Appearing on Jeopardy! Friday. Who is Brookfield's Kathleen Meyer?

That familiar Jeopardy! jingle universally conjures images of cool blue cubes, questions for answers, and Alex Trebek. But Brookfield resident Kathleen Meyer’s deep passion for the show runs back to the Art Fleming era.

You can imagine the surreal feeling that Meyer felt in October while she stood on contestant’s row in Culver City, California and watched Trebek come out from backstage. She couldn’t let herself get too lost in wonderment, because within minutes she would need to have her clicker ready, and play for real money.

How did Meyer do?

Well you can find out tonight when her episode airs at 6 p.m. Friday on CBS 58.

“I have always been a fan of Jeopardy! all the way back when Art Fleming was the host,” Meyer said. “I like trivia, and I was always the person that would actually read the credits at the end of a movie.”

Meyer is a retired television columnist from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Now, she’s a community volunteer with the Elmbrook Humane Society, the Dahlia Society of Wisconsin, and the athletic department at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She’s also a general trivia connoisseur.

“I’d like to say I have very broad knowledge base,” Meyer said.

The process to appear on the show began way back in January 2012 when she took the online test on the Jeopardy! website. She received a call to appear in Chicago for a tryout of sorts with about 20 other people. She took a written test, played a mock Jeopardy! game, and was also interviewed.

However, don’t expect to get any clues on the entrance test or find out how she did before Friday. Meyer has signed a stack of paperwork with Sony Pictures Entertainment to keep things secret. And that stack grows every year as social media continues to grow, which makes it all the easier for loose lips to sink ships.

Shortly after her tryout, she received another call. This time, she was on her way to participate in the real game.

“I loved the whole experience,” Meyer said. “I definitely put a lot of thought into what I wanted to say during my introduction chat with Alex Trebek.”

Meyer also got a chance to visit Hollywood for the first time during her trip to California, which is basically the Mecca for a television columnist.

So tune in later this evening to see how Meyer did. She’ll be watching herself on the show she’s always loved with a few of her close friends tonight.