Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is a popular children's television game show loosely based on the computer games of the same name created by now defunct Brøderbund Software. World aired on PBS from September 30, 1991 to October 4, 1996 and starred Lynne Thigpen as "The Chief", Greg Lee as "The ACME Special Agent (renamed Senior Agent for Seasons 3-5) in charge of training new recruits" and Rockapella as the house vocal band and comedy troupe. Rockapella featured Sean Altman (tenor), Elliot Kerman (baritone), Barry Carl (bass) and Scott Leonard (high tenor), with Jeff Thacher (vocal percussion) joining in the final season of the show.

World holds the record for being the longest-running game show on PBS and as the second longest running children's game show in U.S. television history behind Double Dare (for which Greg was a contestant coordinator). The show received the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in 1993. The show's theme song, penned by Altman and David Yazbek, is one of the most well-known themes in television history according to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 2001, TV Guide ranked the show at #47 on its list of 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time.

Origins
Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? was created partially as a response to a National Geographic survey that found Americans had an alarmingly low knowledge of geography with one in four being unable to locate the Soviet Union or the Pacific Ocean. The series, started by Brøderbund in 1985, was developed for television by Howard Blumenthal, Dorothy Curley and Dana Calderwood and it was produced by WGBH, Boston and WQED, Pittsburgh. The show premiered in prime time on September 30, 1991. The game franchise also inspired the unrelated Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, which ran on Fox Kids from 1994 to 1999.

Plot of each episode
The bulk of each World episode consisted of three child contestants (typically 10-14 years of age) answering questions to determine the location of one of Carmen Sandiego's wacky crooks with zany sketches being performed to provide clues. Eventually, the contestant with the lowest score was eliminated, and the remaining two contestants played a Concentration-esque game to capture the day's crook. The winning contestant then moved onto the final round, where siren lights had to be correctly placed on a giant map as locations were named. If the player was successful in this round, Carmen Sandiego was "captured" and the contestant won a trip to anywhere in the continental United States in season 1, expanded to anywhere in North America in season 2 and beyond.

Production
The first season's programs were recorded at Chelsea Studios in Manhattan, but subsequent seasons were recorded at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, home to another PBS hit show, Sesame Street. Contestants were required to reside in the New York City area. The executive producers were Jay Rayvid and Kate Taylor and the directors were Dana Calderwood and Hugh Martin. The programs were produced by Howard Blumenthal, Jonathan Meath, and Ariel Schwartz. The series' writers included McPaul Smith, Charles Nordlander, Dorothy Curley, and James Greenberg. The original stage settings were designed by Jim Fenhagen with subsequent art direction by Laura Brock.

Post-production
Following the completion of taping for the first season in 1991, massive geopolitical changes in the world, such as the dissolution of the Soviet Union, rendered the entire season geographically inaccurate and these episodes have not been seen since. Later seasons included the practice of Lynne Thigpen announcing a disclaimer over the credits with the tape date and copyright date that "all geographic information was accurate as of the date this program was recorded".

Starting in season three, home viewers were asked to participate in a contest. They were told to write down what was stolen and from where on each day's show. If they wrote down four correct loots and locations on a postcard with their name and address, and sent it to the show's address, they were entered in the contest. Each day, the producers picked 5 people with correct lists and sent each of them a Carmen Sandiego T-shirt.

Sixty-five episodes were produced each season (except for the last two which each have fifty episodes) and were shown four times a year. The show ended after five seasons and 296 episodes. It was replaced by Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?. Although World, or at least this version of it, was never broadcast outside the United States and Canada, it was adapted as a local production in Spain and Italy. Germany had its own version, aired on ARD, called Jagd um die Welt – schnappt Carmen Sandiego? in 1994. Canada's Télé-Québec produced a French language version called Mais, où se cache Carmen Sandiego? (But Where is Carmen Sandiego Hiding?) which aired between 1995 and 1998 and stars Pauline Martin as "The Chief" and Martin Drainville as ACME Agent in Charge of Training New Recruits.

Funding
The show was funded primarily by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the annual financial support of Viewers Like You. Delta Air Lines, Holiday Inn and Toyota also provided funding at various points during the run.

