Philly Phriday: ShootersTV

Happy Friday! This week's feature is on ShootersTV, an off shoot of ShootersINC, that is housed on Walnut Street.

Shooters's biggest contribution to cable in has been one of the Food Network's standouts, Restaurant: Impossible. The series is currently in its ninth season, it still falls behind cult favorite Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives which is in its 17th season, but there have been no signs that the show is nearing an end. In 2013, according to Futon Critic, Restaurant: Impossible averaged 1,600,000 viewers in the second quarter with a rating of  0.679 among adults 18-49. It was the fifth top performer for the network. 

To put things into perspective... Keeping Up with the Kardashians recorded an average of 2,448,000 viewers. And (my favorite) Naked and Afraid averaged 2,931,000 viewers.

The show follows Chef Robert Irvine as he renovates restaurants that are financially going under and disappointing customers. It's an intriguing show mainly because Irvine does EVERYTHING. He fixes the menu, fixes the ambiance, fixes the kitchen, and sometimes even becomes a family counselor. It's a multi-layered show, but at the end of it, families and restaurants are saved. I'm a little turned off by Irvine's over the top behavior. He's intimidating, but I guess Gordon Ramsey paved the way for Chefs to be allowed and sometimes expected to act like drill sergeants. Anything less than that isn't worth putting on television.

Shooters has other shows on their resume, but few have survived more than a season. They worked with Discovery Channel to produce Bar Hunters in 2013. The show followed individuals that yearned to open their "dream bar", but there's been no word since the premiere season ended about the show's fate. I'm no expert, but I don't understand how Bar Hunters fits into Discovery's lineup. Bar Hunters's seems like a better fit for Destination America. I wonder if it was originally developed for Destination America and stolen by older-brother network, Discovery. This type of trading happens often in large companies like Discovery Communications. 

Fun Fact! John and Kate Plus 8 was originally developed for Discovery Health but TLC snatched it up for it's own programming because it rated so well. From there, it became a huge hit, as Kate is now signed on for more 1-hour specials on the network.

Shooters and Food Network's, Food Feud never gained any momentum either. It's been in limbo since it's original air date in 2010.  I wonder if Food Network approached Shooters with this program, or if Shooters pitched it to Food Network. I bring this up because I see this fitting Destination America's programming more, too. If Food Feud was the brainchild of the development people at Shooters, I bet they pitched it to DA, and I want to know why it wasn't picked up. Food Feud is all about putting local favorites against one another. The first episode was Geno's vs. Pat's. What's more Americana then that?

I emailed people at Shooters in hopes of getting more information about them. (i.e. what they're working on now) but I haven't gotten any response. So if you work at Shooters and are reading this.. hey, email me back cause that would be sweet. thanks.