WORTH NOTING ON TV

MONDAYWhere in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): Okay, maybe there is something a little unsettling about a public TV series based on a computer game. But the intentions are good: to let 8-to-13-year-olds learn a little geography as they track down the fictitious culprit mentioned in the title. She could be anywhere, and three young sleuths have to decipher and follow up a range of clues. Part of PBS's "Showcase Week" of premieres, the program is fast-moving and slightly MTV-ish in style: The Rocka pella group sings and acts, celebrities like Walter Cronkite file "reports," and viewers can win trips. The American Experience (PBS, 9-11 p.m.): One of the best series on TV starts its new season with a big show on a big subject: "LBJ" is a two-parter about Lyndon Baines Johnson, the poor Texas farm boy who became president, launched a visionary social program and waged a war that ultimately destroyed his career. Five years in the making, the documentary should prove irresistible: interviews with people who are major figures in their own right, home movies, rare stills, and through it all the feeling of a Greek tragedy. (Part 2 airs Oct. 1.)

WEDNESDAY Edge (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): The subject itself - American pop culture - is indefinable and mercurial. Put that into a locale-hopping, magazine-style format covering six or so topics each week, and you have some notion of what the series premiering here is about. Among the opening segments, for example: a search for the perfect Grateful Dead concert and a quirky docudrama look at Norman Mailer. Robert Krulwich of CBS News and National Public Radio is host.

Please check local listings, especially on PBS.