History Channel’s gamble on a shooting show paid off, and high ratings seemed to get higher as the show progressed. The first season finished last night, with Iain the Top Shot with $100,000 as his reward for staying the course. We gun folks bemoaned the “reality show” drama at first, but it got us (and more important, non-shooters in the audience) interested. By mid-season we were referring to the contestants by first names, like old friends.

Congratulations to Iain, stolid Englishman Iain who reminded me of many Brits I trained when I used to teach over there every year, before the handgun ban. Never complaining, with a dry sense of humor you almost had to look for, he was straight up honest and never dissed anyone, but simply took each shooting event as a mission to accomplish with total focus. It was a winning strategy and a life lesson.

If you think about it, there were other life lessons that ran through the show. 22-year-old Kelly turned us older folks off with his ego when he described himself as a “rising star” at the beginning, and committed a major social gaffe…but we saw him grow up years in the space of the days of filming, and with his maturity came our ability to admire his skill and determination in more elimination tests than any other contestant. By the time he was eliminated, most of us were rooting for him, and sad to see him go. There was the one contestant who made himself the one we loved to hate. There was Caleb, who put honesty before winning strategy and became a role model for more than marksmanship. There was Tara, who left the contest to go to the side of her dying father, a reminder to all that family values trump glory. If there was any one contestant we’d all like to see return next season, it would have to be Tara. Personally, I’d consider it an honor to shoot against any of them.

I don’t know how many people applied for that first season, but I am certain that number will be dwarfed by the tsunami of applicants for the next one. Applications have already closed, but here’s one of my buddies who threw his hat in the ring, Jon Strayer, whom I think would be an excellent candidate for Top Shots, Season Two.

1 COMMENT

  1. I just saw the final episode, because I missed the live showing and had to “tape” it (yes, that’s what us old folks continue to call it). This was a most captivating series for someone who loves competitive shooting. I was very happy to see Ian win in the extremely intense final round. I do not know how the producers of this show are going to top the first Top Shot, but I can assure you that I will be watching.

  3. Turns out that Kelly is from around where I live and a friend of his who recently started shooting IDPA brought him along to a recent IDPA match. It was his first IDPA match, and he managed to finish fourth overall. I couldn’t be there, but I’m told by a coworker who did meet him that he was a great guy who didn’t seem at all concerned with his 15 minutes of fame and commented that it was really nice being able to shoot without a camera in his face.

  4. I didn’t start watching the show until about 3 weeks ago but I was hooked immediately. They definitely gave us some good drills and games to try on trips to the range.

  6. Jon would be an awesome pick for Top Shots! I still have my Stihl T-Shirts he gave all of us when we took LFI -I together in 1999 🙂 I would love to see him in there!

  8. I’ll bet our exalted Dear Leader would be absolutely thrilled to be a contestant on Top Shots and supporting the Second Admendment – if he wasn’t so busy taking vacations while trying to destroy our country. At least the History Channel has a good show in Top Shots instead of those dumb, so-called “reality shows” like Ghost Hunters, Ax Men, or Ice Road Truckers. I wish they would bring back Mail Call.

  9. The shooting looked fun and challenging, the photography was awesome. I didn’t care for the drama and I think the host is a cocky jerk. The “trailer” where he blows on his finger, There isn’t any gun smoke coming out so he must be checking the wind. Yay for Mail Call and Lock and Load.

  10. Sorry to be off topic. Woke up this rainy morning to a pretty worrisome story. This is by Dave Kopel who is a leading 2A lawyer. The administration has banned the import of mil surp rifles and is using some pretty flimsy reasoning. It is important that we all stay vigilant. Sensing numerous loses in November, the Dems may make a final push to change the gun laws before Jan 2011 if they loose the house or senate or both.

    http://volokh.com/2010/08/18/obama-bans-over-100000-rifles/

  11. I too would like to see Tara get a second chance at the competition. In spite of his Social gaffe (and honestly I’m guilty of worse) I really liked Kelly. Based on his age and skill I would say he has the potential to be a rising star.

  12. Just finished it yesterday after DVRing it earlier. I was on the edge of my seat until the last shot was fired. My seven year old son loved it as well. Can’t wait for season 2!

  13. Dag nab-it Mas!!!

    You should have put a spoiler alert on that blog for all of TIVO’ers. I started reading it and saw who the winner was before I realized that the blog was about the last episode, which I hadn’t yet watched!

    Loved the series as did my wife!!

  14. I thought Kelly’s “gaffe” was hilarious.

    Yeah, so maybe Kelly was a bit cocky, but he wasn’t the only one. Plus, he backed it up. I think a lot of people resented him because he is so young and so talented.

    I hated to see him go.

  15. It was a little hard to watch the “drama” part of the show and the Survivor-type voting, but the last two shows were a series of eliminations where skill, not drama, won the day…sweet!

  16. Hi Mas,

    Thanks for the kind words. I almost got to attend LFI 1 in the UK when Jan Stevenson was in the saddle, but as so often is the case, life got in the way. Glad you enjoyed the show and hope you can tune in for the second series – the producers are listening to the feedback from the firearms community and are looking to build on the initial success and improve things for next time. One thing I don’t think they’ll be able to improve is the amount of camaraderie and respect the shooters had for each other – it was a blast.

    Regards,

    Iain

  17. I finally got around to watching the last show of Top Shot. I was rooting for Peter, who seemed to be a class act (not to take anything away from the other three finalists). I really liked the last two shows best of all, and I agree – the drama was the series low point. The idea is to shoot – not bicker and plot.