For Morningside resident Laura Caton, it’s always been a goal to compete on the syndicated TV game show “Jeopardy!” and in January she did just that, flying to Los Angeles to film tonight’s episode (7:30 p.m. WPXI-TV) at the Sony lot in Culver City.

“Jeopardy!” tapes a week’s worth of episodes in a day and as she waited for her turn after the filming of episodes pegged for April 10 and 11, she saw on the monitor the next episode up was for airing on “4-12” and she thought to herself, that has to be my episode because of the “412” of it all, Pittsburgh’s area code.

“I was like, that’s the one for you, baby. I gotta be on that day,” said Caton, 33. “It didn’t mean anything to anyone else but me, but I was delighted that it was gonna air on 412.”

Caton works as manager of operations for the school associated with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and first moved to Pittsburgh in 2007 to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where she majored in creative writing and German language, graduating in 2011. In 2013, she earned her master’s in German language and literature from Pitt before moving to New York to work in theater administration and later moving back to Pittsburgh, which she calls “my adopted hometown,” in 2017.

Caton grew up a military brat, living in multiple American cities (and Germany), but watching “Jeopardy!” with family was a constant in her life whenever she lived stateside. She began auditioning for “Jeopardy!” in high school, even flying to Los Angeles with her dad when she got a callback for the high school tournament. As an adult, she’s auditioned five or six times.

“I think it’s a combination of some luck and then how you do on the tests,” she said. “I don’t actually know why this time was the charm. … I think getting older helps, honestly. I feel more confident and a little bit less nervous with each time for sure.”

She said the biggest difference with being on the show compared to watching it is how much smaller categories appear from the contestant podium compared to the close-up titles viewers see on TV.

“It was very surreal,” she said of taping her first “Jeopardy!” appearance. “I was pinching myself the whole time. Did you see the picture of me with Ken? I don’t think I’ve taken a picture of me smiling that hard in 10 years.”

She complimented the “Jeopardy!” production team as “lovely, warm people” who want to put contestants at ease,” including Pittsburgh native Jimmy McGuire, a former member of the show’s “Clue Crew” who now works behind the scenes as a stage manger.

“He’s from Squirrel Hill, which I had never known before, so he and I were talking about that for a second,” Caton said. “The woman doing my makeup was Alex Trebek’s makeup artist for many years. And all the other contestants were hanging out in the holding area, and they’re my kind of nerds. We were all nerding out about ‘which Trivial Pursuit box set did you have?’ ”

Caton said host Ken Jennings was “super friendly and just very welcoming.”

“Between takes or between episodes, he’ll do little chats with the audience,” Caton said. “You can tell he just feels so passionately about (the show). He’s excited to be there and to keep carrying this torch for the show that’s meant so much to him.”

Caton doesn’t spend a lot of time on social media, but she is aware there’s a woman who posts “Jeopardy!” contestant wardrobe appreciations on Twitter “in this very sweet way, like a lovely aunt who is telling you how great you did. So I’m excited to see what she has to say about my outfit.”

Caton plans to watch her “Jeopardy!’ episode tonight with friends (“we’ll have some champagne, dinner, nothing too crazy”), and she’s grateful to co-workers who threw her a pizza party before she flew to L.A. for the taping.

Kept/canceled/spun off

Apple TV+ renewed “The Big Door Prize” for a second season.

NBC’s three “Law & Order” and three “Chicago” shows were renewed for the 2023-24 TV season.

Disney+ renewed “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” for a third and final season.

Showtime canceled “Ziwe” after two seasons.

As expected, Fox canceled “The Resident” after six seasons.

Netflix canceled “Sex/Life” after two seasons.

Netflix ordered an animated “Stranger Things” spin-off series.

Channel surfing

On the new season of “Deadliest Catch” (8 to 10 p.m. April 18, Discovery Channel), the show’s established captains get paired with newcomers to the franchise. Series vet and Westmoreland City native “Wild” Bill Wichrowski takes on Linda Greenlaw, the only female swordfishing captain and survivor of “The Perfect Storm.” … Disney+ with ads is finally available on Roku.

You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow Rob on Twitter or Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.

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