Wave bye-bye to the taxi

As a faux tweet sadly noted, Cash Cab has picked up its last fare. Discovery has sent the only cab which pays you to the Nielsen chop shop.

Should have suspected the worst when Cash Cab Chicago, employing another cabbie instead of the rubber-faced Ben Bailey, flopped with a thump. Even the New York original was never a huge hit. It only developed the ominous "cult following", which is code for so-so (or worse) ratings. The show also developed a couple of well-deserved Daytime Emmys for Ben the comical cabdriver.

Cash Cab was notoriously cheap. A couple thousand bucks was big money for the game. Many contestants went home (or actually into the streets) with nothing at all except that famous cab ride...plus their ten minutes on TV. The questions also tended to get a little hoity-toity, as you might expect from the occasionally pretentious Discovery. Lots of academic stuff.

But I still couldn’t resist the wisecracking Ben and the sometimes grimy NYC street scenery. The contestants usually seemed to have a good time, even when ejected into the unforgiving highways and by-ways. And I always cheered when contestants went for the double or nothing at the end of the journey.

Take the risk, folks. You still got a free cab ride, after all.