This isn't bad! After all, how can you fault a reality show where contestants vote off others by taking up a 92FS and shooting a target with their name on it?
It is still a reality show, though; sort of a Survivor-like format where friendships and popularity play into it. And former Survivor Colby What's-his-name is the host. But he didn't seem to do that bad a job on show number one, so maybe he's actually a gun-guy and this will work.
The Red and Blue teams live together in a nice-looking house with all the shootin' "bays" (we know at least out to 600 yards) in the "backyard." My dream retirement property.
The first challenge was an obstacle course where the two teams paired up into four sets of shooters and spotters. Each sequential section of the obstacle course was matched with a specific rifle: Springfield 1903, SVT-40, Mosin-Nagant, and an M14, iron sights all. The pairs from each team had to navigate a part of the obstacle course, in sequence, then one shoot a target at 50 yards and the other a target at 100 yards. The team-designated 100-yard shooter spotted for the 50-yard shooter, then they switched off and the 100-yard shooter took the trigger.
Way cool targets! Looked like a 6-inch red center and white, square outer of 14 inches. Any hit in the red caused the target to explode...literally. No doubts about a hit. Nice flash!
Wish I knew where they were shooting. Terrain was very hilly and thoroughly covered with brush and ground cover. Might be Arizona after the rainy season. The distances seem easy, but there was virtually no visual feedback on misses unless they clipped the white area of a target.
The team that loses the team challenge must nominate two players for elimination. You pick up an M9 and plug the target of the person you're voting to send to the elimination round. The shooters are a mixed bag: I didn't like all the pistol handling that I saw in that vote, but so it goes.
Thank goodness this isn't solely a popularity thing, like so many "reality" shows. Otherwise, I'd scrap it. But the two people who receive the most votes then face-off in a pure skills challenge.
I haven't looked at any of the ads or promo pieces; I'm just going by what I saw watching the first episode. For all I know, the face-off skills challenge may always be the same; dunno. But this first episode it was using the same (way cool) exploding targets at 200, 400, and 600 yards (but with the exploding centers size-adjusted: smaller for closer, larger for farther), from prone, with a scoped Remington 700 utilizing a spotter the shooter selects from among the team members.
All in all, I think this one has legs. I'll be setting the DVR. Next week, it's about pistols, the M9 specifically. All firearms are provided by the show; no bring-your-own. That sets a more level playing field in every discipline.
The History Channel has demonstrated--pardon the pun--a history of being anything but shy about airing shows focusing on firearms and shooters. Their "Extreme Marksmen" two-hour specials are an example. A format like "Top Shots" takes on-air pro-gun to another level. As much as we like the Outdoor Channel, the Sportsman's Channel, and the Military Channel, the History Channel is much more "mainstream."
Having something like "Top Shots" on the History Channel gives us a program we can point our non-gun friends to as a way of neutralizing some of the extremist tripe from the Brady Bunch. Geez, these dedicated firearms practitioners look and act pretty much like normal people, don't they? In fact, they act far more honorably and honestly than what you see in other reality shows, don't they?
I do wish they had put Donna Vandermolen in as a second female contestant. The show needed at least two women. That's a stereotype we need to break. Maybe that can be corrected in the show's next season.
Let's all take a moment to contact the History Channel and thank them for airing "Top Shots." Wouldn't hurt to contact the show's advertisers to thank them, also. Let's support this kind of programming.
Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!
Not bullets, but entire cartridges, brass case and all. Must be the same ad firm that loaded that HK mag backwards for the print ads. 
