Taxi talk

A while back a blog called AV Club created a silly Internet kerfuffle about Cash Cab. The blog breathlessly informed us that the show's contestants were, gasp, sometimes pre-screened before they got into the taxi! Of course, the show specifically discloses the pre-screening at the end of every episode, and this alleged "news" had been discussed for years on the Internet.

After that embarrassing foolishness, AV Club is back with another post about the taxi-bound quizzer. This time the blog proves far more reasonable. In fact, AV Club chats at length about how Cash Cab is a genuine quizzer with no fixing of the actual game. Well, gee willikers, welcome to something like the real world. Fixing a game show has been a federal crime for fifty years.

The blog mostly praises new Chicago host Beth Melewski, though she's considered "not as charismatic" as good old Ben Bailey in New York. I guess this means she's not as funny and/or rubber-faced. I just wish she would dial down the volume occasionally. She usually sounds a little loud to me.

AV Club also asserts that the contestants on Cash Cab are more "down-to-earth" than those on Minute To Win It or Deal or No Deal. Down-to-earthiness is in the eye of the beholder, and I frankly don't see much difference between contestants on Cash Cab and any other game show.

The real difference is the money, because the taxi game is so cheap. If "down to earth" means teensy-weensy winnings, Cash Cab is the down-to-earthiest of them all.