Opening
In the show's opening sequence, the three child contestants (gumshoes) are introduced as the stars in Season 1 in the alley followed by Greg's introduction as today's episode is shown. The Chief explains what kind of spectacularly impossible heist one of the crook from Carmen Sandiego's outlandish henchpeople has pulled. The dossier of the crook then appears on the screen. Carmen and her crooks were, in contrast to the live-action actors and the child contestants, portrayed as cartoon characters and were never shown directly interacting with the live-action people.

The Chief's description of the day's theft was accompanied by an animation of the crook, inserted into stock photographs, perpetrating the crime in a humorous way (the photographs were doctored to show the loot being removed from the scene). The opening typically ended with the Chief explaining for what silly or petty reason the crook wanted the loot (example: Vic the Slick steals Carmen Island as a gift for Carmen Sandiego's birthday (although wrapping it will be tough), Patty Larceny steals the Lascaux cave paintings so she can turn them in as her school art project, and the Liberty Bell for her history project, Wonder Rat steals the Kenyatta Conference Center so that he can make it the centerpiece of his resort, "Rat-lantic City," and WSKG-TV so that he can rename it "R-TV" (Rat Television) 24 hours a day written, directed, and starring himself etc.)

In season 2, today's episode is shown followed by where the theft took place and what the crook has stolen. The gumshoes were shown in the alley as well as Greg's arrival. The Chief showed the viewers the dossier of the crook.

In season 3, the gumshoes were introduced from the Arrivals room as well as today's crook and his/her/their last known whereabouts and what they have stolen followed by today's episode before Greg's introduction.

In seasons 4 and 5, the Chief selects three gumshoes in her office and they were introduced as they left the office and stood at their podiums before Greg's arrival. Rockapella was introduced by Greg. Today's crook is introduced, his/her/their last known whereabouts is heard, and what they have stolen is shown as well as today's episode.

Round One
Each gumshoe was given fifty "ACME crime bucks" (the show's official currency) to begin the round. Various comedy sketches were performed, each providing clues to a geographical location of the day's crook. After the clues were provided, a map with three possible locations, all within proximity to one another, were shown to the players. Each gumshoe simultaneously selected their answer and then revealed that answer to Greg. Each correct answer earned a gumshoe 10 crime bucks. The typical course of the round would be as follows:


 * Lightning Round - After three sketches were performed (2 in season 5, and sometimes in season 2), the game moved to the "Lightning Round" which began with a deliberately cheesy lightning effect. Greg read three questions about the last location visited and provided three possible answers for each. The first gumshoe to buzz in with the right answer earned five crime bucks. If no gumshoes buzzed in in time (indicated by a single-note buzzer), or buzzed in but nobody got the right answer, Greg would reveal the correct answer himself.
 * Chief's Office Sketch - After the Lightning Round, Greg was always called into the Chief's office for a special briefing or conversation or lunch. This was used as a comedy break, an opportunity for a bizarre interaction between the Chief and Greg. Sometimes, the Chief doesn't call Greg in her office. Instead, Greg would choose to just go in her office. To end the break the Chief would almost always (less often in the later seasons) say exasperatedly, "Greg, go away." In Seasons 1 and 2, the sketches were used to promote the grand prize to whoever caught Carmen Sandiego in the final round. In season 3 and beyond, the sketches were used to promote the contest for the home viewers. In those episodes, Greg would promote the grand prize to the gumshoes upon his arrival to the studio and greeting the gumshoes one-by-one. He would follow up by saying, "And that isn't bad."  However, in some episodes, there is no office sketch. But in most of these instances, the Chief quickly promotes the grand prize and announces the Phone Tap. (In seasons 3 and 4, Greg announced the Phone Tap and the contest was described during the end credits.) These sketches were always pre-recorded, and often re-used. If a sketch continued as Greg left the office and returned to the live shoot, the sequence had to be re-created live each time the sketch was used.
 * Greg Lee's Training Exercise - In the final season, a new mini-game was added, and was played after the Chief's conversation with Greg. This replaced one clue. Greg met the gumshoes (who are either chatting or reading the newspaper) in the alley, and they come across a few trash cans. Most of the time, Greg's can contained a gag. One example: As Greg tried to lift the lid, Barry Carl's voice would intone, "WARNING! This bag is full, and can only be activated by saying 'Swordfish.'" On several occasions, Greg's can would contain a video camera - the screen would cut to that camera while Greg explained the rules. Once that was done, Greg took out a card with a flag of a country. The gumshoes then raced to grab a similar card out of their own cans, ending by putting the lid on the can. After that, each gumshoe would get a clue (e.g., language, captital, government, etc) about the country in question. Greg would give three choices for the country, and the gumshoes would then offer their answers in turn, starting with the first one to get their clue card and lid their can. The first gumshoe to guess the right country earned 10 ACME Crime Bucks, and the ACME Bug Net next to Greg will signal Greg and the gumshoes to go to the Phone Tap.
 * Phone Tap Sequence - After the break, the gumshoes watched an animated phone conversation (aka "phone tap" ) between Carmen and the day's crook, courtesy of ACME Bug Net. In this sequence Carmen would tell the crook where to go and, typically, become exasperated by the crook's stupidity. The gumshoes were than asked where the crook went. In the first through third seasons, Greg would formally introduce the phone tap to the gumshoes, but sometimes in season three and most of season four, as the Chief's office sketches continued outside the office, Greg would usually just say "Phone tap." to cue the video.
 * Several other clues were presented and questions answered. Two or three more skits and questions took place before the next break.
 * The Chase - Starting with season two, there was a new series of five questions known as "The Chase" beginning with a funny chase scene performed by Rockapella and occasionally with the Chief (or on rare occasions Greg) participating if either one of them was attacked/robbed by a Rockapella member. While the Lightning Round asked questions related to the last visited country, The Chase provided clues about countries within proximity to the location last visited, indicating that the gumshoes were close on the trail. Each question had three locations as choices and the first gumshoe to buzz in with the right answer received five crime bucks. As with the Lightning Round, there was no penalty assessed for an incorrect response, though unlike the Lightning Round, only one player could buzz in and answer, although in some early Season 2 episodes, more than one player could buzz in and answer. An incorrect response resulted in Greg giving the right answer.

