Talkin' 'bout Gabby Franco

Beauty and skill

I continue my quest to repay those who have helped spread the news about this blog. Right after Chris Cheng started following me on twitter, Gabby Franco did the same.

Franco has been flying under the radar for most of the season, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been doing her part. She's been a consistent performer, and (at least as far as we've been allowed to see) her name hasn't ever been brought for consideration at elimination meetings. And while I don't mean to jinx her (which I can't really since this was filmed back in August), she could very well be the first woman to make it to the individual portion of the this contest since Season 1's Tara Poremba.

I think it would be cool to see a female contestant make it to the final three for the call-your-shot challenge, and Franco might just be the right woman for the job.

If you want to learn more about Franco or show your support for her this season, there are a couple of places you can go.

Follow her on Twitter @GabbyFrancoTS4

Like her on Facebook by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/gabbyfrancotopshot

She has her own website: http://gabbyfranco.com/

And that website has a blog where Frnaco has been walking readers through Season 4 from her perspective. Click the link that follows, or click the link I recently installed as part of my blog roll on the left column: http://gabbyfranco.com/blog/

That's it for this week's edition. Next week I'm bouncing back to blue team, but it's either going to be Augie Malekovich, because he wife started following me, or Dylan Fletcher, for sharing his inside perspective on episode 6 in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter (especially if you are a contestant, past or current, and would like to be featured) @cswiets

Top Shot Analysis: S4 E6 "Blast from the Past"

[Note: Blue team member, Dylan Fletcher was kind enough to provide some extra insight into this week's episode, specifically what was left on the editing room floor. However, I try and write both recaps and the analysis strictly from what is shown in each episode, and as I wrote this before Fletcher offered his comments, I decided not to change anything. I do highly recommend going back to my recap of "Blast for the Past"  and reading the comments he left if you want a better idea of what happened in the episode.]

Believe it or not we are already halfway through this season, and my what a season it has been. We've had crazy weapons, some crazy challenges, and some slightly crazy contestant behavior.

Enter "Blast from the Past" which only could have been better if a past contestant had shown up to really hammer home the title. I want to spend a little time on the challenges, because the bulk of this episode dealt with the contestants, whose actions, for once, were actually intriguing, instead of oddly fascinating.

The Challenges
One of the complaints I read on the internet the other night was that while the weapons were fun, the challenges were a bit of a snooze. I would have to agree with this for the most part. Neither one featured any fast paced shooting, instead relying on the tension of the back and forth nature of the challenges to hold the audience attention. This was something that worked better on the bag gun challenge than the atlatl.(Also, question, is it atl-atl? Or at-latl?)

My other major gripe with the bag gun challenge is that if the contestants are shooting a big, loud gun, I want them to be hitting a big loud target. I just wasn't getting the same excitement seeing the aluminum shells make a hole in the target board that I would have had there been a large explosion when they hit their mark. 

The atlatl was a fun primitive weapon to have featured. The slo-mo featured during the practice and challenge was amazing because the flex on those darts was ridiculous. I have to say though I would have much preferred to see the atlatl in a team challenge rather than the individual, you know there would have been some frustrated contestants. And (again not to harp but I can't resist) can you imagine how funny it would have been to see Greg Littlejohn standing in his throwing pose making those crazy faces, while his team agonizes behind him? Would have been priceless.

I also want to discuss team strategy in this challenge for a second, because I'm not really sure what blue team was thinking on this challenge. If we are talking in terms of pure stature of the contestants, blue team is made up of a lot of big guys. Red team is made up of four small guys, Gabby Franco, and Tim Trefren. Trefren was the only big guy on the team, so why sit Chee Kwan? This is a challenge with a cannon, what possible advantage could Kwan have given his team by participating? When red team fumbled with adjusting the cannon during one of their shots because no one was on the back to lift, it was Trefren who hustled back to do it. Now it doesn't really matter because blue team won anyway, but think how much harder would this challenge have been for red if they hadn't had Trefren to help with the heavy lifting. Sitting contestants isn't going to be an issue after the next few episodes, but after Tim was sent home, red better hope there aren't any more team challenges that require heavy lifting.


