Eurovision 2019

I noticed in the UK credits an EVS operator, presumably all they did ( I’m not being critical) was play the Eurovision Ident at the beginning and end. No other local clips played in ?

Presumably they’re also responsible for running the backup recording of the dress rehearsal in case of a problem?

Just a little notification for Eurovision fans, the last hour of yesterday’s Graham Norton show on BBC Radio 2 had himself and Paddy O’Connell look back over the past 10 years of the competition (since Graham took over commentary duties). Well worth a listen if you haven’t already.


Whilst listening it got me to delve into the few years before hand to remind myself that we were sending performers like Scooch, Javine, Andy Abraham with lacklustre songs (though Scooch did receive 12 points from Malta) and we’re constantly finishing towards the bottom.
For those who say that we will always come in last place, compare every other year to 2009...

The BBC used their annual team up with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with no musical to cast did they searched for a performer for Eurovision and had Webber construct the song ‘It’s My Time’. Jade Ewans beat many to be crowned the best singer, coupled this with a wonderful song and performance we ended in a respectable 5th place.



Unfortunately, the following year we went back to our old ways (albeit with Pete Waterman writing the song) and ended in 25th place.

In 2011 the BBC appointed the boyband Blue who helped to pen and perform ‘I Can’ that did well coming 5th in the public vote, not so liked by the juries coming 22nd and therefore 11th place overall.

My point is whilst Brexit may not have helped the situation, the weaker songs are sieved out of the competition during the semi finals, as the UK don’t have to endure that process if the song isn’t strong it will end up towards the bottom of the pack.

“It’s near Ruislip”

An excellent contest. I thought the standard was really high. It just demonstrates how musically in this contest the UK is falling way behind the curve.

I couldn't argue with the UK placement either. It was a safe, bland song. Just totally forgettable.

I don't know what the answer is but the UK's approach to this contest is crying out for some form of creative renewal.

And to think, things could have turned out so differently had another poster managed to get his printer working.

Spoiler alert: No it wouldn't.

There's an idea for next year's Eurovision song though, The Printer Song.

Removing the safety net that is automatic qualification would be an interesting move and potentially get people to up their game (or just be a bit bolder/more creative). But would almost certainly mean a knock to the ratings if there wasn’t a British representative on the night. You could argue that shouldn’t matter to the BBC but when you’re handing over 3+ hours of Saturday night primetime, they’ll want some reward.

Imagine how well we’d have done with something like Australia’s performance? Not the greatest song in the world but the staging made it.

Plus how can we expect Europe to vote for our song when it can’t even get into the Top 75 here?

Well folks, it's the morning after the The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Grand Final, from the Expo Tel Aviv (International Convention Center), Tel Aviv, Israel. What an exciting voting sequence last night, right up to the very last moment. There was no runaway winner this year. Once again certain countries received significant differences between jury and public scores, and no doubt plenty of die-hard Eurovision fans (me included) will have great fun analysing in the forthcoming days.

I've just discovered that Sweden won the jury voting with 239 points (clearly obvious on the scoreboard after all 41 countries had announced their jury scores), but finished just 9th with 93 points in the public vote, and 6th overall with 332 points. Norway won the televoting with 291 points, but 15th with 47 points in the jury voting, and 5th overall with 338 points. The overall winner was the Netherlands with 492 points, despite finishing 3rd with 231 points in the jury voting and 2nd with 261 point in the televoting.

I’m glad more people seem to be waking up to the fact it’s not the “Europe hates us” thing that stops up doing well - it’s the creative vacuum at the heart of our selection process and the fact that pretty much every other country has upped their game significantly.

You watch pretty much all of the entries and long for the UK to be as bold. The BBC are simply the wrong people to be running this for us.

I don't think it would. Nobody watches Eurovision to see the UK act.


Exactly.


P.S. Although the slight tweak in how they revealed the Televote made the final couple of minutes of the voting rather interesting can't help but think the traditional reveal would have made a much more exciting hour considering how close it was. Suspect the lead would have changed hands a few times over the night.

Hand the contest over to Channel 4 who might actually do something daring.

Hell, That’s TV would probably do better.