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Narrator: The story you are about to see is fictional.
Narrator: The crimes are made up, but the characters are real.
[In the streets of Queens, Jon enters from the subway stairs]
Jon: [narrates] It was Monday, 10:00am. 2012 had just arrived yesterday. The ball has dropped from Times Square. And it's time for the second half of Season 4 to kick in. The captain is Greg Lee. The producer is Nick "TVLubber" Casiano. My name is Mann. I'm a consultant.
(He enters his office, and sees a production schedule)
Jon: (narrates) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? tapes five shows a week. The schedule of each taping week varies. Every episode of the show can't be without the clues, clue-informants, and singers who are also now known as ACME Detectives. I found a production schedule laying on my desk. It explains a summary of the process being used to produce each show, such as acapella group schedules, clue informant lists, and prize lists.
Sunday morning: All acapella groups were e-mailed the schedule of their assigned episodes who were going to be here for that week. Here is an example:
Monday: RP; DGP
Tuesday: CRP; DGP; O&C
Wednesday: ARP; O&C
Thursday: CRP; PP
Friday: ARP; DGP; C&C; MJ
These two-four letter codes represent the acapella group or singer's names:
ARP - All Rockapella
CRP - Classic Rockapella
RP - Current Rockapella
C&C - Chipmunks/Chipettes
DGP - Digipella
DP - Duelapella
DPGX - Duelapella GX
HP - Heavenpella
O&C - Oliverapella
RH - Hoodapella
BA - Bambi Apple
HW - Heather Williams
MJ - Marsha James
OA - Olivia Allen
Since Scott Leonard and Jeff Thacher are members of both classic and current Rockapella they will appear in both groups. Scotty is the only Rockapella member to appear on every single episode of the show with a few exceptions in Season 1 of the current series.
Early-Monday Morning: Nick arrives in the studio writes the script for each show. Such as song parodies, prize descriptions, clue-sketches, and Music-Net Extras. He then hands copies of the script to all the singers appearing that week, and to myself. It takes 3-4 hours to complete the script for all five shows.
Daily Production Schedule:
9am: The singers for the Monday show arrive. All the singers provide a read through of the script for that show.
10am: Any clue-sketch and Lighting Lot prizes from the singers is being rehearsed and blocked.
11:30: Greg Lee arrives and has a brief meeting with the singers.
Noon: LUNCH!!
1-3pm: The show does a 60-90 minute rehearsal. All the clues are being recorded. During that time, Nick chooses three singers who are going to introduce the Gumshoes and records their lines. Each singers goes into the recording studio and is given a Gumshoe name along with a small description of him/her.
(Cut to a recording studio, Scott records a Gumshoe description)
Scott: She's learning French, because she wants to visit Paris and see the Eiffel Tower. From New York City, meet Florence Scarlett!
2:30pm: The Pre-show segment (if any) is taped.
3pm: The audience arrives in the studio which the audience is located in the Map. It takes 30-45 minutes to load the audience in.
Jenny: In between portions of the day, I had to let my dogs outside for a little bit. Oliver is of course a major exception, he always goes into his litter box. I filled the box up to cat litter and in he goes. I placed the box on the door of Nick or Jon's office and that will be it.
Tea: After the pre-show segment is taped, I just fed Cody one last bottle of milk. Do a few little exercises and then we take our places.
Greg: I stand near the back of the alley, after I put my ear piece in. This ear piece is used to cue me, and some other talk from the producers and directors.
3:45 or 4pm: The taping session begins. It starts with an audience warm-up by myself then followed by Scott Leonard himself. It takes 30-minutes to warm up the audience. During this, all the body-mics are put on the Gumshoes and the singers. The first fifteen-twenty minutes of the warmup is used by me. I asked the audience brief questions, silly jokes, raps, and talks about the singers that are going to be used for today's show. Then, I handed the warm up mic to Scott Leonard.
Scott: I perform some Rockapella songs like Zombie Jamboree, Capital, and a little bit of the show's theme. And I even teached the audience members how to do dances.