After a few more clues or The Chase, Greg showed the gumshoes one more map, in this case before the skit was performed. Gumshoes were asked to make a wager of zero, 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 ACME Crime Bucks on their ability to provide a correct answer. The final skit was performed and gumshoes locked in their guesses. Anyone with a right answer had their wager added to his or her score, and anyone with a wrong answer had their wager subtracted from his or her score. The top two gumshoes at this point moved on to the day's crook's Jailtime Challenge (Round 2), while the third-placed gumshoe was eliminated.

In case of a tie for second place, Greg read clues related to a famous person or place (typically a U.S. state). Gumshoes could buzz in as often as they wanted; the first gumshoe to buzz in with the correct answer moved on to Round Two. Generally speaking, the last clue would contain the answer (for example, "This state's capital, Oklahoma City, is one of only two whose name contains the name of the state"). If in a three-way tie, then Greg will read two tiebreaker questions and only two will be tied and move on to the next round.

Round Two - Jailtime Challenge
The two remaining gumshoes "traveled" to their final destination from round one, where The Chief described various landmarks in that country, city or region, called a "Photo Recon". Often, these descriptions were silly; the writers always used this sequence as an opportunity to poke fun (in one notable visit to Key West, for example, the camera zoomed in on graffiti on a small landmark and the Chief openly scolded the people who had spray painted their initials on a marker). Fifteen names of the local landmarks were placed on a board. Hidden behind three of the landmarks were the loot that was stolen at the beginning of the show, the warrant to arrest the crook, and the crook him/herself. Hidden behind the remaining landmarks were a pair of shoe prints (sometimes one or three), which means nothing was there.

The gumshoe in the lead after Round 1 played first (if the two gumshoes were tied, a coin toss determines who would start; early in season 1, the gumshoe to Greg's left goes first in the case of a tie). If a gumshoe found any of the three key items, he or she could select again. A gumshoe's turn ended if he/she did one of 3 things:

1. Find a box with shoe prints

2. Took too much time (10-second limit) picking a location (which happened very few times)

3. Find the loot, the warrant, and the crook in the wrong order in a single turn (which happened on at least four occasions)

Gumshoes alternated turns until one found the loot, the warrant and the crook in that order in a single turn (as the loot is the evidence needed to get a warrant and the warrant is needed to arrest the crook). When a gumshoe found all three items in the correct order, he or she was given the right to "put the crook in jail" by pulling on a hanging chain before proceeding to the final round to catch Carmen Sandiego. The other Gumshoe was eliminated.

