A quieter Cash Cab

As I mentioned in previous entries, GSN has now given Cash Cab another hour on weekday afternoons.

For the afternoon run the network has gone all the way back to the original eps of the show from December, 2005. It's always fun to watch the first few episodes of a long-running game show like Cash Cab, to see what if anything changed over the succeeding years. It's even better when the show is one of the all-time greats of the genre, even if Game Show Forum's ridiculous top-50 list somehow omitted Cash Cab. (They did find places for many moldy mediocrities and even a few rigged shows.)

The most obvious difference is that Ben Bailey was much quieter in the first episodes. He didn't exactly melt into the scenery - the guy's six foot six, after all. But he didn't get as animated or sing out "Red Light Challenge" or hunch over and do silly voices when contestants entered the taxi. Of course, on the first few eps he didn't have to try to hide himself at the start of the cab rides. Nobody knew who he was, anyway.

Once the show got established as a Discovery Channel staple, Ben started hamming it up a little more. Can't blame the guy. He had found the gig of a lifetime.

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