User reviews

CASH CAB is one the best TV shows on the air today. Unsuspecting passengers enter a NYC cab that turns out to be a game show, complete with driver/host Ben Bailey, who asks a series of general knowledge questions for money while on the way to their destination. If the passengers get three questions wrong, Bailey kicks them out on the spot, even if it's raining or snowing. But they can also win handsomely, and I have seen a set of very sharp passengers walk off with $3,000, a record for the show to date. The show is not dissimilar in its questions to ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A FIFTH GRADER. Bailey is the perfect host and the show is tightly edited and a load of fun to pay along with. One odd thing: It is apparent that Bailey hands the winners funny money, and they are always shown walking off down the street or into a building, waving their funny money. But in fact, they are mailed checks, minus the tax. Makes sense to me, both from the tax view and safety. This is Noo Yawk, after all. Would you wave three grand in the air while walking down a NYC street? I wouldn't. All hail the Cash Cab!

Ben Bailey hosts a 1 man / 1 Cab game show. It is a fun concept as it reverses the hailing a cab routine to an extent. You get in expecting to pay & find out that the ride is free as long as you don't get 3 strikes. You can even win money too. A sweet deal to say the least. I see there is a British version too. Would be fun if Bailey tried London & the Brit tried NYC.

This is a refreshing change of format for games. The questions are all over the place but with a shout out or a mobile shout out, you get lots of ways to try & answer the question. The Red Light challenge is fun though I am amazed with NYC traffic there aren't more of them. Must be limited to once a game I guess.

Wouldn't it be fun if Ben picked up a couple of street walking professionals? That would be the ultimate reverse, as they would be getting paid without having to work for it, wouldn't it? Biley is a great host & keeps it light for everybody. Lots of fun

Hosted by Ben Bailey, we follows the titular taxi van as it cruises the streets of New York City, picking up unsuspecting travellers, and quizzing them the entire way to their destination; winning money for each correct answer given. An absolute classic I'd watched much of in growing up, it was a joy to re-find the series on Tubi, though it only had a single of the original seasons, even those were a treat. There's no show like it in capturing truly everyday people in a pub quiz setting, while most other games shows will some form of natural filtering of guests before they make it on, the "picked up on the street" method Cash Cab means it feels true reality. Not to mention the questions themselves of always of quite high quality, and Ben Bailey makes a phenomenal host. Not only is his candor and wit always present, but he's navigating the busy streets of New York while doing it, the mans absolutely wild. Only even more recently learning that this was original based on a U. K. series of the same name and format, I'm set about checking those out next, but for the U. S. version, if you like quiz shows, would highly highly recommend.

When described as a "game show taking place in a NYC cab", it doesn't sound all that interesting...maybe downright weak. However, this show manages to take a completely mundane act -- getting a cab ride -- and turn it into a really fun, exciting, and sometimes extremely funny show! The first four "general knowledge questions" of each cab ride are worth only $25 each, which is paltry by today's game show standards. But that's part of what makes it so charming; the answers are actually facts that common people often actually know! (Thus, the low-scale payout of only $25.) Everyone enjoys being right, and they get more and more pumped as the ride goes toward their destination. Questions eventually go up in value and in difficulty. And then there's the ever-popular "Red Light Challenge," which I won't spoil by describing. The only thing to watch out for is the "three strikes and you're out!" rule, and it is completely enforced! Thankfully, contestants have one mobile shout-out (cell phone provided) and one street shout-out (ask a stranger right out of your cab window!). Both are fun, and often helpful. Anyway, my 12-year-old LOVES this show, and part of it is because she can answer some questions herself, much like the first few questions of the "Millionaire" game show. The questions are reasonable (and even educational) and the reaction of the cab riders is almost always amusing -- wouldn't YOU be incredulous to find yourself on a game show just because you hailed a cab? Add to that the fact that Ben Bailey's facial expressions are often hilarious. All in all, it has become our family's absolute favorite show. As Ben would say, "So whaddaya say? You in?"