On the one occasion in the show's history that one gumshoe (Ali Haider) won the Jailtime Challenge on the first try, he not only won the game, but also earned the chance to win a $100 savings bond. The bond was hidden behind one of the remaining 12 landmarks, and Ali was given 5 chances to find it, although he was unsuccessful in doing so. Because winning the Jailtime Challenge on the first try only happened once, no one won the savings bond.

Final Round - The Map
In the final round, the gumshoe was given a chance to try to catch Carmen Sandiego herself. If successful, he/she won an all-expenses paid trip to anywhere in the lower 48 states (expanded to anywhere in North America starting with season 2). After the gumshoe wrote down their desired trip destination, the disgruntled crook then "called" the sleuth on a telephone so as to rat on Carmen. The crook gave the general location of Carmen Sandiego, one of four continents (South America, Europe, Africa, or Asia), or the United States. After season 2, the U.S. was replaced with North America. The Chief then gave a list of 13 possible locations Carmen may have traveled, either countries, states, cities, islands, bodies of water, national parks, or national monuments on that continent.

The gumshoe was then presented with a giant map that covered the floor of the studio, with dots marking the cities and islands, squares marking national parks and monuments, and arrows marking bodies of water (the national parks were only used in North America in seasons 3-4, and bodies of water were used in all continents except Africa in seasons 3-5). As Greg read the locations, the gumshoe had to place a marker with a red flashing siren light on the correct location on the map. If the gumshoe placed the marker on the correct location (indicated by a siren), that marker was activated and the contestant was given the next location. If he or she was wrong (indicated by a two-note buzzer), the gumshoe was given one more chance to move the marker. After two incorrect guesses (indicated by a 4-note-buzzer in season 1), he/she needed to pick up a new marker and another location was read or the next answer wouldn't count. Later on in the round, if the gumshoe needed to move incorrectly-located markers in order to identify correct locations, they were allowed to do so. Overall, the biggest challenge was the fact that from the gumshoe's perspective, the map is upside down, which was often given as a reason for a loss.

If within 45 seconds (60 in at least 2 season 1 episodes when the Asia map was used), the gumshoe could successfully identify 7 locations (8 after season 1) on the map, they captured Carmen Sandiego, become a sleuth, and won the trip. If not, they would win consolation prizes. From Season 2 and beyond, if they lost, the Chief would congratulate and promote the gumshoe to a sleuth.

The round would end with a simulation of a newspaper headline. If the Gumshoe won, the headline would read "Gumshoe's name Captures Carmen!". If the Gumshoe failed, however, the headline would read "Carmen Escapes Again!".

Sometimes, the gumshoe fell down while in the final round. The one noticable is in the unaired episode Auld Lang Gone, where a gumshoe named Jasmine Doman broke her arm on the Europe map. The episode stopped taping for a moment. (Ed Mann took Jasmine's place after she got injured, and he captured Carmen with 13 seconds remaining.)[citation needed]

Closing
The show is noted for concluding with Greg, the sleuth and the audience pointing and yelling "Do it, Rockapella!" into the camera, signifying the group to begin again their title song for the animated closing credits, which depicted members of Carmen's gang stealing the names of production staff members against a background resembling a notepad (for the final season a black backdrop with confetti was used). After the credits and in season 2 (sometimes in season 1), the audience was invited onto the map to dance and sing the theme song. Greg and Rockapella sang and danced with audience members. Even the eliminated gumshoes would come out once again to dance with the sleuth, until the end of season 3, which they did not dance anymore.

Afterwards (beforewards during the 1st season), the Chief, who has joined in the celebration from her office, said "This is Lynne Thigpen speaking for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and remember, (something funny in rhyme)" Sometimes the funny rhyme part wasn't heard, and (during some of the 1st season episodes) "See ya next time!" was said instead. Before the camera fade, a disclaimer would appear on the screen reading, "All contestants have been briefed prior to their appearance." In Seasons 2 and 3, Lynne Thigpen read the disclaimer aloud. Seasons 4 and 5 did not have the disclaimer.

