Suggestions to Top Shot Producers

[Nemo]

You know, you guys could just watch 3 Gun Nation instead of reinventing Top Shot.

Got the threegunners covered. Got the heads up competition covered.

Eliminate the living together drama covered.

Sounds pretty good to me!

But of course I am biased!!!!

Patrick

I watch 3Gun Nation too, Patrick. But I didn't see you whining about the grip angle of the FNs...

[Bryan 45]

You know, you guys could just watch 3 Gun Nation instead of reinventing Top Shot.

Got the threegunners covered. Got the heads up competition covered.

Eliminate the living together drama covered.

Sounds pretty good to me!

But of course I am biased!!!!

Patrick

I watch 3Gun Nation too, Patrick. But I didn't see you whining about the grip angle of the FNs...

I whined pretty hard about the sights on the FNX though... Fortunately for me they didn't air it on the show!

[Charles Bond]

I don't find 3 gun nation even the slightest bit entertaining. It's cool to see what is essentially news coverage of big 3-gun events. But it's a show for shooters, which shows factual things. It's not creative, it's not very exciting, and if I wasn't a shooter, I wouldn't watch it at all.

We all need to heed this post with which I agree. What is making Top Shot a success is all the ladies and non shooters who are watching. If the price we have to pay to have a shooting show is some drama, we had better be ready to accept that. Otherwise, the show will not find an audience and it will disappear.

[B.J. Norris]

Charles has it, the target audience for this show is not the shooting industry. Those that want to see a shooting show will watch Shooting USA, 3-Gun Nation, Shooting Gallery, etc. If all of the USPSA and IDPA memberships stopped watching the show, I'd bet it wouldn't make a huge dent in the weekly viewership numbers.

Outside of the Action Pistol sports, I don't know/understand a lot of other sports rules. Why? It takes a lot of time and effort to stay current not only with the letter, but meaning of the rules in a sport. Heck, it takes 5 minutes to explain the basics of how a USPSA match is scored, let alone any of the equipment. On the other hand, who hasn't heard of cutting a rope with a lever gun? Or the famous Annie Oakley shot with the mirror? People who are not hardcore shooters can easily understand these challenges and that is what makes the show a success.

Edited August 10, 2010 by B.J. Norris

[P.E. Kelley]

Top Shot should NOT change a thing.

It works as it is.

It has an audience.

It has sponsors.

It shows shooters to be (for the most part) OK people and that is good for all of us!

Bravo Top Shot!

My post was nothing more that a suggestion to shooters that want to watch a shooting show with some of the elements

that have been requested within this thread.

I feel 3 Gun Nation fits that bill.

Patrick

[dbxdm9]

Dueling trees.

[raz-0]

id like to see them doing some acrobatic stunts such as barrel rolls/ backflips/ and or midair tumbles off of a raied platform WHILE firing a 50bmg to explode a gasoline drum 1000 yards away

but srsly though when i had tv i watched a couple episodes of this and kind of thought they needed a bit more guncraft and less gossip. they need to take a good look at thier target audience.

Competitive shooters aren't their target audience. There aren't enough of us to mean squat as far as ratings go. People like my wife and her family, however, are definitely people they are trying to attract, and they have without any prompting by me. 

I don't find 3 gun nation even the slightest bit entertaining.  It's cool to see what is essentially news coverage of big 3-gun events.  But it's a show for shooters, which shows factual things.  It's not creative, it's not very exciting, and if I wasn't a shooter, I wouldn't watch it at all.

And that is why the folks who are whining about the elimination format are spitting into the wind. It gives the show immediate tension for the non gun savvy audience.  They don't know what's hard, what's not, and if they have a guess, an accurate idea of how hard the hard thing is.  But they do know that if the other guy is better at it than the guy they like, their guy is going home. 

I do think that the green shirt format might work better. The episode was a heck of a lot more action packed and suspenseful, and even my wife thought it was better that way.  I think part of the problem is that even the biggest a-hole of a competitive shooter I have met is still well mannered and pleasant compared to your average reality show personality. They need to play up the competitive drama and not the off hours drama. 

