Correct answers were worth $5,000, but an incorrect answer deducted $5,000 from the contestant's score. After six questions, the contestant with the higher score won the game and received prize money based on their final score, while the other contestant received a consolation prize.

## Critical reception

The show received a mixed review from Tom Jicha of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, who wrote, "The goal is clearly summertime fun, and Jack hits the mark. Nevertheless, it's hard to imagine a show so slight becoming this off-season's Millionaire or even impressing enough to win a berth in the regular season lineup. Then again, critics sometimes don't know jack."