If you're tired of all those game shows where contestants need to hold their breath, eat disgusting food or walk on a tight-rope suspended across two skyscrapers - look no further. This game show is incredibly entertaining for a premise that doesn't leave the taxi cab. Almost all contestants put a positive, amusing and all around good-natured spin onto things. The host himself is very funny and even if someone gets a question wrong or loses completely, it doesn't feel like a real loss. The trivia is actually really interesting, and you'll often find yourself saying to the screen, "it's _____!" Maybe it's just me. Oh well. Consider it evident on how much this show pumps you up.

In short, this game show is the first in a long time that's brought a genuine smile to my face. If you're flipping through channels and come across this, it's worth a try.

All of the five others who have previously commented regarding this program have been complimentary, and I couldn't agree more.

I'm pretty quick to notice and be irritated by, say, Howie Mandel's saying "change your life" about 40 times per show; Bob Saget may be one of the most annoying presences on the planet; and the delays in conveying the information on their game shows, the mindless conversation and delays between questions and answers, etc., cry out for pressing the "mute" button.

However, having just discovered this program for the first time recently, I find the whole show enjoyable. It has spontaneity, something others in the genre lack. And even though the driver/host does delay slightly in revealing whether answers are correct ( but only sometimes) it's not at all excessive in my opinion.

Overall, the varied contestant base is interesting as well - from only slightly more intelligent than the proverbial "post" to sharp. With three "games/trips" per episode, things move along, and if you get a particularly unappealing passenger/contestant, their on-screen time is mercifully brief.

There is also amusement galore. I enjoyed th man and woman who won a decent amount, several hundred, and then missed the video question to double the loot. They weren't a couple, because she called her boyfriend, using this prerogative of the game, since the two of them couldn't identify the "element" from which diamonds are derived. Among all three, they came up with "coal," rather than carbon. Hell, I'm no chemistry or science buff, but almost everybody I know could have gotten that one. And most folks I know are well-aware "coal" is not a chemical element.

Finally, there's one detail I'm surprised none of the others added.

{(One did wonder about how driver obtained the questions, and whether his attention to driving might be diverted.) But I've traveled to NYC a lot and ridden in many taxis. This guy is far superior - even if he has to juggle the driving along with his other activities - to any those with whom I've ridden. He's also one of the few not from the Middle East or India/Bangladesh/Pakistan, Russia or another former SSR country.}

A refreshing, interesting, humorous, and (thankfully!!) quick-moving presentation, with a thoroughly pleasant and engaging host.

There's not much I can add, but I to answer one question and simultaneously rebut another posting.

Part of the reason you have to wait for answer confirmation and why Ben seems so incredibly knowledgeable is that he is being fed the questions and answers via an earphone in his upstage (driver side window) ear. Every now and again, you can catch a glimpse of the cable going down the back of his neck.

However, the fact that he can drive in all kinds of weather and conditions, listen to his prompter, ask the questions and chat with the contestants is amazing.

A series with a moderator who is not too sympathetic, a stupid presentation and a lack of imagination. All of this seems more like the inflation of game shows, or like a part of one ... because this process has progressed a long time.

There is one thing that separates Cash Cab from the countless other game shows a person could watch. There is one singular difference that makes this show, about one man asking a group of contestants general-knowledge trivia questions, better than most others, and that is the premise.

The host drives around in an ordinary-looking cab in New York. The passengers that he picks up become the contestants. They answer general-knowledge questions all the way to their destination. If they miss three questions, though, they're kicked out and win nothing.

Nobody has prior knowledge that they are going to be on the show. Nobody has time to study or prepare for this. You may have one person, or a group, and this depends entirely on what they, as a person, know as part of their every-day knowledge. You can get a group of people who get three strikes right away, or you could get an individual who wins some obscene amount of money and then doubles it on the video-bonus question. Or you could get any mixture of the two. You never know, they never know, and that what makes this show great.

The show is not without it's faults. The host can be annoying at times, trying to be funny. And the melodrama is entirely over-blown. You have to wait an obscene amount of time before he confirms the question. After a while, it really begins to weigh the show down.

Still, Cash Cab is very much like a box of chocolates. You can get a bright bulb as much as you get a complete dud. But, no matter what, that's still good chocolate... I mean viewing.