Beginning in season 2, there was also voiceover disclaimer by Thigpen stating that "All geographic information is accurate as of the date this program was recorded." This was probably added due to the dissolution of both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia when the show's first season was taped, causing some episodes to be rerun with outdated geographic information, despite the fact that a vast majority of game show reruns have included outdated information in any topic whatsoever. It was also during Season 2 and beyond when the actual recording date of each program was shown on the bottom of the screen (rather than just the year, as in Season 1).

Variations
Every new season brought at least one change in the order of the show's format. Some of these were:

All Seasons

 * In some season 3 episodes, the Chief would inform Greg that they're out of ACME Travel Kits, so Greg would tell her to use a holographic version of it, although the Gumshoe would still receive the real kit.
 * The Carmen Sandiego t-shirt style and design varied from season to season.
 * In some Season 2 episodes, the same background vocals sung by Rockapella when the gumshoes were introduced (Seasons 1 & 2), and (in Season 3) after the crook, loot, and title of the episode were revealed, played during The Chase--when Greg read the clues for the crook's latest whereabouts and the gumshoes buzzed in to identify the answers.
 * In Seasons 4 and 5, the Lightning Round began with either actual lightning bolts or other objects of some sort, or often a pair of hands.
 * In Season 5, "The Chase" theme was changed slightly, musically speaking, for reasons unexplained.
 * Occasionally when the show ended early, filler segments would be added to the episode to fill the allotted time. Appearing only in "The Disoriented Express", Greg asks the younger audience questions. The prize for getting them correct is a Carmen Sandiego sweatshirt or the object that the question is about. For the rest of the first season, the Chief called audience members into her office so that they would answer a multiple-choice geography question. If answered correctly, the audience member would win a Carmen Sandiego sweatshirt); if wrong or if he/she says he/she doesn't know, he/she received an atlas, and the Chief would tell him/her the correct answer. All the same, those selected audience members would return as gumshoes in later episodes. Sometimes an "ACME Music Net Extra" (a song by Rockapella) was featured, such as "Zombie Jamboree" (performed after shortened Season 1 episodes) and "Capital", a song of state capitals (performed after shortened Season 5 episodes). Other songs included parodies of Billy Joel's "The Longest Time" (performed after some shortened Season 2 episodes--in which Rockapella sang about various seas worldwide) and The Hollies's "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" (performed after some shortened Season 2 episodes--in which Rockapella sang about the 15 countries that gained independence from the Soviet Union during the 1991 breakup of the U.S.S.R., which took place after the making of Season 1) . One other song (performed after some shortened Season 2 episodes) featured Rockapella, Greg Lee, and Nana Rap (a recurring Rap music cartoon cluegiver during various episodes) rapping about the five biggest islands [in ascending order] in the world. It's currently unknown whether the audience games or the ACME Music Net Extras carried over to Seasons 3 and 4 if the game ended early. However, in one episode in Season 3, the theme song was extended to its full-length version (with Rockapella performing/lip-synching it on camera), as heard live in concert or on studio recording.
 * In Seasons 2 and 3 at the end of the Jailtime Challenge, after the winning gumshoe received a telephone call from the crook, telling him/her where to go catch Carmen, Greg would ask him/her where the crook said to go. The gumshoe(s) would respond by saying the name of the continent, and Greg would verbally cue the Chief to name the list of places Carmen may have traveled in that continent. In Seasons 4 and 5, after the crook informed the gumshoe of Carmen's whereabouts, Greg would cue the Chief immediately without asking the winning gumshoe for a summary of the conversation first. In Season 1, Greg would either ask the winning gumshoe about where to find Carmen, or he would say (in the early-recorded non-pilot episodes), "Well, so much for honor among thieves, it looks like we're/you and I are going to (name of continent). Chief?"
 * Sometimes, when there is still extra time, and Greg and the winning gumshoe awaited a telephone call from the crook notifying them of Carmen's whereabouts, the caller would be a celebrity (such as Norm Abram, Neil Patrick Harris, Dennis Miller, Senator Joe Biden, etc.) giving Greg and the gumshoe motivation to catch Carmen. After the brief stint, the crook would call and the game would continue as normal.
 * While the Contessa was a regular villain in the first season, she disappeared from Carmen's gang until her return in the fourth season with a new outfit. Her vocal mannerisms and theme music remained consistent with the first season.
 * During the first season, the Chief would introduce the gumshoes, and talk directly to them. From the second season and beyond, she stopped doing that, due to the fact that the show has moved and almost every one of her appearances have been pre-recorded for unexlpained reasons. Barry Carl took over introducing the gumshoes. In some episodes, Scott Leonard introduced the Gumshoes.
 * In the first and second season, after the first clue in round one (before the game starts in the early episodes) Greg would ask the gumshoes to tell a little about themselves. After season 2, Barry Carl described the gumshoes as he introduced them.
 * At different points throughout the first round of each episode from Season 2 and beyond (and sometimes before the game starts), Greg Lee would remind everybody that "all of our answers have been verified by National Geographic World." Rockapella would follow up by singing, "National Geographic World!"
