How would you run Top Shot?

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bigalexe

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There is another thread discussion a show called Top Shot floating around here.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=526710

In summary however it is a reality show premiering this season where two groups of mixed competitive and professional shooters square off in weekly competitions and and then there is an elimination competition that picks off one person from the losing team. Survivor format really.

The general tone of the thread is that the show is a good concept but falls short in the trigger time and real action, for a variety of reasons.

So for those of you that have seen the season or at least an episode how would you run the show differently?
 
My Reply:

More trigger time, more bullets fired, and maybe multiple people on the line at once working together.

What drives me insane seeing the show is the very limited amount of time they spend actually shooting. These folks are doing one or two competitions a day and those seem to consist of maybe 20 rounds of ammunition. 20 rounds is how many I give someone at the range who just wants to shoot my gun once, and not nearly enough for someone to get competent with a weapon they have never handled before. Yes these are pro shooters that are expected to know their guns but making this change would put more action on the screen and I think make for a much better perceived competition.
 
So far it is doing a good job to keep my GF interested in the contest, so no complaints here.

However, I would like to see more "run and gun" challenges, in addition to moving targets.

It should have a "zombie" stage in which the shooters have to engage a horde of "zombies" approaching from 360 degrees in varying amounts of speed.

It should also have a "paintball duel", or at least a drive-by.
 
Do away with the teams and have them compete as individuals, maybe teams of two. No voting to see who goes to elimination, whoever ranks in the bottom two from the competition are automatically in a shoot off to see who goes home.
 
I think the show does it's job well: It brings in millions of viewers to a show that is at least somewhat about shooting.

Without jeopardizing their success, I'd like to see them add in more of thinking element to each challenge like they did with the "judgement" competition and some more run and gun stages never hurt (but that's the IPSC shooter in me talkin' :) ). The videography so far has been outstanding, but I still think there's a couple of areas for improvement.
  1. Helmet cams. Ideally they should be digitally stabilzed and run a side-by-side view of each competitor as they go thru a competition or show a split screen of the helmet cam and the stage. If they're good enough for the X-Games, why not Top Shot?
  2. For the run and gun stages, some kind of comparitive camera work that shows the difference in each shot, like the overlay of different downhill ski runs used in the Winter Olympics.
  3. More on the shooting backgrounds of each competitor on the website. What is USPSA, Cowboy mounted shooting, Camp Perry, and how do they differ? Why mix in competitors with those backgrounds with current and former servicemen and law enforcement?
 
How about some accurate information? This is the history channel but at least half the information they give out on historical weapons is wrong.
 
I agree that it should not be teams and should be open. Jim (the old guy on the blue team) should have been eliminated on the first show.
 
Its meant to mimic those crappy reality shows on vh1 and mtv. SO they are doing it the "right" way according to reality tv. However...teeny bopper style for shooting isn't exactly what I'd of liked to see.

No teams would of been an improvement.
 
Have Mac from futureweapons be the whispering host :) He'd be better than that survivor contestant.
Select contestants from THR and 3 gun competitions based on demonstrated skill.
Require 2 minutes of shooting for every 1 minute of jaw flapping on the show.
Eliminate slingshots, ninja stars, pixie dust or any other non-firearm.
Competitors are eliminated based on their shooting scores and times, not their interpersonal relationships with other contestants.
 
AMEN, I want to see more shooting and less BSing back at the house.

One poster said get rid of teams. Each shooter gets to shoot. Then the bottom 2 go to the elimination round and best shooter stays.

I HATE it when they pick somebody because they don't like them.
 
In my opinion a competition is not based on a 5 minute team based shooting event. I would like to see the original 16 competitors compete individually against each other for the entire duration of the show season. Don't vote people off "the island". If these truly are the "Top Shots" then let them compete. The current show format comes down to popularity and theoretically the "Top Shot" could really only be a mediocre shot in the end because they were the most popular.
I enjoy the shooting competitions that the contestants have competed in so far, but i want more shooting. Some drama is OK but it should not be the focus of a shooting show.

Chicken-Farmer
 
Get yourself 10-15 shooters from as wide a set of shooting backgrounds as possible. Yes, that includes the precision disciplines. There's a Great Big World of Shooting outside of IPSC.

