It’s Wednesday and for shooting and firearm info on TV you can find no place better than Midway USA’s sponsored block of shooting related programming on The Outdoor Channel.
Wednesday Night at the Range The block of programming runs from 7pm onward and covers a variety of topics. There’s no emphasis on hunting here; it’s about guns, shooting sports, self defense and fun. I apologize if I sound a little fanboyish, but I feel that it’s needed programming on a wide range of shooting related topics that do not involve hunting. There is nothing wrong with hunting shows, ok some of them are pretty boring, and others are very good, but there are other reasons that people are into guns and shooting that get very little coverage in media. Some of these other aspects are only discussed on the internet or in magazines and never get any type of exposure to a general audience. Some of these topics include; match shooting, gun reviews, historical information, self defense, fun stuff, how to and others. It’s a good overview of topics which I think gives insight into what types of things gun enthusiasts do while providing information for gun enthusiasts on topics we want to see. I’m not going to review all the individual shows here, but may try and cover them in future posts. The overview approach is very good, and I can see what the producers are going for. As with anything there is room for improvement. There are topical shows that could be added like a C&R type historical collecting show and they could make new episodes of Cowboys which I feel are sorely missed. I would like to see The Best Defense: Survival added back in to the lineup as well. There are some standout shows like
Shooting USA with Jim Scoutten which covers all types of popular related shooting activities, and Shooting Gallery from
Downrange TV . Shooting Gallery and it’s very likeable host Michael Bane provide a look into different aspects of shooting related topics, some more mainstream like covering a production class division added to a competition shooting match, and some quirky like a gathering of Victorian and Edwardian age firearms enthusiasts and what they do when they get together. Whatever the topic, I feel its best feature is the underlying theme of the show, “fun” as in what kinds of fun things do other firearms enthusiasts do, and how could I get in on it? This approach concentrating on fun things is what I think needs to be emphasized in the shooting world. If you can’t watch all the shows in the lineup try and catch these 2. I bet, like me you’ll like them both for different reasons and you’ll see what I mean about a need for covering other topics.