 * In episodes of the final season, rather than walking to the station in seasons one through four where the thief was last seen, Greg and the two contestants were teleported to the station via a modem while holding their breaths, probably due to the growing prospects of the internet that would follow in the late 1990s.
 * For the first season credits, during the scrolling credits part, stills of Carmen's henchmen stealing items from their proper locations were placed behind the scrolling credits. From season two and beyond, the henchmen rather popped out behind, or in some cases, in front of the credits amidst the same notepad-like background used at the beginning and end. The final season used a black background with falling confetti.
 * In rare occasions, Greg would hilariously be involved in an actual chase during "The Chase", which has happened in at least two episodes, "What's What with Watts?" (when Sean throws a snowball at Greg) and "Auld Lang Gone" (when Sean stole Greg's jacket).
 * In the first season while doing the briefing (aka Photo Recon) of the final location in Round 1, the Chief used a slide projector and showed slides of various landmarks in the particular location while a business-style music theme played in the background. In Season 2, the Chief displayed the landmarks from the location via a television screen she inserted into a monitor that popped up from her desk when she knocked or tapped with her magnifying glass. (The music also vanished after the first season.) From Season 3 onward, she traveled along with Greg and the gumshoes to the final location and gave the descriptions there on the Jailtime Challenge board (in which the board turns into a video wall after Greg inserts a mini-monitor (a different shape is used in early-recorded season 3 episodes) with the Chief on it (seasons 3 and 4 only) and hits a button to summon her). There, starting in season 4, the Chief used a push button remote control for the slide show. In Season 5, the remote control was changed to two knobs, one to teleport Greg and the gumshoes to the location via modem, and the other to change one slide to another.
 * In Season 1, when the Chief read the list of places Carmen may have traveled for the Final Round, Carmen did not walk across the screen. She did in most of the last 4 seasons.
 * For the first through third seasons of the show, the scoreboard and the clock that were displayed during the map round were both white (in season one, they had blue outlines). During the last 2 seasons, they were switched to yellow. Regardless, the time counted down graphically during the enire round (the colored-in portion would gradually shrink), and a final 9-second numerical countdown was also seen inside the clock.
 * During the final 2 seasons of the show, the newspaper at the end of the map round had the image of Carmen either behind bars (if she was caught) or disappear, leaving only a white shadow (if she escaped).
 * Also during the final two seasons after Round 1, Greg would step up to the eliminated Gumshoe and give him/her a high-five before the Chief would announce the consolation prize for the eliminated Gumshoe.
 * Also during the final two seasons as the Gumshoe catches the crook in the Jailtime Challenge, he/she pulled the chain by him/herself while Greg stood by the eliminated Gumshoe.
 * Only one episode (Disturbing the Heavenly Peace) has a teamup with the gumshoes. The teammates are celebrities, Mayim Bialik (Blossom), Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Jeremy Miller (Growing Pains). The winning gumshoe (Lindsey Wolper) and celebrity (Jeremy Miller) had made it to the final round, but failed to catch Carmen in Asia. Since it was the only celebrity special, there were no more teamups since, and it's meaning the headline never, not ever said "(Gumshoe's Name) and (Gumshoes's Name) Capture Carmen!"
 * In the Season 2 finale (Gotta Get a Yeti), a gumshoe (Tahare Campbell) answered a question right but it was counted as incorrect. This was the first (and only) episode to have a geographical error. After the episode ended (and before the funding credits), there showed a message in which the Chief said, "Due to a geographical error, Tahare Campbell will return in a future episode in the next season." In season 3's "The Glacier Erasure", he was invited back, and this time, he made it all the way to the final round and captured Carmen in Asia.
 * In Season 1, Greg would alternate in jackets (red or green). In all of season 2, he wore a dark-blue jacket. In seasons 3-5, he always wore bright-blue. In the earlier-recorded Season 1 episodes, the Chief would wear a green suit. She wore a regular red suit for the rest of the series.
 * Also in Season 1, Rockapella's street outfits varied from one episode to another. In earlier-recorded episodes, they would wear actual street clothing. From Season 2 on, each member of the group wore the same outfit, respectively, for every episode.
 * In seasons 3 and 4, as Greg, the gumshoes and the Chief travel to the final destination to capture the day's crook, the show would cut to an old clip of transportations (e.g. a horse and buggy, hot air balloon, rocketship, monorail, etc.) as a pretender of how they travel (though they were actually walking to the station). The clip would then cut back to the show as they arrived.
 * Beginning in Season 3, "The Corporation For Public Broadcasting" logo that appeared in the funding credits on the revolving Planet Earth in outer space at the beginning and end of each episode contained the add-on, "A Private Corporation Funded By The American People". That same year (1993), many other PBS shows produced by the CPB contained the same logo in their funding credits as well.
 * In season 3 and beyond, as Rockapella sang the show's theme song in the credits, the line from the first bridge ("She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe, Chicago to Czechoslovakia and back!" (used in the first 2 seasons) was replaced with the line from the second bridge (Botswana to Thailand, Milan via Amsterdam, Mali to Bali, Ohio,). "And back" was added after the word Ohio and "she go" was added before the word Botswana. This was due to the break up of Czechoslovakia.