The Contestants
I'm going to again skip the Top and Not-so-Top shots this week. Blue team had pretty limited screen time this week, which I guess is one of the disadvantages of winning a challenge, but I'm sure they are okay with it. I'm also going avoid Top and Not-Top teams, because the real discussion lies with the red team.

As I've said repeatedly, I've been impressed with how even the teams have been this season. Minus the shotgun challenge, there haven't been any real blow outs, and the accuracy with the Bag Gun just showed how talented this season's contestants are. But more than that I've been impressed with the respect the two teams have shown each other. Clearly there is a divide between them, which is bound to happen when you are forced to live in the same house as the people you are competing with, but no one has really been shown getting into each other's faces. Plus despite the early clique problem on blue and the little tiff between Trefren and Cheng (which I am about to get to) the infighting among team's this season has been pretty minimal. It's a testament to what separates this show from anything else on TV to have these contestants act with civility and respect, instead of trash-talking and back-stabbing.

With that said let's get into the meat of this episode which was the whirlwind elimination process red team went through. As I pointed out in my recap, red team decided they needed to do elimination based on past performance, a decision I agree with, even if it isn't entirely fair. If anyone had completely missed the target this would have been easy, but everyone hit and helped walk it in to give red team a fighting chance in this challenge.

So where do you begin when placed in a situation like this, where you have to take the cumulative performances of the competition to make a decision? I wonder what would have happened had Kwan spoken up before Cheng decided to go on his rundown of successes and failures of his teammates? I suspect there might have been two very different people in the elimination challenge.

Regarding Cheng, I honestly believe the guy was trying to be fair, but he made three huge missteps in going about it. First, never put yourself in that position in Top Shot, even if you are on good terms with your teammates, setting up a situation where you list off people's flaws is never going to end well. Second, he didn't leave any room for discussion (at least from what the cameras showed). After losing a team challenge there has to be discussion, not just one person talking, because that person talking is then more or less screwed. Third and final, Cheng went through his exemplary record this season, which was pretty much the nail in the coffin. yeah the guy has performed well, but if you can't criticize yourself, don't put yourself in the position to criticize others.

Now, regarding Trefren. I have to say that leg shaking made me pretty nervous. I was surprised at how upset Trefren was, and how obstinate he was in going after Cheng. Gary Shank I think had the best perspective on this, placing blame of Cheng for putting himself in that position, and Trefren for perhaps overreacting a little to Cheng's comments.

The problem is that two people had to go to elimination, and it wasn't going to be easy, as proved by what happened on the elimination range. Red team (and blue for the most part) has been consistently open with who they were voting for and then sticking to that decision at the range. Then along comes Kyle Sumpter.

Sumpter is red team's leader, and is always looking out for the team. Did he make the right call by switching the vote to Trefren? Maybe. I have to think that Trefren would put the team needs ahead of his own vendetta if Cheng had come back from elimination against Kwan. At the same time there was a problem with an easy and simple solution, and Sumpter decided to take it.

The look on Kwan and Cheng's faces when he hit Trefren's target was just awesome, I mean the camera just seemed to linger on them and their "What?" expressions forever. I think Kwan did have a point though when he said he needed to prove his worth to the team, and if they had simply gone back to the previous challenge, where Kwan failed with the rope, and Trefren failed to hit his shot with the flintlock, that might have been the simplest solution.

I was sad to see Trefren go, he and Terry Vaughan have been my favorites this season. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next week when the traditional exhibition shoot-off takes place.

What did you think of last night's episode? We you as surprised as I was about Sumpter's switch up? And why do you think blue team sat Kwan? hit the comments and let me know.

Friday Surprise coming tomorrow and a new edition of Talkin' 'bout on Saturday (promise).

