Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Cash Cab

A friend had been telling me about this entertaining TV game show called "Cash Cab," so when she fell ill last week I shamelessly timed my just-checking-on-you-dearie visit to coincide with its 3 p.m. airing time.
What a hoot! The cabbie/host, Ben Bailey, picks up unsuspected passengers in New York and then informs them that they are in the Cash Cab. While driving them to their destination he poses increasingly difficult questions, and they win money for each correct answer. If they're stumped, they can call a friend or ask a passerby on the sidewalk. If they get three wrong answers, they are unceremoniously booted out, no matter where they may happen to be.
Between the two of us we knew most of the answers. It was fun to watch the interactions between the contestants, and I was surprised at how well informed the random passersby were: when called upon they knew the name of the Hawaiian shell necklaces (puka) and the news anchorman assaulted in New York (Dan Rather).
At the end of the cab ride, the winners are given a video double-or-nothing option. Two middle-aged sisters and the daughter of one of them opted to go for it, and they actually won, identifying what a bartender was doing as "mixology." We cheered.
We watched two back-to-back episodes, and it was a great way to cheer up an invalid.

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