Pilot/Early Episodes

 * The first filmed episodes of the first season did not require the correct order of the loot, warrant and crook in the Jailtime Challenge.
 * On the first filmed episodes, a slightly different scoring system was used. Gumshoes started with 125 ACME Crime Bucks, with correct answers resulting in 10 Crime Bucks being subtracted (spent), and incorrect answers costing the players 15. It was confusing, and so it was changed after the pilot episodes were recorded. Also in these episodes, the map of the United States was used in the bonus round, and the markers placed on it were flags of each state. Sound effects from Double Dare (5 quick bells and a short buzz, respectively) were used instead of the usual siren and two-note buzzer in the pilots; in addition, the time buzzer sound was performed by one of the Rockapella singers (in addition to the music). Sound effects from other various game shows were used in the other early-recorded episodes until the flags were replaced by markers.
 * In the earlier 1st Season episodes, Lee would read a description of a location before giving the name of the location itself in the bonus round. He did this with the United States map in the first few recorded episodes, and he did this with the Europe map in the mid-early episodes (the Europe map would never be used again afterwards until the 2nd season). Only 2 Gumshoes captured Carmen in each of the two different formats. Starting in the mid-late episodes, Greg would just read the location, and more than twice as many gumshoes captured Carmen.
 * In the pilots, the limit on the amount of Crime Bucks that could be wagered was 25 (20 in the first pilot), in increments of 5.
 * Also in the pilot episodes, there was no Lightning Round.
 * In the pilots, Greg Lee does not take off his hat throughout the whole show.
 * In the pilot episodes, the 2nd round winner didn't pull the chain to throw the criminal in jail; instead, they showed a clip of the criminal in jail after the Chief told what the consolation prize was.
 * Also in the pilot episodes, some of the audience would support the gumshoes in the 2nd round.
 * Also in the pilot episodes, Greg would tell the Gumshoes that Carmen Sandiego is in the United States.
 * Also in the pilot episodes, the trips are selected by the Gumshoes prior to the show rather than prior to the Map.
 * Also in the pilot episodes, Greg and the Sleuth yelled "Hit it, fellas!", a line that would briefly be replaced by a much more common line, "Do it, Rockapella!"
 * Africa was used in Vic the Slick's debut recorded episode, "Who Stole the Hole?", but since only the United States was available, the continents never used flags, and Africa would not be available until the mid-late episodes of the Season, meaning the bonus round was shot several weeks after the 2nd round.
 * In these episodes, the Chief would give a list of 12 instead of 13 places Carmen may have traveled.
 * Also in early episodes, the telephone (in the 2nd round) is a strange object like a vase or a shoe (a possible homage to the detective series Get Smart).
 * In non-pilot early episodes, the Chief would congratulate the sleuth for capturing Carmen. This has only occurred at least three times.