Stay up to date with the latest posts by following me on Twitter: @cswiets

Top Shot Analysis: S4 E5 "Swing into Action"

The fifth episode of the fourth season offered a lot of good (lack of bandanas) and a few things that weren't so great (an episode title lacking alliteration, I would have gone with "Flintlock Frenzy"). 

Let's dive right in shall we? I have jobs to apply for (p.s. if anyone wants to hire me, I graduate in May, resume available upon request).

The Challenges

I have to hand it to Colby on that misdirect for the team challenge. I can only imagine what the contestants were thinking the challenge would be like after he gave them all that Revolutionary War background. 

The Kentucky flintlock also featured one of the most complicated loading mechanisms ever seen on Top Shot. The surprising thing about the team challenge was that while the practice led me to believe that once again the challenge would all come down to how well team's could load the weapon, that didn't turn out to be the case. 

The first obstacle was the challenge itself. It was painful to see Chee Kwan hit that platform time after time, I couldn't help but think this guy had a deprived childhood. 

Top Shot is supposed to be fun and this challenge certainly fulfilled that aspect of the show, at least at the beginning. The fun quickly faded from both teams, first as Kwan failed to cross to the other platform, and then when Littlejohn couldn't take his shot. 

I think that disappointed me most though, was the lack of dropped ball jokes that were made. There was such a rich opportunity for humor here that either the contestants didn't take advantage of, or the producers decided to edit out. Either way it is a shame. 

The elimination challenge was also a little disappointing. I know Top Shot likes to contrast old and modern, but seeing two pistol elimination challenges in a row was a little boring. However, Top Shot makes up for that in how they form the challenges. I was excited to see that it would be up to Trefren and Keyes to keep pace with the moving window to shoot their targets. 

I have to admit that I wasn't too upset to see Keyes go, I had a feeling that he had kind of been coasting on his team's success the past couple of weeks. That is why it is almost better for teams not to get on a winning streak. Sure, that team may end up with more members, but they also hang onto the weak members of their team. As we saw this week, this can lead to the critical shooters being forced to sit out and puts pressure on the weaker ones to deliver. 

The Contestants

I'm going to abandon the contestant formula this week and speak solely about the teams. No character really stuck out, and there really isn't any point in harping on Littlejohn again.

Top Team: Red

Despite their failures in the team challenge, red is still proving to be the team that knows how to play this game, and how to play it well. I give big props to Gary Shank for his coaching ability in this challenge. His calm and steady instruction kept his team on point throughout the challenge, and with a weapon that had so many steps to go through before actually firing it, his instruction proved vital to keeping this contest close. He possesses a special talent of giving instruction without letting frustration seep into his tone. In addition red team had all three of their biggest failures step up to the plate for elimination. It had to be a tough choice for red team in who to send this week, and while I'm a big fan of Trefren (who I think Kwan accurately described as the "heart" of the read team), I think it was the right choice to send him this week.

Not-So-Top Team: Blue

While blue team won this challenge, they are far from being the cohesive whole they need to be to make it to the individual stage of this contest. Let's disregard Littlejohn's freeze up for the moment and look at the other four members of the blue team. While red team had Gary Shank shouting every loading instruction to every member of his team who picked up the flintlock, blue team never picked up  this strategy. The only thing they thought to do was to try and keep themselves calm by telling Littlejohn to keep calm. It took Littlejohn picking up and setting down the pistol three times to reset himself before Augie finally asked him if he had fully-cocked the pistol. Blue team is going to have to amp their support of each other if they are going to make it through the next challenge. 

What do you think? How did the teams stack up to you? Hit the comments and let me know.

No post tomorrow as I'm off to visit the exotic locale of Sheboygan, Wis. I'll be back Friday with a surprise post.

Stay up to date by following me on Twitter @csiwets

Top Shot Recap: S4 E5 "Swing Into Action"

This week's episode toned down the drama (a bit) but kept the stakes high in the competition.

Not much to talk about at the house before the episode really kicked off this time around, except that the contestant seem to be adding their own personal touch to nailing the targets to the wall this season. Each target has an accompanying memento. After assuring everyone that Colin Gallagher left with "his head held high" Gregory Littlejohn placed a shell from the Smith & Wesson M&P 40 on the target.