[GrumpyOne]

Ok. To be brutally honest, I knew what the show was gonna be like before it even aired. All new show are some sort of reality based BS, and has more to do with drama than with the actual meat and bones of the show (exception to this is Deadliest Catch, but they have their share of drama as well, along with some other BS (GEICO commercials)). So, knowing what I knew, I have never watched an episode of Top Shot. IF, and that's a big IF, they had some real world shooters on there, like I mentioned in an earlier post, and IF the shooters were there to compete against each other (or even to show what they could actually do, stretching their limits and abilities), I might watch. So until all that happens, it's just like little school girls, gossiping about who the better kisser is.

Edited August 11, 2010 by GrumpyOne

[Resjudicata]

R LEE ERMEY FOR THE HOST.

+1000

Chris

[Nemo]

Holie sh!t, people! The purpose of this thread is to offer constructive suggestions and recommendations to the producers of the show (in case they ever read this) on a variety of challenges and firearms. By putting together our combined experience in the shooting sports we can come up with pretty decent ideas that may help the show continue airing.

If you wanna bitch and moan about the show format, how you don't like reality TV and how they didn't pick your BFF for the season, please start your own thread in the "What I Hate" forum. Leave this one constructive and fun.

With that said, how about a challenge shooting Hi-Point pistols? You do well with those, you may be a Top Shot...

[want2race]

Holie sh!t, people! The purpose of this thread is to offer constructive suggestions and recommendations to the producers of the show (in case they ever read this) on a variety of challenges and firearms. By putting together our combined experience in the shooting sports we can come up with pretty decent ideas that may help the show continue airing.

If you wanna bitch and moan about the show format, how you don't like reality TV and how they didn't pick your BFF for the season, please start your own thread in the "What I Hate" forum. Leave this one constructive and fun.

With that said, how about a challenge shooting Hi-Point pistols? You do well with those, you may be a Top Shot...

HE HE, you wrote "BFF". LOL. Funny post. True, AND funny. I like the show. It is what it is. I can watch a shooting show with my wife and 4 year old. She doesn't watch "Wednesday night at the range" because it's boring to non gun people.

The last episode, when they switched to green shirts, had some really difficult tasks. Plus it was the first physical event since the first episode. Add more of that. Make them run!

[JeffWard]

Dueling trees.

NEXT WEEK...

[utf59]

I would like it if they showed more of the camaraderie among the contestants and less of the manufactured drama. The trick shot episode had some good footage of contestants practicing their throwing and shooting skills in groups. The preview for the final episode shows the final four having a toast. I think you can get "personality" without stirring up trouble.

I hope they focus a little more on the shooting next season. I understand there needs to be a balance between shooting and "personality." I just thought some of the episodes were overbalanced toward personality.

They should modify the rule about sitting contestants out during the team challenges. Maybe they could do a rotation — a contestant can't be put out of a second challenge until everyone else on that team has also been put out of at least one challenge. A couple of the blue team members only got to compete every other episode or so.

ETA:

I also wish they would use a wider variety of guns. When it came time to shoot auto pistols, I was getting tired of seeing that Beretta! I like the 92 just fine, and I know they shot other pistols some, but between having an entire episode centered around it and using it on the nomination range, I think the 92 had its 15 minutes and then some.

I would also like to see some more multiple-gun shooting as we did in episode 9. It doesn't have to be a by-the-rules 3-gun match, but I think there is some general-audience appeal to shooting one gun after another.

I think a "Hogan's Alley" episode with pop-up friend-or-foe targets would be fun. I get the impression they were trying to stay away from shooting human-shaped targets, but they could use the colored round plates they used before. If shotgunning, they could launch two clays, one of each color, and you have to shoot the foe color. I'm sure stage designers with more imagination than I have could come up with all kinds of ideas.

