Oh, I admit it's a fantasy. It's one that I suppose could happen, although I tend to take the subway more than taxicabs in Manhattan. But, I do take cabs now and then. Sometimes I even get a cabbie who can speak English or one doesn't drive like a maniac. Yep, it happens!
But...what if I got in a NYC taxicab and all of a sudden lights started flashing across the ceiling like a bad flashback to the Studio 54 disco days? What if I had a driver whose name was easy to pronounce? Oh, something as easy to say as "Ben Bailey"? What if, out of the 13,000 taxicabs in the city, I caught the Cash Cab? Easy money or I'd fall on my face, kicked out of the cab in the rain, in a bad neighborhood or wherever I happened to hit the third wrong answer to the quiz questions posed by Ben, a real NYC cab driver in a real NYC taxi. Albeit, it's the Cash Cab, a relatively new show on the Discovery Channel.
Like many successful shows as far back as All in the Family and as recent as American Idol, this show originated in the United Kingdom. But now that it's based in New York City, it takes on a life of its own in a city close to my heart, and perhaps the hearts of others who like to see actual Manhattan doings. New York is one of those cities that draws folks in from far and wide. I'm lucky enough to live close enough to go into Manhattan for an evening out and still make it to work in the morning. But many who are mesmerized by its magic settle to just see it on television and in the movies. Cash Cab isn't only a fun little game show, it's a trip (or several) through the city and a peek at the city life in Manhattan.
Article comments
1 - Joanie
Congrats! Your article was chosen for Advance.net
2 - Chris
I LOVE Cash Cab. I think that if you show the contestants who don't choose to go for double or nothing the video that they would have gotten if they went on. I think it show them if they made the right or wrong choose. I think that would also get the rating up:)
3 - ron archer
Best show on TV!
4 - anonymous
does anyone know where i can download the sound effects that Ben has on his ipod that he plays during the show like the right and wrong answers and the musical sounder he plays when someone gets into the cab
5 - Gail Politica
I love the show. The other day I was watching with some friends, and thought it would be a good idea to play the video question at the end when they have declined, just to see if they would have won or not.
6 - James Beran
A really fun show. The reactions of the fares are often priceless. The show has won a number of TV awards, and despite that Discovery reently moved the show from its 6:00 & 6:30 PM times, here in SoCal to 9:00 and 9:30 AM. That did not last for more then a week as fans bombarded the shows comment area with their displeasure. An amazing number of people know about the show. I tell all my friends about the fun of it all, and they soon become viewers. I do think a good change would be to give the street shout out helpers, the amount of the question. Cheap for the show relative to the word of mouth advertising they would get in return, not to mention the added reactions to their windfall...