On the practice range, Colby informed the contestants they would be getting a blast from the past in the form of the Kentucky flintlock pistol, a weapon used throughout the Revolutionary War. Red team got to practice first and had the advantage of Gary Shank, who had previous experience with black powder weapons. Tim Trefren, whose main experience is with rifles, had a little trouble getting a handle on the flintlock.

Blue team also had a few troubles when they came up to give it a try. Littlejohn had trouble figuring out the trigger, which both teams commented on being incredibly stiff. William Bethards also had difficulty aiming the flintlock, and had his ball fall out on one occasion.

The contestants were thrown for a loop in the team challenge, as Colby left out one important detail when explaining the background of the the Kentucky flintlock, namely it's use by pirates.

The teams were set up on two platforms. One at a time each team member would swing across a gap on a rope to another platform. They would then have to load the flintlock and fire it at a jug filled with sand. If a contestant failed to reach the other platform, they would have to drop down, climb back up the platform and try again until they were able to reach the other side. First team to hit all five targets would win.

Blue team decided to take out the leadership on red by sitting Kyle Sumpter and Shank, but much like last week when they sat Trefren, Shank was still able to be a strong supporting player by coaching his teammates through the challenge. However red team got to a rough start when Chee Kwan failed to make it onto the platform and had to start over.

Meanwhile, blue team got off to solid start nailing their first three targets. Then they stumbled when Littlejohn stepped up to the stage. Littlejohn froze up, with a look of anguish not only on his face, but on those of his teammates. Red team looked to take advantage of the hold up they had been anticipating, but Iggy Keyes missed his target, as did Tim Trefren, and Keyes also missed on his second time around. Littlejohn, finally got his shot off and hit his target. Blue team finished up and took advantage of the lost time red team just couldn't make up, going five for five to win the challenge.

Back at the house red team members Keyes, Kwan, and Trefren all offered themselves up for elimination. Keyes and Trefren for being the only members to miss their shot, and Kwan for setting the setting the tone for what turned out to be a jumbled performance by the red team. At the elimination range though, red team seemed to settle on voting for poor shooting performance, rather than someone's ability to swing on a rope, nominating Trefren and Keyes to duke it out.

At the practice they found they would be shooting a much more modern pistol, the Heckler & Koch USP Tactical. Trefren was visibly concerned at having to shoot another pistol, but Keyes seemed more than happy to take up the challenge. However during the practice, which featured them shooting through a small circular window, there didn't seem to be a great advantage to either contestant.

The challenge featured the contestants shooting through a moving window. However, in a Top Shot twist, the contestants would not be on a moving platform, they would have to move along with the window as it went down the course.

In a rare moment on Top Shot, both contestants went through the course and hit the same amount of targets using the same amount of rounds (more on this aspect in the analysis). Trefren and Keyes both hit only eight out of twenty targets. However on the second go around, Trefren smoked the course, hitting eighteen out of twenty targets, while Keyes once again only managed to hit eight.

Iggy shuffled his way out of the competition, and the teams now stand at 6-5.

What did you think of last night's episode? Hit the comments and let me know.

Stay tuned for my analysis as there is a lot I want to discuss about this episode.

Follow me on Twitter @cswiets

Talkin' 'bout Chris Cheng

Sorry for the delay here folks, I now I promised this yesterday but as much as I did not want it to, spring break got in the way.  I spent my time yesterday driving and enjoying the wonderful spring weather in Madison, Wis., and was unable to throw up this post.

The good news is I am back at home base, which means not only will I be able to watch Top Shot when it airs, but I'll be watching it in 52 glorious inches of high definition.

I'll take this guy over Hugh Jackman any day of the week.

This week, I'm focusing on red team member Chris "Van Helsing" Cheng. Cheng dominated the crossbow challenge this week, and has slowly been getting more screen time as the weeks go on. Bestowed with a new nickname and some new confidence, Cheng is starting to break out as one of the competitor's to watch this season.

