Cash Cab
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| Cash Cab | |
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| Genre | Quiz show |
| Created by | Adam Wood |
| Presented by | John Moody (UK) Ben Bailey (US) James Kerley (AUS) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lion TV |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 2005 – Present |
Cash Cab is a game show, devised by Adam Wood, which originated in the United Kingdom. Passengers in a specially designated taxi cab are offered the chance to win money by correctly answering a series of trivia questions on the way to their destination. The American version of Cash Cab has comedian Ben Bailey as host, while the Australian version features James Kerley. The show has been licensed to television networks in numerous other countries as well.
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[edit] In the UK
In the UK the programme is made by Lion TV and was originally shown on ITV beginning in the summer of 2005. Episodes of the show now air on Challenge.
The show's host initially poses as an ordinary taxi driver and drives around the major cities of the United Kingdom in a cab. The show pays its passengers for correctly answering standard general knowledge questions. Contestants are recruited in advance but are not told that the quiz will be taking place in the cab, so although the "pick-ups" are not as random as they appear on screen, the contestants are genuinely surprised when the taxi turns out to be the Cash Cab.
The contestants tell the driver their destination before getting into the taxi and are not allowed to change it. They then have the distance they need to travel to answer questions. The first five questions are relatively easy and worth £10 each, the next five are a little harder and worth £50, the next seven, even harder and worth £100, and any question after that is worth £500. If the contestant gets three questions wrong, they lose the money they have won up to that point and are made to walk the rest of the distance. The host of Cash Cab, John Moody, is a genuine qualified taxi driver, and has an easygoing presenting style.
[edit] In the U.S.
The United States version of Cash Cab (or CA$H CAB, as it its logo states)[1] airs on the Discovery Channel. Once a passenger or group of passengers has been picked up, they must state their destination. This version of the show takes place in New York City. Anyone who hails the Cash Cab (a Toyota Sienna minivan with medallion number 1G12 in the first two seasons, 7N78 afterward.) does not know that they are about to be on a game show until they hire the cab and the driver informs them of the rules. According to Variety, Discovery Channel initially ordered 40 episodes from Lion Television and taping of the initial run was completed in November 2005 before the show premiered that December. A new set of 40 episodes were taped and aired in 2006 and 2007. Another 80 episodes were taped in 2007 and aired through spring and summer. In 2008-2009, 40 more episodes will be taped.
The driver/host of the Cash Cab is stand-up comedian Ben Bailey. A support van tails the Cash Cab with producers and a camera crew (for the various street shots), and the staff provides logistical information and questions by way of a walkie-talkie and earpiece (sometimes visible when Bailey turns his head for the camera).[2] The driver greets the fare(s), takes their destination, then pushes a button that both activates an LED light panel in the roof of the cab and plays a musical sounder with an iPod.[2] After the shock and surprise has passed for the fare(s), the driver informs the players of the rules of the game (though not always shown onscreen). The players are also told that once the Cash Cab starts, the cab will not take detours of any kind unless directed by a police officer, stop sign, traffic light, or other legal means of diverting traffic, and offers them the chance to get out of the cab if they do not wish to play. A contestant must stay in the cab until they reach their destination in order to keep the money they have won in the game. Answering three questions incorrectly at any point during the trip will force the driver to pull over and dismiss the fare without the money they had already won. Once contestants have exited the Cash Cab, a camera crew from the trailing production car is already on the street waiting to tape them walking away from the cab, win or lose. Contestants are taped for approximately 10-15 seconds (though only about 5 seconds of this video is used in final production) walking away from the cab.
If the passenger stays in the cab, the game begins. For the first two seasons, the first four questions were worth $25 each, the next four questions were worth $50, and any question thereafter was worth $100. In Cash Cab: After Dark, as well as the regular episodes of Season 3, all of the money values are doubled to $50, $100, and $200, respectively. If a contestant has won at least $200 (even on the After Dark version) and the cab is forced to stop at a traffic light, the driver will start a Red Light Challenge. The driver will read a question that has multiple correct answers (usually four or five), and the passenger will then have 30 seconds to give those answers. Giving all the correct answers is worth $250, and failure to answer the question will not count as a strike, and they won't lose any money. Only one Red Light Challenge may be played per game, though, as with the Shout-Outs.
The passenger is allowed two "Shout-Outs" during the course of the trip, and each type can be used only once. The first type is the "Mobile Shout-Out", in which the contestant is allotted a phone call to a friend by means of the driver's cell phone. The fare is allowed 30 seconds to consult with their friend and give an answer. The contestant may also elect to use a "Street Shout-Out," causing the cab to pull over so that he or she can consult with anyone on the street without any official time limit.
