Pretty much self explanatory there. The UKs hopefuls hoping to sing at the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki in May. Obviously yet to hear them but could Former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins really be the next Katrina and the Waves?
10 years has passed since the UK won the competition with that belter, Love Shine A Light.
Personally I don't think we have a fighting chance whatever song we have. Its all political and pointless now.
Making Your Mind Up is on BBC One next Saturday, 7.30pm with Terry and the "oh thats fab" Fearne.
We will never have a chance until we are allowed to enter 4 times (as England, Scotland, Wales & NI). Alot of the other countries have fragmented (eg Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, USSR) and simply vote for their neighbour. Scandinavia are similarly incestuous with their voting, as are France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Ireland are too interested in winning (again) to vote for us. We are universally hated by France and Germany. Amazingly the Germans can't sing in tune without shouting - and even then they struggle. We have no "friendly neighbours" prepared to vote for us.
We could have the best song and performance, but we will still come in the last 10. The only reason we get through to the final every year is because we are in the "special group" of Eurovision founders
You only have to look at Finland's winning entry last year to realise that the quality of the song doesn't matter. It's time we pulled out of this political love-fest.
Except that if you look at the voting of recent contests, whilst neighbourly voting has played a part, it hasn't come close to deciding the contest - and doesn't help a "bad" song win.
The bottom line is that the winning song still has to score well across the board - as Finland did last year. Neighbourly voting - i.e. the Balkan bloc, the Baltic bloc, the Scandinavian group, the Russian/Ukrainian/Belarussion axis, the Mediterranean region etc. - does happen - but it is seldom enough to decide the winner.
Sure the Big Four from "old Europe" - France, Germany, Spain and the UK - don't benefit from much in this way - but creating neighbours won't win the contest for us either... (In 2005, Sweden - a member of a regional bloc - didn't do much better than us...)
I think from the song the UK chose last year it shows how we're taking the mick even more. The song chosen by is I think was a typical reflection of what we view of Eurovision... just like the songs we voted for (ie.. Lithuania which got booed off the stage).
Now that Serbia and Montenegro have separated I guess they'll all be voting for each other!
At least they've cut the crap with all the little point scores so it doesn't go on for days.... just hours now.
When it's Eurovision time I hope for the best but the UK recently always been near the bottom and I think the songs in this year's National Final are retively of the same standard and frankly I don't see a winner out of any of them. Before the turn of the millenium the entries we never finished lower than 12th and during the 1990s we finished 2nd three times and won once (winning with 227 points a Eurovision record under the old format). I think our poor status in the contest is down to a combination of the songs and politics but this year I think is going to be a bad year anyway for Eurovision and it seems that UK will be joining that. Still at least there's Sir Terry to listen to, shame he doesn't do the Semi as well instead of Paddy O'Connell.
Sir Terry's witty commentary really is what makes Eurovision worth watching in the UK now. I reckon when he goes - then we'll pull out. Its that simple.
I did listen to the semi finals last year and they had some other chap commentating on BBC3. He wasn't too bad at the job so I suppose in a few years when the legend Terry leaves he may take the healm.. although Eurovision without him seems something not worth contemplating at the moment...
Does anyone have any Terry Eurovision quotes that are worth a mention?
"Doctor Death and the Toothfairy" sort of thing
Sir Terry's witty commentary really is what makes Eurovision worth watching in the UK now. I reckon when he goes - then we'll pull out. Its that simple.
He will be impossible to replace and like I've said before it's a shame he doesn't comment for the Semis. The UK invests a lot of money into Eurovision and if we pull out some country would have to replace us in the investment stakes.