Then run the shooters through each discipline...or have the competitors design the stages, with the shooter who designed it acting as a non-shooting host for that event. He gets to provide color commentary, too - maybe for points from the viewers. First place gets 10 points, 2nd place 9 points, etc. Highest total at the end of the season wins.

The idea is to have a competition...but to also showcase the span of the shooting sports.

Kindly note that if you used enough of a spread in the contestants, you could have a Top Pistol Shot one year...and a Top Rifle Shot the next.
 
Just like all reality TV they can never have only cool stuff. They always have to throw in drama and conflict.

Pawn Stars and American Chopper come instantly to mind when I think of a neat idea for a reality show that is spoiled by Reality TV.

Here is my post in one of the Top Shot threads before it aired. It looks like I hit the nail right on the head.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6514350&postcount=4
 
Double elimination would mean more shooting time and more drama.

Have the bottom four compete in a elimination round and then the two losers compete in final elimination.

Keep the teams but have the two worst shooters from each team compete for elimination rounds.
 
Yup, just like most people are saying here, more shooting, less drama/reality show stuff. I think since it is the history channel, they should provide some more info on the gun, caliber being used, and how that particular gun operates. Just some more details and more time shooting would be great! Otherwise it's a pretty good show.
 
Select contestants from THR
Click to expand...
Too bad there is no Keyboard Division. 90% of the people here think 100y is a long shot with a rifle and that 7y is a long pistol shot. We, my self included, spend too much time talking on here and not nearly enough doing. If half of the people on THR were 10% as good as they think they are the competitive shooting world would have a lot more professional shooters. I shoot competitions when time and money allow, and I can tell you that I have a lot of work left to do before I consider my self a solid shooter.
 
Helmet cams. Ideally they should be digitally stabilzed and run a side-by-side view of each competitor as they go thru a competition or show a split screen of the helmet cam and the stage.
Click to expand...

Yes yes yes yes...my biggest pet peeve with the show is that every time someone shoots they do the uber dramatic slo-mo reel and shoot 2-3 cameras in the time it takes them to show a hit. Not only that but it looks like the camera shots of the "hits" are pre-recorded video.

Also, get rid of the "kick you off the island because I don't like your face" voting scheme. I like to train in stress and can imagine a lot of different things contributing to that stress but votes aren't something I think I'll ever stress about in a real life shooting situation. Haha

And like a previous poster said, more time shooting and less time with everything else. I watch an hour show and get to see 5 minutes of shooting and the rest of the time I'm watching grown men gossip and fight like a bunch of cats in a hair salon.

Other than that, I like the show and enjoy seeing the different types of weapons. If it was a points competition that rated players on skill, I'd be all about it.
 
I honestly expected them to be better shots.
Click to expand...

Let em flame...I was thinking the same thing the first time I watched it. I'm no grand master but these guys are definitely NOT the best shooters in the world. I came to the same realization when I watched Chef Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen" and noticed that the "premier chefs" had problems boiling water and steaming vegetables! :banghead:
 
I'd make a simple change


I'd cancel top shot with extreme prejudice and replace it with new episodes of "Tales of the gun"

I'm so sick and tired of reality TV I could vomit.
 
Any television show has to appeal to a wide enough audience base to be "sold" to the network showing it and to be "sold" to sponsors. This is a little easier with cable since the "networks" define themselves to fit niche groups, but a program still has to appeal to as many people as possible to be worth the investment. Our community is just too small to nitpick over a program that has to appeal to a broader audience to make it viable. We should be happy that our interests are included as a major part of the shows premise.

I would discourage the personality conflict based voting, but I don't actually know how you'd go about it. The whole process of groups voting members out of the competition creates dramatic tension and that interests a broader group of viewers so it may be a necessary evil.

I would use the full range of firearms from matchlock to the most modern and leave the non-firearms out. I'd include movement of the target and/or shooter at times and I'd add ranges from contact to out to a thousand meters.
 
My biggest issue with the show are the repeated, canned slow-mo shots. They are cool the first time, but after you've seen the same bullet and casing being ejected and the same bullet impacting the target, it gets old.

I wish that the show went into more historical detail, but I've accepted that it's a reality show first, and a show about guns second, or maybe third....not sure there....:uhoh:
 
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