My favorite reality show that does not involve either food or traveling is History Channel's Top Shot.
I like it most for the attitude of the contestants: they usually vote the
weaker performers to face possible elimination, so that the strongest
people advance. There seems to be an ethic of "I want to challenge myself against the best shooters" not "I need to game this to make sure I win." With a few exceptions, there is a remarkable degree of
good sportsmanship shown.*
For a variety of reasons (bad eyesight, poor peripheral vision, hand tremors, the demonstrated inability to hit the broad side of a barn with anything, etc.) firearms and I are a bad mix. But damn, a lot of the things they do in this
show look fun. (Last night's individual challenge? Contestants were strapped to a large carnival ride sort of arm and swung in a huge vertical circle while they tried to hit targets 35 feet away with a gun that looked like the equivalent of a sawed-off AK-47. Now, tell me that does not sound like an absolute blast.)
My fascination with the show led to the following conversation:
The Rocket Scientist: Is some of the attraction of this a case of "forbidden fruit"?
Me: No, I think I've just gotten to the point in life where I think there are people I need to take out.**
*That said, I really could go quite a while without hearing the phrase "man up" again, The Book of Mormon notwithstanding.
**Not that I would ever do that, of course. I am not a violent person. Besides, I have seen CSI, and there is no way I could successfully hide the bodies.
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