So there's only one thing missing when you go see a live taping of "Jeopardy!" You never hear the theme song.

At the Kohl Center on Saturday, the ditty that padded Merv Griffin's retirement fund wasn't heard during the opening and closing, nor during "Final Jeopardy." You could maybe catch a bit of it during the "closed captioning provided by" ad at the end of the show, but even that was hard to make out.

Other than that, seeing Alex Trebek, announcer Johnny Gilbert and that big board of questions up close and personal was quite a thrill for any "Jeopardy!" fan. I sat through three semifinal tapings Saturday afternoon in the media section, and probably could have stayed for the two-day finals that were taped Saturday night. But I'd rather watch that one on TV, anyway, when the shows air during the first two weeks of May.

I've only been to one other live show taping, that of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" when that show came to Chicago in the mid-1990s. It was an underwhelming experience -- aside from being, well, "Leno" -- it was a little disorienting to realize that, even though you're part of an audience of thousands, the show wasn't really for us at all. It was for the cameras, with the live cheering audience a necessary element of the show, like the lights. Leno warmed up the crowd a little bit at the beginning, but other than that we were kind of overlooked.

At "Jeopardy!," however, the production did a really good job of keeping the audience involved and entertained throughout. Every single commercial break, Trebek would come down off the stage and wander through the audience, fielding questions from the audience. If he has been asked most of the questions a zillion times before, he didn't let on, and came off very gracious and informal.

Some of the things we learned:

-- Alex's drink of choice is chardonnay (not a huge surprise there for the erudite host). He does drink beer on occasion, but usually only with Indian food -- he likes to open a big bottle of Taj Mahal beer to wash it down.

-- He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Ottawa in 1961. He studied a lot of Thomas Aquinas, but now says his favorite philosopher is Mark Twain, also his favorite American author.

-- He has sustained two sports injuries -- he blew out his knee playing football as a young man, and needed dental work after a hockey injury he sustained when he was about 40.

-- What is he doing with that pen while he's up at the podium during the show? He's crossing out questions he's already asked -- the defiantly old-school Trebek has his questions not on a computer screen, but on a typewritten sheet of paper that a producer hands him right before they go on air. He estimates he knows about 60 percent of the answers.

-- "Jeopardy!" produces 46 weeks of shows every year, the most of any syndicated game show. But since the show shoots five shows a day, Trebek estimates that he works about 70 days a year. "Yeah, I got it good," he quipped. "I'm grateful."

-- I think, deep down, he wishes Will Ferrell was still on "Saturday Night Live" doing imitations of him.

Between shows, Gilbert showed off his dog to the crowd (who apparently gets a seat with Gilbert's wife front-row center), and the Clue Crew handed out swag to the crowd. Whenever there was an extended delay for technical reasons, Gilbert explained to the audience what was going on and how long it might take. It was smart, keeping the audience involved and feeling like a part of things.

The one danger spot for audience members was getting so caught up in the games (and they were good ones) that you forgot you weren't at home watching it on television. Unlike at home, you really have to bite your lip and not shout out the answer to the "Daily double." That would have been frowned upon.