TV Musings: “Top Shot”
It's summer, which inevitably leads to a TV wasteland. There's not much to watch right now, and to fill the void until summer shows start rolling around I thought I'd check out the History Channel's Top Shot.
The main hook for me is that former Survivor contestant Colby Donaldson serves as host. I was curious to see what the guy is up to, because his acting career never really took off after Survivor: The Australian Outback back in the day. After episode 1, it seems clear to me Jeff Probst was a definite influence for his hosting style. It seems inevitable, given the entire premise for the show is clearly inspired by Survivor, but over the course of the episode I didn't leave thinking having Colby as host was any better than another no-namer. He does good, but that's not to say any other host would be able to do just the same. Even so, it's good to see him on TV.
Overall, the show was just so-so for me...My only knowledge of any of the guns they use is from videogames that I've played. The premiere episode focused on older rifles and many of the names of the weapons, I recognized from Battlefield 1943 and Medal of Honor. Their first challenge involved shooting targets at stations along an obstacle course, with each station reserved for a specific type of rifle.
The day before the challenge they had a chance to practice with each rifle, and they showed brief glimpses of competitors shooting each one. They used this time to figure out who was best with each weapon so they could be placed accordingly at each station in the course.
The obstacles on the course weren't particularly overwhelming. I did get a kick out of the fact that they had a rope 2 people had to cross without touching the ground. It wasn't more than about 10 feet, and everyone kept saying how it looked like it was going to be tough. Um, really? The Red Team got stuck at the first target, while the Blue Team cruised through the course and eventually won. I'd go into more detail, but there's not much more to it. They shot guns. Sometimes they hit targets.
The final part of the show, the "tribal council" if you will, was also extremely drawn out. They spend a bunch of time showing the competitors vote. They do this by shooting point-blank at a wall where each person's name hangs from target. The two highest tallies are the two who face off in a one-on-one competition.
Overall, I'll probably stick with the show, just to see how it plays out. It wasn't great, but it really wasn't that bad. If you're a history buff or shoot a lot of guns, you probably will at least get some entertainment value out of it. Check out Top Shot on the History Channel, Sundays at 10/9c.