Gail Berman, Fox Entertainment president, revealed the secret of the now-cancelled "John Doe" series at a press preview for new fall shows, said Zap2it.com.

The show was about a guy who wakes up naked and doesn't know who he is, but he has uncanny knowledge of everything else -- like how to fly a plane, how to MacGyver up some doohickeys, and stuff like that.

The show dropped red herrings throughout the few episodes the show was on, but never gave a concrete answer. Was he from the future? Was he a robot? Was he a puppet who liked to eat cats? A truck driver with a chimpanzee sidekick?

Believe it or not, the show's producers actually had an answer, even though I don't know how many fans were asking the question. "John Doe" was on Fridays on Fox in the Sci-Fi Death Zone. It lasted longer than "Firefly" on that same night. Perhaps therein lies resentment of the show from fans.

Berman revealed the following, according to the show's creators Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson:

Doe was a normal guy who was about to die. When you die, you get all the knowledge you need to go to the next life. John almost died, so he got all the info -- but then didn't die. Now some conspiracy-type dudes are after him, so that they can get the knowledge out of his brain.

To which I say: Huh?

That's a fairly interesting plot point. At least it wasn't the answer that anybody had been guessing. But given that this was an Endless Quest show, they could have taken 7 seasons to find the answer -- and then it would have been that.

So I say we're lucky. And the writers too. Maybe since they didn't get to use this idea for "Doe," they can use it on a sitcom. They could call it "Look Who Almost Died."