Grand Prize
For each trip, the winning sleuth, their parent, and a guest flew round-trip coach (courtesy of Delta Airlines, the official airline of the show) from New York City to the selected location. The sleuth spent one week at a luxury hotel chosen by the Chief (usually the Holiday Inn). Later in Season 4, the contestant stayed in the hotel of their choice. A rental car was included since Season 3 (provided by Toyota). The contestants also received $100 (increased to $200 in Season 2, $500 in Season 4, $1,000 in the second half of the final season) to add to their Crime Bucks as spending money.

The trip to anywhere in the lower 48 States/North America was really chosen from a list of possible destinations. The winning sleuth generally writes down the identifying state, province, or country. Occasionally, they identify a city as well.

Consolation prizes
Eliminated gumshoes received a set of consolation prizes called the official ACME Crimenet Travel Kit (towards the end of season 3, the Chief would tell Greg that ACME Crime Net would be out of kits, so Greg would tell her to use a holographic version of it, although the Gumshoe will still receive the real kit) (renamed Travel Pack in Season 4, then to ACME Gumshoe Gear in Season 5). Some of the consolation prizes on the show included:

'''ACME Travel Kit: This was given by the Chief to the third place contestant. This typically included:'''


 * World Atlas by Rand McNally
 * Official Carmen Sandiego watch (Season 1-3)
 * Official Carmen Sandiego sweatshirt (pilots and late season 1)/T-Shirt (early season 1 and seasons 2-5)
 * One year subscription to National Geographic World magazine
 * A portable basketball globe, with which the Chief would either try to make a basket behind her back or slam dunk it into the basket in the back corner of her office (Seasons 2-3)
 * The ACME Travel Pack (backpack with the WiTWiCS logo, and the ACME Crime Net Logo) (Season 4; which has the atlas, t-shirt, and magazine)
 * ACME Voice Identification Badge and Leave-a-Message Wallet (Season 4)
 * ACME Pen Recorder (Season 5)
 * The ACME Crime Net Cap (Season 5)

Typically given to the second place contestant in addition to the ACME Travel Kit:
 * A pocket translator (Seasons 1-3)
 * Two ACME Secret Senders (Personal Organizers) (Seasons 4 and 5)
 * A world-band radio (Seasons 1-4)
 * Automatic camera (Season 3)
 * Digital Encyclopedia (Entire Series except for Season 5)

Typically given for a final round loss:
 * (after final round, both lose and win) a Carmen Sandiego "Sleuth" Jacket (the gumshoe's vest and coat would usually be removed in order to put on the jacket); if the sleuth got at least 6 locations right in the Map, they receive a camera as well. (Season 2)
 * A portable CD player, and a library of CDs from around the world (a CD by Rockapella, featuring the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? theme song included in seasons 2 and 3) (Seasons 1 and 3, but was given for advancing to the 2nd round in season 2)
 * A boom box (season 4)
 * A portable color television (season 5)

Fundings

 * Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1991-1996)
 * Viewers Like You (1991-1996)
 * Holiday Inn (1991-1993)
 * Toyota (1991-1994)
 * Delta Air Lines (1994-1996)

The opening variant is "Today's Caper is [presented by WQED Pittsburgh and WGBH Boston. Carmen's gang is] bankrolled by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by Viewers Like You. [Corporate Bucks provided by (Holiday Inn and) Toyota.]" Both speeches in brackets were used in seasons 1-2.

The closing variant is "This program was [presented by WQED Pittsburgh and WGBH Boston. And as always, gumshoes, Carmen's gang is] bankrolled by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by Viewers Like You. [Corporate Bucks provided by Toyota.]" The first speech in brackets was used in seasons 3-5 and the second speech in brackets was used in season 3 but was changed into "Corporate bucks provided by Delta Air Lines." and was used in seasons 4-5.