Looking forward to next season

Looking at the schedules for the 2010 television season, it looks as if there will be even more options out there for those of us not totally convinced that every round fired from a firearm is headed for an animal in a hunting setting. I’m not knocking the hunting shows, but it has seemed for years that the television industry just didn’t accept the premise that firearms could be used – legally- for anything other than hunting or law enforcement.

Next season, however, several shows will continue to cover shooting sports as they have for years. On Outdoor Channel, of pals Jim Soutten and Michael Bane continue to put out high-quality programming that forms the backbone of that network’s Wednesday night shooting block. Shooting USA, Sighting In With Shooting USA and Impossible Shots makeup a 90 minute block of programming with a solid following. Bane’s programs are also solidly viewed, with Cowboys and Shooting Gallery longstanding audience favorites, along with Best Defense add to the mix. Like I said, they form the structural base upon which Outdoor Channel has built a solid evening of entertaining programming for shooting enthusiasts. Although Scoutten plays his cards close to the vest, it’s a pretty safe bet he has something else in the works. Bane, on the other hand, makes no secret of the fact he has three new shows, Gun Stories, It’s Always Loaded, and Big Bore Chronicles. I have pretty good ides about the first two; with Michael’s sense of humor, I’m afraid BBC will be a reality show following dull people rather than something to do with the heavy-caliber firearms for which he and I share an affinity.

On Sportsman Channel, there’s no shortage of shooting shows, either. Parent company InterMedia continues to blend magazine titles and television shows. While there are plenty of shows that address the hunting application (including American Airgunner), InterMedia- like others- has recognized that the more personal applications of firearms isn’t an area that shouldn’t be discussed. Consequently, you have Personal Defense TV, Tactical Arms and Tactical Impact, in addition to Guns & Ammo television and American Rifleman Television Classics.

And despite being positioned as a full-sports network, VERSUS continues to pay attention to firearms. On the schedule in 2010, hunting shows from firearms manufacturers (Winchester, Beretta, Ruger and others) as well as the return of Guns and Gear, on of the few programs in the genre that focuses on firearms and gear manufacturers, offering full-product line information, along with tips and lots of range time.

And mainstream networks like the History Channel continue to take advantage of the loyal following of shooting, with popular hosts Leith Caradine and R. Lee Ermey’s “Lock & Load”still pulling in good numbers with shows that focus on firearms and their significant roles in shaping – and changing- history. There are also several other special shows in the planning stages there, so it seems history can’t be reported without taking weapons – including firearms – into account.

There are a host of other shows in development, but not to the point that we’re free to talk about them openly.

In other words, 2010 looks like a pretty good year for the shooting sports – and the firearms industry. Now, if we could only get the “mainstream” networks to reexamine their completely biased positions on firearms.

OK, it’s just a wish, but it’s one of many on my 2010 wish list.

We’ll keep you posted.

–Jim Shepherd