Edited August 11, 2010 by utf59

[raz-0]

I would like it if they showed more of the camaraderie among the contestants and less of the manufactured drama. The trick shot episode had some good footage of contestants practicing their throwing and shooting skills in groups. The preview for the final episode shows the final four having a toast. I think you can get "personality" without stirring up trouble.

I hope they focus a little more on the shooting next season. I understand there needs to be a balance between shooting and "personality." I just thought some of the episodes were overbalanced toward personality.

They should modify the rule about sitting contestants out during the team challenges. Maybe they could do a rotation — a contestant can't be put out of a second challenge until everyone else on that team has also been put out of at least one challenge. A couple of the blue team members only got to compete every other episode or so.

ETA:

I also wish they would use a wider variety of guns. When it came time to shoot auto pistols, I was getting tired of seeing that Beretta! I like the 92 just fine, and I know they shot other pistols some, but between having an entire episode centered around it and using it on the nomination range, I think the 92 had its 15 minutes and then some.

I would also like to see some more multiple-gun shooting as we did in episode 9. It doesn't have to be a by-the-rules 3-gun match, but I think there is some general-audience appeal to shooting one gun after another.

I think a "Hogan's Alley" episode with pop-up friend-or-foe targets would be fun. I get the impression they were trying to stay away from shooting human-shaped targets, but they could use the colored round plates they used before. If shotgunning, they could launch two clays, one of each color, and you have to shoot the foe color. I'm sure stage designers with more imagination than I have could come up with all kinds of ideas.

Yeah,  you get one point I left out, which is the sitting contestants out. I didn't like it, but my wife HATED it. getting rid of the team stuff, or rebalancing teams would have helped a lot. Even if you aren't one of us, I kind of suspect if you are watching a show like top shots, you are interested in seeing everyone compete at SHOOTING. 

If they are going to go with the "historical shots and weapons", I think they need to get more variety, and perhaps explain a bit more why they are historically significant. I got a bit tired of their historically significant TZ-99. It might also be cool to get some things that without someone with a budget, you just aren't going to get a competition with.  Like maybe an M2, solothurn, etc. 

 

[latewatch]

I'd like to see them play more to the historical shots theme. They've done some of the famous movie stuff like shooting the hangman's rope and the dynamite fuse. They've also done some of the famous trick shot things like shooting with the mirror and driving the nail. I liked all that stuff and would like to see more of it but they could also recreate some of the real life historical shots. For instance:

Alvin York, multiple small plates at medium range with a M1903 or M1917 Rifle (whichever you believe he used) followed by 7 poppers shot far to near with a stock 1911.

Billy Dixon at Adobe Walls, long range shot with a Sharps Rifle.

Elmer Keith's long range shots with a handgun.

Rapid reloads with a musket such as would have been required at Concord Bridge.

I also agree that as much as possible things should be shot man on man just to add the pressure that brings.

[M ammo]

What else?

Spudzooka!!!

Spudzooka!!!

Spudzooka!!!

Double tap,,, Lunch and Dinner!

Is that now the natural GUN OF SOUTH BOSTON??????

Sorry can't help it,,, I came from Squantum..

More shooting,,, needed,, less Drama,,

[SA Friday]

Like maybe an M2, solothurn, etc.  

Pretty sure they are filming in CA.

[Rob Boudrie]

Is that now the natural GUN OF SOUTH BOSTON??????

Perhaps. We do have a court case which states that a Spudzooka is not a firearm or a nefarious machine. (Yes, the DA tried to prosecute for unlawful carry of a firearms without a license).

[M ammo]

Is that now the natural GUN OF SOUTH BOSTON??????

Perhaps. We do have a court case which states that a Spudzooka is not a firearm or a nefarious machine. (Yes, the DA tried to prosecute for unlawful carry of a firearms without a license).

Good God,,,

I was half kidding! I don't think you are.

I did grow up,,, up your way,,, after 20+ in the Army,, I'm not moving back,,,

the Spudzooka,,, or one of those,, black powder Cannon I saw on Shooting USA,,,, ya Baby!

