I am curious about some reality shows about guns where shooters are in ecstacy shooting targets that blow up?

Televison is, well... television. The reactions that are over the top make for better entertainment.

On shooting reality shows like you are talking about, they are competing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and hitting the target is what they have to do to win. So you'd be yelling "YEAH" too, you just shot the target that you needed to shoot to get a step closer to winning a crap ton of money. Notice that when the challenge involves shooting multiple exploding targets they aren't in a trance yelling "YEAH" until after hitting the LAST one. Successfully completing a challenging thing (especially with money at stake) will tend to make one happy.

The reactive targets on those shows are mostly for the viewer. At many ranges it's impossible to show a camera angle of the person shooting while at the same time letting the viewer see whether they hit the target or not. The reactive target makes it obvious what shots missed, and what ones didn't. Otherwise the viewer would be going "did they hit it yet?" every shot, or every shot (even the misses) would have to cut to the target view or split screen, and the show would really suck. Notice even at short ranges where exploding targets don't work, they often shoot bottles full of carbonated liquids, or metal targets that swing when hit, or balloons that pop, etc. For TV they have to always put extra effort into making the shooting event a spectator friendly thing. At longer ranges especially, exploding targets accomplish that very well.

I've never wasted my time watching such mind-numbing crap. There's very litle REALITY in "Reality Shows".

However:

Reactive targets are more fun than shooting holes in paper targets. Blowing stuff up IS fun. Blowing stuff up by shooting it is satisfying and fun. The explosion and feel of the overpressure IS exhilerating. Getting all moony and sloshing beer on each other afterward is, IMHO, staged and demonstrates a need for something else in one's life.

It's a lot of fun to blow things up. It's as simple as that. When I was a Marine, I was part of Assault Section. Part of our job was doing demolition. My favorite training was our anual explosives range. There's something really satisfying in unleashing that kind of power. If you ever get the chance, give it a try. You will react the exact same way as the people on TV.

I take it you don`t yell at football games. I don`t because that does not excite me so it is hard to understand if it`s not your thing. It looks stupid when someone goes completely out of it just watching a silly game. It`s like they`re in a trance and yell "yeah!" "What`s the deal with that?", I ask myself.

Top Shot -- is an enjoyable and entertaining program about the skill-sets

of many of our Country's finest weapons handlers.

The program employs all sorts of weapons, targets, and weapon-appropriate stages

of competition, some of which include (but not exclusively) exploding targets.

It's cool, it's fun, and it exemplifies what can be accomplished through

practice, timing, accuracy, and skill.

A official calling out 9-9 X-X-9. will not excite anyone .. who wants to see that . reactive target is more fun exploding exciting .. people will tune in > commercials ratings and so on .

We like blowing things up. It's a guy thing, or maybe it's a military thing, or maybe it's just more interactive than just punching holes in a target.

Some of us just like to make things go BOOM!

Firstly kudos on the avatar and user name.

Now to answer. Blowing crap up is fun. Blowing crap up by shooting it is even more fun. That's about it. That sums it up. Thar she blows. Yep that'll do donkey that'll do. ahem......

Your not there so you wouldn't understand. There is a bit of a thrill having a target explode.