I never thought I would say this, but I felt smarter playing Jeopardy from the comfort of my television set than watching a live taping of the show in Culver City, L.A. No doubt, Alex Trebek is sassy and playful, but there was NO escaping the "entertainment" aspect of Hollywood -- the right facial expressions; intonations; the back and forth banter; the audience's fixed reaction, etc. It was all played and overplayed and replayed so that the best face of Jeopardy is shown on T.V. in this pretty (almost flawless) package. And it is that staged aspect of the taping that made me feel out of my skin; out of sorts; in an artificial world. Of course, none of the above took away from the absolute thrill of watching the most authentic part of the taping -- the reaction of the contestants, watching their brains choose categories; their nervous anticipation and exhalation (or sigh of anxiety) when they stumbled upon a Daily Double ; the defeated look on their faces when they lost a large sum of money or were in the "red." And then there is Alex's dry, jaded and punchy sense of humor that comes out when he's interviewing the contestants or reading the answers from the categories. What really sealed the deal is how the show was truly nostalgic, bringing about a continuous sense of constructive competition and a huge learning curve.