Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

American Shooter now.


gmshtr

Recommended Posts

I watched the American Shooter episode of the Factory Gun Nationals.  What a complete screw up!  One would think that two news crews on location at a match for two days would be able to at least report what actually happened at the match!  They reported that Rob and Todd were battling to the end.  I know I'm getting old, but I could've sworn that Todd shot Production and battled with Dave Sevigny to the end.  No one really ever threatened Rob in Limited 10.  For a report about a National Championship Pistol Tournament, there sure wasn't a lot of actual shooting being covered.  They showed two stages for the whole report, then cut Todd off in mid-sentence (after a poorly worded sentence on top of things).  Anyone watching knowing little about the sport would end up hardly informed at all.  What a complete a bust!  We FINALLY get some media attention and it gets totally screwed up.  I hate to do it, but I'm going to call and email American Shooter as a viewer to express my distain.  I encourage you all to do the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too watched and was as disappointed as Phil!  They never once mentioned the other Divisions, and they made it seem like EVERYONE was shooting in Limited "CLASS"  (violating my #1 pet peeve is not good!)

It was, honestly, just a Robbie commercial.  They mentioned several times that he was their "Favorite Instructor".

Phil - being on the West Coast, the shows were on 5 and 8, so the second one did show the whole piece, without cutting off Todd.  But it was still a really sucky piece of TV work!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was horrible. A bunch of artificial drama, pretending Jarrett was shooting against Leatham. They ended it by showing both of them shooting the stage ROd by Denise Minor, then said something like, "And with that run Leatham took the Factory Gun championship title."

That was their second stage of the match. I was sitting there watching them after my squad shot it, our first stage. I remember it well because most of the super squad screwed it up so badly. (Nice draw, Mike! Nice reload, Todd! Way to shoot steel guys!) Either American Shooter got their notes mixed up or they fabricated it.

I only hope it served to attract new shooters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think, I'm not sure, that Todd and Robbie went back and ran the stage for the cameras. I missed seeing it on American Shooter and it does not supprise me that the "other" division was dissed.  

Anybody tape it? I got some "home style" video of the Super Squad on stage 16,17 & 18 I took that I will trade with you for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No I'm pretty sure those weren't reshoots for TV. I remember Mike blowing the draw and taking extra shots on steel, which was shown, and Todd blowing the reload, which was shown, and Rob burning it down, which was shown. And I don't think Todd would look so upset with himself for blowing a just-for-show run.

And that might have been the last stage by number (18?), which could lead a neophyte television producer to believe it was the final and decisive stage of the match.

But still, it was a weak effort.

I think if USPSA wants some good coverage they are going to have to pony up some bucks as a sponsor. Did you notice how Walther was a sponsor and Jim Scouten featured the Walther PPK on the show?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll just bet that the producers knew exactly what they were doing when the episode was made.  They probably didn't have a ton of usable footage and created 5 minutes worth of drama from what they could piece together.  The average schmoe will never know the difference anyway.  Interestingly enough, American Shooter has USPSA link on their site.  Check out:

http://www.americanshooter.com/Show_Schedu...ow_schedule.asp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shjt man, they were there for days. They were doing one-on-one interviews. And what did they choose to run? Some footage of Richard Heinie talking about a gun he built for Miami Vice. And they ran footage of Crockett and Tubbs instead of Sevigny and Jarrett.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm wondering if maybe we should all take a step back and look at things from a different perspective before we condem American Shooter too much.

The coverage wouldn't please hard core shooters but I think at least it showed the sport in a good light. This is something that we sorely need. I think they tried to give a snapshot of the competition to interest the general public who wouldn't know one competitor from the other. No doubt they wanted to promote Robbie's win and who could blame them?

I'm happy that I saw a USPSA match on tv and maybe we can build on this coverage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to get the facts straight - for what it's worth. The Super Squad shot the Factory Nats in this order: stages 18, 19 and 1-10 on Sunday, 11-17 on Monday. Jerry Barnhart absolutely burned down Stage 18 and took an early lead. The second place shooter on that stage had a score 70 percent of Jerry's. It was halfway through the Super Squad's first day of shooting before Rob L. passed Jerry B. And after Stage 13, halfway through Monday, the last day of shooting, Jerry B. closed to within 4 points of Robbie before the latter pulled away at the end. David Sevigny went into Monday 15 points up on Jarrett. It was halfway through Monday before Todd pulled into the lead. And I know that because I've got all the stage scoresheets!

(Edited by Duane Thomas at 10:22 pm on Nov. 23, 2002)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the competition thing is just TV being TV.  I was kinda annoyed to learn the other day that one of my favorite shows, Junkyard Wars does a few invisible (to the viewer) things to make sure they at least get some sort of race out of the deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please don't get me wrong.  I'm very happy that USPSA finally got some air time.  I also hope that it peaked some interest.  However, there's nothing anti-climatic about a battle b/t the experience of Todd and the ability of the young newcomer Dave Sevigny.....or the fight for the top Limited 10 honors b/t Robbie and Jerry.  I just thought that with the amount of time the crew was there, they could've at least broken from the media mold and reported the truth.  You know.....what actually happened.  People should see the shooting....not a shamless plug for a gunsmith.  I want the facts told properly.......nothing more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Quote: from gmshtr on 7:32 pm on Nov. 21, 2002

I want the facts told properly.......nothing more.

That's Television's fatal flaw.  The nature of the medium (due to the people who run it) makes that impossible.  Television only cares about entertaining Joe Six Pack, which renders it an unsuitable vehicle for communicating truth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

American Shooter is well familiar with USPSA  matches. They covered the Mystery Mountain 3 Gun in 2000 and did a fine job. It is no doubt the fault of some rookie director screwing up the editing. Scouten has spent enough time with Robbie to know his ass from a spent primer.

Sharon Anne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw the coverage on OLN last night.Like many of you said it was a total screw up.Another WTF  was the interview with Angi Kelly and no mention of the fact that she won the ladies Production title.But seeing that they did not mention Production or revolver at all I guess that was the reason.American Shooter dropped the ball on this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...