"I'm a IDPA Grand Master" &&&*%**&&^^ CANNON!!!

He will never live that one down

[Rob Boudrie]

It sounds crazy, but since they not really into shooting contests in the early phases, they could do a Spudzooka episode by having the guest expert [ assuming I could work it into my schedule ] give an overview on Spudzooka design and operation, then give each team a set of plumbing supplies, cans of various propellants (WD40, hairspray), and give them a day to build their team weapon. I'd also be sure to include multiple diameter tubes, all way too long, and several varieties of potatoes - so they would have plenty of choices. In other words, a cross between Top Shot and Junkyard Wars.

[SJ]

Alvin York, multiple small plates at medium range with a M1903 or M1917 Rifle (whichever you believe he used) followed by 7 poppers shot far to near with a stock 1911.

Billy Dixon at Adobe Walls, long range shot with a Sharps Rifle.

Elmer Keith's long range shots with a handgun.

Rapid reloads with a musket such as would have been required at Concord Bridge.

I also agree that as much as possible things should be shot man on man just to add the pressure that brings.

<cough>

JFK

<uncough>

I for one had no problem with the throwing knives, slingshots, or bows in moderation - they should be valid parts of a true marksman's abilities, and shows off how quickly some people can figure things out. So I would like to see thomahawks, atlatls, real slings, mounted archery, etc. Just give them enough practice time to make it look decent.

[Charles Bond]

Well let us throw in slings, axes and throwing stars and yet we have left out spears.........and Rob only thinks he knows tater guns. We southern boys used to never allow a metal tennis ball can hit the trash.

[SA Friday]

Well let us throw in slings, axes and throwing stars and yet we have left out spears.........and Rob only thinks he knows tater guns. We southern boys used to never allow a metal tennis ball can hit the trash.

Nope. Atlatl is spear throwing with a handle.

[Resjudicata]

I'd like to see them play more to the historical shots theme. They've done some of the famous movie stuff like shooting the hangman's rope and the dynamite fuse. They've also done some of the famous trick shot things like shooting with the mirror and driving the nail. I liked all that stuff and would like to see more of it but they could also recreate some of the real life historical shots. For instance:

Alvin York, multiple small plates at medium range with a M1903 or M1917 Rifle (whichever you believe he used) followed by 7 poppers shot far to near with a stock 1911.

Billy Dixon at Adobe Walls, long range shot with a Sharps Rifle.

Elmer Keith's long range shots with a handgun.

Rapid reloads with a musket such as would have been required at Concord Bridge.

I also agree that as much as possible things should be shot man on man just to add the pressure that brings.

The Sgt. York thing would be awesome to see.

Also, more man on man. Dueling trees or man on man steel with falling poppers and overlapping stop plates. Double elimination with the two who get knocked out first going against each other for elimination and the winner/final man standing gets a prize either monetary or safety from elimination in the next contest.

Chris

[utf59]

I'd like to see them play more to the historical shots theme. They've done some of the famous movie stuff like shooting the hangman's rope and the dynamite fuse. They've also done some of the famous trick shot things like shooting with the mirror and driving the nail. I liked all that stuff and would like to see more of it but they could also recreate some of the real life historical shots. For instance:

Alvin York, multiple small plates at medium range with a M1903 or M1917 Rifle (whichever you believe he used) followed by 7 poppers shot far to near with a stock 1911.

Billy Dixon at Adobe Walls, long range shot with a Sharps Rifle.

Elmer Keith's long range shots with a handgun.

Rapid reloads with a musket such as would have been required at Concord Bridge.

I also agree that as much as possible things should be shot man on man just to add the pressure that brings.

How about the Alamo? Put each team on the walls of the "Alamo" and have a bunch of resetting targets out front (maybe to the sides as well). Each team has a certain amount of time to shoot before they are "overrun," and the team that hits the most targets during that time wins.