Cheng started following me on Twitter this week, and so I'm returning the favor by doing a little cross promoting.

You can follow Cheng on Twitter @TopShotChris

And you can show your support by liking his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/TopShotChris

Cheng also hosts weekly recaps and Q&A's for episodes that he records and posts on YouTube. You can check out his channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopShotChris

That's it for this edition of Talk' 'bout. Watch Cheng and the rest of the red team on this week's episode of Top Shot on Tuesday 10/9 c.

Come back tomorrow for a little Monday bonus.

Follow me on Twitter @cswiets

Top Shot Analysis: S4 E4 "Crossbow Crossfire"

There was a lot happening both on and off the range in this week's episode. The contestants stepped away from guns to try their hand at crossbows and blue team looked like they were going to take a step away from being petty to actually work as a team, only to trick everyone, including themselves.

There is a fair amount to talk about with this episode, but I just want to start with a question.

Is anyone else really starting to dig this season?

Perhaps it's because I'm blogging this season, or perhaps it's because I've been able to interact with some of the contestants thanks to Twitter, but as the season wears on, I just find a bigger grin on my face with each passing episode. Who would have thought there would be more to stay tuned in for after we were treated to grenade launchers in the second episode? But this season continues to impress with compelling contestants, thrilling challenges, and exciting weapons.

Anyway onto the episode.

The Challenges

I have to say I was glad to see the BowTech StrykeZone 350 crossbow in this episode. Now, I'll never tire of guns, exploding targets, or contestants with ridiculous looking earguards (seriously though, safety first) but the thing I like about Top Shot is that it has always been about more than being able to shoot a gun. I like when they bring in the primitive weapons, but I love when they bring in modern day versions of ancient weapons. If History Channel was once the channel where "History comes alive" (that was there slogan once, right?) it is certainly demonstrated when Top Shot brings in these modern day incarnations. 

I was surprised to see that the contestants practiced on a stationary target and were then put into a challenge with a rotating one. Usually the contestants practice with a simple moving target to get the feel for how to shoot the weapon at a moving target, and are then faced with  more complex moving target in the actual challenge. However there were a lot of comparisons being made between shooting a rifle and shooting the crossbow, so if there was an understanding that the contestants had basic rifle skills, this may explain the reason behind this decision. 

The challenges this season continue to impress with their complex staging that continues to emphasize the importance of team strategy as well as team shooting. This challenge posed the question of whether to send your better shooters out early and get out to an early lead, or save them for when they had an opportunity to score more points. 

The initial 3-0 lead blue team took had me questioning red teams strategy, but while blue team kept repeating the mantra "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" red team seemed to be the ones taking it to heart. Red team is continuing to perhaps be one of the most cohesive teams in Top Shot history, without being obnoxious about it. 

The elimination challenge looked surprisingly difficult. Now, I'm not saying other elimination challenges are easy, but I think I would have gotten incredibly frustrated trying to nail that tiny balloon at the top of the pendulum. The nice thing about this challenge is it continued to demonstrate the importance of consistency in these challenges. Anyone can get a lucky run going, but if a shooter perseveres and finds a pace that works for them, they can always catch up and make things interesting. 

I would take this opportunity to harp on Littlejohn for his inability to hit his final target and allow Gallagher to catch up with him, but that was a visibly difficult shot to make. We know that elimination challenges are filmed over the course of the day with practice in the morning and the challenge in the afternoon. In this episode it was clear to see the sun was setting and the shadows at the top of the wall were obscuring that final balloon for Littlejohn. That's already a difficult shot to make with the low clearance and small target size, and the poor lighting only added to the difficulty. 

The design of these challenges and the contestants skill level have kept these challenges close and exciting to watch this season.

The Contestants

I want to talk in broader terms for minute before getting into specific contestants. As I wrote above, red team is cruising this season, they have three out of four wins and are only down one team member. They have a group with diverse backgrounds, and their overall teamwork is astounding. 

