Fun and frolic on four wheels

PETTIGREW. Chummy, breezy and sunny hosting style.

MOST GAME shows on TV are predictable, studio-based productions that run for years and years on sheer force of habit. The new game and quiz show, “Cash Cab,” flies in the face of all that stolid predictability by taking its game way out of the traditional studio concept.

As its title indicates, it’s a TV show on wheels, a movable and exciting feast of fun and frolic that is a runaway—or “driveaway”—winner when it comes to the all-important “surprise” factor.

We have caught several telecasts of the show, which emanates from Singapore, and thoroughly enjoyed the ride, thanks to quizmaster-driver Oli Pettigrew’s chummy, breezy and sunny hosting style.

Passengers

He more than makes up for the cramped confines of the souped-up, jazzed up taxi that is the show’s  tiny studio on wheels. Talk about a tight, little production, this is it! But, Oli’s breezy hosting makes the tight confines of the “set” part of the fun and bonhomie, as driver and passengers squeeze into every inch of the available space to do the show.

Oli may be a fine host, but the show’s success greatly depends on the quality, personalities and knowledgeability of its passenger-contestants. Too many wrong answers would never do, because they would bring down the program’s energy and excitement level.

Thus far, however, the “surprised” contestants have been up to the task at hand. Most of the questions Oli asks are about the entertainment and social scenes, with a decided preference for American and European topics and personalities.

Questions

A number of the passengers are foreign tourists or expats, but it’s instructive to see that the “locals” hold their own as far as coming up with correct answers to questions about western entertainment and lifestyles.

Frankly, we’re saddened by this, because it shows how much Asians have been brainwashed to not just be knowledgeable about, but also to prefer the foreign or (euphemistically put) “international” and “global” way of life and pop culture.

Despite this sobering insight, however, “Cash Cab” is still a fun (if cautionary) viewing trip. Catch it sometime on The Discovery Channel, why don’t you?