Couldn't it be that O'Brien is being paid to be a presenter, NOT a pilot? Therefore he is doing what he is being paid to do...present. I have been involved (in a minor way) in the filming of a satellite channel documentary about flying and can tell you that they certainly have a style of their own! Despite my best efforts to get my job across in the best possible light I was fighting a losing battle with the presenter and producer, who both had other ideas. The eventual edited version was cringeworthy to say the least. Perhaps Mr (capt!) O'Brien is also the victim of a producer working to his own agenda. I remember seeing his truck top landing act in the mid eighties, and as a 'yoof' remember being impressed! There is not enough of this odd-ball stuff at airshows these days, how many F16's and C130's can one be bothered to watch.
Before labelling B O'B a tosser I suggest some of the more forthright posters might like to do some research, they might then modify their hasty views.