4:30: All the singers take their places.
4:40: [The audience cheers and applauds]
Chief: All these people want to know...!
Rockapella: Where in the World is... Carmen Sandiego?
[They do the intro; now, to the Gumshoes]
The following cues still remain in the original show's version:
The Gumshoe Intro
All crook jingles (except for High Spirit, Summer Slykar, and Lookout)
National Geographic World!
The "risk-cue" and "trip think cues"
"All these people want to know!"
All "in jail" tunes
The map cue
The map timer music
LET'S GET PACKIN'!!!
The Theme song itself
Every single show has the following format in the correct order:
Gumshoe Introductions
The Case Intro
Gumshoe Interviews
1-3 Clues
Lighting Round
Phone Tap
2 Clues
The Chase
Final Clue
Jailtime Challenge
The Map
The Theme Song
7pm: The taping session ends. And it's time for all the singers to head back home to prepare for the next show if they are scheduled. The set is being cleaned up by either the janitors or some singers. One episode had the taping session end at 8pm which is intended to be a Friday episode.
The process repeats again until the Friday show. After that show, there is an after-week party. It is located at various points throughout New York. Some examples include the Duelapellas houses, a hotel meeting room, and Jenny's house.
Yugi: When we held an after week party, we had an air-hockey table, movies, and a DJ. After Cody was born, we watched classic Sesame Street episodes with him and various game show clips.
Jenny: Each time my group holds an after party, all the singers were invited to swim in my pool. And Alvin asked me....
Alvin: Jenny, why do we have to go swimming in the winter?
Jenny: Alvin, I have an indoor pool! The water temperature is 70 degrees. This is when all the singers would keep them safe and warm. Anyway, my pool is located downstairs in my house. I even have a hot tub for the adults. All the singers will have an excellent time with music, ping-pong, and lots of other games. Similar to a hotel's pool section.
Oliver: Jenny had to put me to her bedroom because I have a fear of falling into the pool. I fell in the pool when I was walking past it. Dodger jumped in and saved me. I would never go into that room again.
Road Trips:
Jon: When the show does a major road trip. All the singers are being told in advance on where the show is going to be taped at. Such as a beach, amusement park, or another venue.
Alvin: My favorite road trip episode is Hawaii. Because that's where we meet Misty's sisters.
Brittany: ALOHA!
Alexis: I remember that episode where I had a Luau for my 19th Birthday back in 2010. It's an episode I will never forget.
Jaden: All of the major events are done in one take. Because it's unscripted, uncut, unedited. Like a reality show.
Ash: I like the one where Pokepella went to Viva Las Vegas! Magic Week. Me and Rockapella had a very good time with the magic tricks. Because I love magic! So does Misty and so does Brock.
Anne-Marie: When I joined the show after the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2010, I was offered a round-trip ticket to Pittsburgh to tape a weekend version of the show because of my success. Charlie loves it!
Charlie: Right, Anne. But now it would be impossible for us to travel from the Big Easy to New York because of your schooling.
Anne-Marie: I can only do that in the Summer.
Charlie: Do you remember that we invited the daytime show to our hometown in the summer of that year?
Anne-Marie: Yes we did.
Marian: My favorite road trip episode is where we went to Venice Beach and saw Friar Tuck try to surf!
Tuck: Right, Marian. I haven't done that in ages. I have turned down many times to surf since we've been to the beach. But, this was my only chance.
(Said clip from "Blue Wern's Outta Here" plays)
Robin: After that segment was taped, we and the kids ran back to our hotel room to put on our regular summer clothes. Except for Marian and Sis. I tried to ask them to wear a shirt over it so that boys would leer at you wearing a bikini. The same rules apply to any female singer. They ignored me.
Marian: I always wear my bikini whenether I am taping a show.
Jenny: As what real game shows say "Models do not come with the prizes." If you want to take me on a date or a swim, ask me after the show.
(Laughter!)