However, contrast this with blue team. A team that has become sorely divided. I wanted to dig into blue team a little here, but the more I thought about the more sympathetic I became. The audience gets a week digest everything that has happened between episodes. It is easy to think that these guys should be able to turn themselves around the next time we tune into the show. But that isn't how it really works is it? These guys are on a tight schedule, which doesn't allow them a lot of time to work on team building. Last season we saw a completely different blue team, one that won the first challenge and wanted to keep winning. They did those crazy practices in the backyard of the house, which were laughable, but even the members of the team who thought they were silly, admitted they were good for building team unity. And they were right. 

This season of Top Shot has shown just how critical focus is to this game, and just how a far a team can fall when they don't have it. Going back to my initial point I can only imagine how hard it is for a team to try and wash their hands of the bad feelings left over from a loss and try and turn their attitudes around in just three days (or less). Vaughan can give all the speeches he wants (and props to him for doing what needed to be done) and his team can nod along and agree with him as much as they want, but if they don't actually commit to what he's trying to preach, they are going to continue to struggle in this competition.

Now for this week's Top and Not-so-Top Shots.

Not-so-Top Shots:

Gregory Littlejohn, Mr. Friendship bracelet himself. The thing about Littlejohn is, I'm starting to come around to him. Not in a, "This guy is pretty cool" way, but more in a "I'm am completely fascinated by this guy" way. Littlejohn is, for better or worse, becoming this season's standout character. Season 2 had the irritable coaching of Jay Lim, which quickly faded when he had no one else to coach. Season 3 had the irritable coaching and mind games of Jake Zweig. Littlejohn is neither of these things. He isn't someone who is trying to dominate the way his team is run, and he isn't someone who is sullying the unspoken honor of this competition through manipulation (unless he is, in which case, he's a genius). He's simply a guy who likes to have his friends around him. I have a theory  that every reality show has a character that is representative of the kid no one wanted to play with during grade school. On Jersey Shore, it's The Situation. On Deadliest Catch, it's Captain Keith. I think Littlejohn is Top Shot's version of this character. These people suddenly find themselves forced into social situations, and it overwhelms them. It can go two ways, the person pushes the people they are surrounded by away (The Situation) or they bring them uncomfortably close (Littlejohn). Colby has tweeted his own confusion as to Littlejohn's ability to put this tremendous amount of weight on relationships with people he has know for less than two weeks. It was also evident by Colby's dazed expression over what has become know as the "friendship bracelet ceremony". He just couldn't seem to understand how Littlejohn and Gallagher had become so close, and Gallagher seemed to be right there with Colby. 

Back tracking a little, Littlejohn is also have a clear problem with nerves in this competition, and his inability to knock an arrow allowed the red team to regain their composure and lead themselves to a win. From the preview of next week's episode, this doesn't look like a problem that is going away anytime soon, but Littlejohn might. 

Oh, and how about his closing comment about how that blue team better realize that they shouldn't send him to elimination if they don't want to send someone else home? HELLO? LITTLEJOHN? If your team is headed to elimination, someone is going home regardless if they nominate you or not. C'mon man.

I'm also going to throw up Gun Fauxeri for again saying he wanted to be in the elimination challenge. No you don't.

Top Shots:

Augie Malekovich finally started to speak up in this episode. I was beginning to forget this guy was here. He gets marks for expressing the confusion I think most of us were feeling during the bracelet ceremony. He also had the line of the night with his "31 year-old man giving a 36 year-old man a friendship bracelet" outrage.

Also speaking up this episode, Iggy Keyes and Gary Shank. Keyes is starting to finally look more comfortable in front of the camera, while Shank, like Augie, was a guy I had all but forgotten about. I hope we continue to see a little more from all three of these guys as the season continues.

That's it for this analysis. Let me know your thoughts on friendship bracelets and the like in the comments.

Come back tomorrow for the Friday Surprise addressing a question Colby raised on Twitter during this weeks episode. 

Follow me on Twitter @cswiets