One of the show's gimmicks involves the host giving a disappointed response initially to a contestant's correct answer, then excitedly telling them they actually got the question right. Bailey usually does this multiple times, to almost all his passengers. This is similar to what Regis Philbin used to do when he hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Should the passenger reach the destination, the driver offers the passenger a choice. The passenger has the option of keeping the prize money and leaving the cab, or the choice of answering a final, more difficult, Video Bonus question for double or nothing. This is, essentially, a test of the risk aversion of the passenger.
Three games are usually played per episode. The first record for the most money won on the US show was $3,000 in an episode that aired June 13, 2007, under the old payouts. It featured a family of three who were heading to the New York Public Library, a 53-block trip. They nailed the Red Light Challenge and only missed a $50 question, but still ended up with $1,500 before doubling their winnings on the Video Bonus question. The second record for the most money won on the U.S. show was $3,700. The third highest winners, appeared on the show on April 17th 2008, and won $3,200, missing only one question. The episode of "Cash Cab: After Dark" aired in December 2007, with a group of young men who were heading to a bar for drinks. The trio traveled a total of 45 blocks, correctly answering every question and the Red Light Challenge (which fittingly enough was about Corona) along the way to win $1,850 before doubling their winnings on the Video Bonus question. On a show aired March 25, 2008, with the new money ladder for season three, contestants Shawn Debney and Steve Irolla, two New York City tour guides, won $4,100 after answering the Video Bonus question correctly. They reached their final destination with two strikes to their credit.
One episode of the program was a special celebrity edition, which featured Spider-Man actor Thomas Haden Church, Jed Ortmeyer and Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers, and Harry Smith, co-host of CBS's The Early Show. All played for a charity of their choice. The Discovery Channel matched the contestants' winnings.
For equipment, the Cash Cab has ten cameras: one on the host, three on the passengers, one pointing forward from the back window of the cab, and three (front, left, and right) in the advertising shell on the roof of the cab. The rear of the cab behind the seats contains ten recording decks with a tower containing a countdown timer.[2]
In 2007, Ben Bailey was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host, but lost to Bob Barker. Also in 2007, Discovery Channel began airing a new edition of the program, Cash Cab: After Dark, in which contestants are picked up near or after sunset and the cash value of the questions is double that of the "classic" version of the show. However, a successful Red Light Challenge is still worth $250.
[edit] In Australia
The Australian version airs on cable music channel Channel V Australia and is hosted by Channel [V] host James Kerley. Series 1 was shot entirely in Melbourne.
With 26 episodes, the Australian version has a heavier focus on music questions and introduces a segment called The Loot or the Boot. At the end of the fifth question, contestants have the opportunity to give up all of what they have won so far, which will be $60, $80 or $100, depending on how many questions they answered correctly, for what is "in the boot". The viewer at home is always shown what is "in the boot". If the player chooses the boot, the prize is given to them by Kerley as it was not literally in the back of the car. Boot prizes may be worth substantially more than their sacrifice or substantially less. Players play on regardless of what they choose, and the prize is theirs to keep, even if they use up their three strikes.
The Australian Cash Cab is fitted with eight cameras and a ninth camera follows in the car behind. Rather than tape, the cameras are all recorded directly to hard drives that are stored in the boot of the taxi.
[edit] Other countries
The format of the show has been sold to numerous countries around the world, including the Netherlands (BNN), Greece (Mega Channel), Israel (Channel 2), Ukraine (City Channel in Kiev), Pan-Arab (MBC 1) , Russia (TNT), France, Poland, Turkey, Indonesia, Spain, and Serbia (Fox televizija). The show airs on Kabel 1 in Germany (as "Quiz Taxi"), and has been successful enough to merit a spin-off version of the show in which celebrities play the game. In Norway, it has been commissioned as a prime time show. A second season was recently commissioned in Hungary (Viasat 3), and the show will begin soon in Lithuania (LNK), and in the Czech Republic (Czech TV). Mexico's Televisa recently launched their own version of the show called Taxi Cash on January 28, 2008 on Canal 4 (Channel 4).
Other countries that have the rights to launch their own versions include Japan, New Zealand, Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Portugal, Malaysia, (called Teksi Tunai and will premier over Astro Prima channel in April 2008. The cab driver is local popular funny man, Bob Lokman), South Africa, and Chile.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Cash Cab at the Internet Movie Database (UK version)
- Cash Cab at the Internet Movie Database (US version)
- Cash Cab on Channel V Australia
- Cash Cab on UKGameshows.com
- Quiz Taxi on kabel eins
- מונית הכסף in Israel
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