Tonight’s episode of Red Jacket Firearms began with a philosophical refrain from Will Hayden , the head of the team, about how the firm has endured in the last few months given its organizational problems. Then, the show began. A guy showed up with an M-3 World War II cannon to be restored. He mentioned that he had a friend who owned a German PAK 36 cannon, that was non-functional and needed restoration.

Thus far, everything about the episode was sweet; I was even able to deal with Kris’ non-stop nonsense about his joy of having noisy things in the shop. Then, there were two problems. Apparently Academy Sports had paid for an infomercial so every few minutes someone on the team had to mention the company and its rifle order. It was sort of like watching Project Runway without Heidi Klum as an incentive to keep viewing.

Then Will and Stephanie (his daughter) discussed Joe Perry was coming with his own cannon. I thought that it was Joe Perry of the San Francisco 49ers, but, alas, he is deceased. Instead, it was Joe Perry of Aerosmith, who owned his own cute little Lyle cannon. My hopes for the termination of the silly marriage of Steph and Kris rose when Steph said to the camera, ‘Dad wants to give Joe Perry a special gift from the heart of Red Jacket. I think I know exactly what we should get him.’ Knowing how she likes to flirt with celebrities and how that drives Kris batty, the potential for humor was huge. Kris was put to work cleaning the mini-cannon that Perry brought to the shop, which served the purpose of keeping him away from the two valuable WW II weapons. Unfortunately, the gift turned out to be a 19th century Sharps Carbine rifle.

Perry showed up at the shop; he seems to be older than some of the Rolling Stones, and has a son who looked to be in his forties or fifties. The woman he was with was well-preserved, though. She had the line of the episode: ‘We’re here to blow s—t up.’ Other than the bewitching Stephanie, I assume that’s why we watch too.

So, anyway, Perry shows up, and he shoots at some pretend animals to the amusement of the team. I can’t put into words how goofy these celebrity cameos are and how they detract from the message of the program. After the Perry’s received the Carbine, they said that it would be a family heirloom. I’m not sure if they know what an heirloom actually is, but by then, my interest was dwindling.

Back to the central theme of the show, a gunfight between the M-3 and the PAK 36; Kris somehow convinced himself that the duel was a fight for the honor of America. I guess the M-3 won, so our victory in WW II remains secure.

Next week’s episode might be better; they’ll be working on a gun to induce avalanches. I’m not sure how important this is to Louisiana since we have neither snow nor mountains, but at least it might be useful.