In terms of straight quiz shows, Cash Cab may be the best ever. Unsuspecting New York City taxi riders find themselves contestants on a game show within their own cab, asked questions until they reach their destination. If they get three wrong before they get there they have to exit the taxi. Your taxi driver/host Ben Bailey is the key to the show, with helpful real-life background as both a limo driver and comic. He obviously has fun playing the game with the riders and enjoys their company in an honest and un-condescending way. He's also a very sharp guy with a quick wit. The game is a lot of fun, the questions are really pretty hard after the first $50 category, fortunately the folks they get in the cab are usually pretty smart. Enjoy!

Okay, it's official...Ben Bailey has the best job in the world.

What other job could you possibly have where people break out into smiles and raucous, joyous laughter the moment they recognize you? Stand-up comedian? True, that IS the other job...and did I happen to mention that happens to be Ben's "day job", too?

This outgoing every-guy with the classic "Noo-YAWKUH'S" face and a way with snappy patter that would make Bob Eubanks green with envy is the host of what has to be TV's first 'mobile game show'. CASH CAB awards its lucky fares with all the money they can make during their trips, by answering Trivial Pursuit-style questions for different amounts of money, with those amounts growing in size as the difficulty of the questions increases. If the passengers make it successfully to their destination, it culminates in the chance to double their total winnings by answering a "Video Bonus" Question. It's a one-chance-only query with an accompanying visual clue that has to be answered correctly, or the players lose everything and leave with only a free cab ride.

Unlike a lot of fluffy game shows (save a few like JEOPARDY), CASH CAB is one of the few where you can actually learn something from the questions, plus you get what is at times a visually-stunning travelogue of New York. I have actually started making a list of several of the destinations people go to on the show!

The best thing about it, though, is Ben. Without having him as host, it probably wouldn't be the same...or as engaging as it is. Yes, like a lot of hosts, he does have some snappy comebacks and quick quips, and mugs shamelessly for the various cameras in and outside of his rig. But he does all of this while concentrating on driving, rattling off questions for the contestants and managing to be funny all at the same time. Let's see anyone else pull off that kind of 'multi-tasking.'

And though I'm sure quite a bit of selective editing goes on putting the shows together, by no means is this an easy contest. Because CAB'S big twist is "three strikes and you're out!" If the players get three questions wrong before the end of their trip, as Ben explains from the very beginning, he has to pull over and eject them from the ride at that point, no second chances or do-overs. And I've seen just as many people wind up walking (or hailing another cab) as I've seen win.

The point is that the show is everything you want from a great game show...it's informative, entertaining and addictive. And amazingly, rather on the most logical channel where you'd expect to find it, GSN (Game Show Network), it comes to us courtesy of The Discovery Channel.

As long as they can convince Ben to stay on for new episodes, I'm a fan, and my DVR will always be set for a season pass.

Best entertainment. It's 2022 and we're still watching some of the reruns. Between my wife and I and sometimes the kids join in, we try to answer some of the questions and compete against each other. Wholesome entertainment 😷👍

Best game show EVER! I love trivia shows and Ben Bailey and his fares have such a great time, and it's not nearly as stuffy as the studio shows. I hope I catch Ben and his Cash Cab when I visit NY!

Good escape and fun series. Love the shots of NYC. Ben is a great host.

Please bring back Cash Cab, even if you have to get rid of or reduce the prizes. Not only was this show entertaining, but it was also educational ☺

It is great to have a show that hunes your memory with the added feature of seeing some of the most lanbrained answer. But some questions, once in a blue moon***second full moon in a month*** mad me mad! The one lately with irked me was :Who was the Scottish steel magnet who gave away millions toward the end of his life?" The question should have read: "Who was the Scottish steel magnet who murdered nearly 3000 town folk on Memorial Day 1889?" A much more important question to me, considering 4 of those people were kin! My favorite question with one or the worst answers was "Which General sent President Lincoln a letter presenting him with Atlanta as a Christmas present?". The answer was so far off base I had to laugh, long and hard! The people answered Stonewall Jackson! Well I have to give them credit for getting a General from the Civil War as the answer, but naming Sronewall Jackson had two tremendous flaws attached to it. Because Stonewall Jackson was a Confederate General the only thing he might have sent Pres. Lincoln was a cannonball thru the oval office. But the second reason was the killer, because General Jackson has been dead about 1 1/2 years, which might have made it nearly impossible!!!!!! Good luck Ben with getting new shows!