I have an important question to ask.

Actually, I'm a little embarrassed to bring this up, because I suspect I am supposed to know the answer.

Everybody else seems to know.

Apparently, I am the last human being on the planet who doesn't know this.

WHO ARE JON AND KATE?

You know how it is. There is something that is dangling on the periphery of your awareness, something in the news, for instance, that keeps turning up but you can't summon the interest or energy to learn what it's about. Such as the latest shenanigans of Lindsay Lohan or that dippy hotel heiress.

It's the kind of thing you might delve into if you were stuck in the waiting room at the dentist's office with nothing but US Magazine.

But finally I asked. Jon and Kate, someone explained after wondering how this information had eluded me, are on a reality TV show about a married couple and their eight kids. But you already knew that.

"Jon & Kate Plus 8" — the Truman Show come to life — has run five seasons. Five? I'm still trying to figure out who J.R. was.

As nearly as I can piece together this story, Kate took some fertility medicine and, bingo, she hatched twins, then she took some more fertility medicine and hit the baby jackpot — sextuplets! — and then TV paid the couple $75,000 per show to follow them around with a camera.

And now they hate each other's guts.

See you next season when Kate takes more fertility medicine and gives birth to an entire football team.

If there is a next season. Jon and Kate are now supposedly getting a divorce — and they are asking to be left alone. NOW they want their privacy?

Let me just say that I have no problem with these people allowing cameras to follow them around 24/7 for $75,000 a show to chronicle their daily lives. For $75,000 a show, I would give birth to a yak if I could and let a camera crew move into my house.

What I don't get is this: Why would anyone watch?

I looked up some of the episodes on the show's Web site. Here's an abridged version of the episode summaries for thrill-a-minute Season 4 (I did not add the exclamation points):

EPISODE 1: Jon takes the boys to the golf course for a day of sporty fun! Kate and the girls head to the grocery store to get supplies for their favorite snack — Monkey Munch! Find out if the boys can master the game of golf at the ripe age of 3, and if they miss spending time with their sisterly counterparts!

I'm hooked. Wonder if I can catch the rerun?