Eurovision 2011 - 10/12/14 May 2011

They punch above their weight in the contest (or used to) and send in good songs that are often far better produced than you might expect. (And often very camp 'typically Eurovision' numbers that don't do that well in more recent years though.)

However traditionally their domestic selection shows have been terrible - badly lit, badly covered, awful sound etc. This year the show looked a lot better...

Hmm - I'm not sure whether that's a good thing. I'd rather have no selection show than a rubbish one - and I don't think the recent BBC shows (apart from the Lloyd Webber one) were watched by anywhere near enough people for the choice to be that significant. (If your selection show is watched by more than half of the population you can claim it was chosen by the country. If your selection show is a)rubbish and b) watched by less than 5% of the population - why bother?)

I think after the car crash of last year's BBC show (no name performers singing a dreadful song with far-from-great TV production values - so bad that one contestant forget the words...) I'd rather have no selection show than a repeat of it.

I don't think BBC One are interested in a multi-week selection formatted show (Lloyd Webber was presumably involved because they hoped he'd do another Maria/Joseph/Nancy but he didn't have a musical to flog tickets for?) so they used the same format for Eurovision...



I think the selection shows need to be live to work - and Graham's show is always pre-recorded isn't it? Doing a phone vote in a pre-recorded show would be a bit tricky. Also I'm not sure Graham's format - of three disparate celebs chatting - would really work for it. He's the right presenter - but his show isn't the place to do it.

Didn't Radio Two have an involvement some years? Maybe a radio show would be an interesting way of selecting the song?

Think Graham's slot is too late. He's got the right attitude though - you're right. Knowing, but far less negative about the contest than Terry was.


Hmm - it does. I think that the Nordic team behind most of the recent contests (and their excellent pre-selection shows) have raised the bar significantly. Oslo and Moscow were both amazing, amazing shows. (IMHO Stockholm in 2000 and Copenhagen in 2001 were the real game-changers - with Birmingham in 1998 probably the best 'old skool' contest before it became a total Steadicam and Jib-fest)

Ah noggin and his beloved Birmingham teddy bear . But agreed, it was a joy to watch. One of the most solidly camera-scripted and executed television productions I've ever come across. Just a shame the staging was cringingly mediocre (even if it did showcase superb lighting). Interestingly, that staging significantly influenced Isreal in 1999 - very similar in approach. Agreed Oslo was the real game-changer.

It seems a difficulty in smaller countries regarding Eurovision is that the top director in the national broadcaster, in effect a civil servant, who probably directs the leading entertainment programme or equivalent, is first pickings for the Eurovision job regardless of competency. This appeared to become apparent in the early 2000s, and even more recently with Greece. I have no doubt that Ireland would come up trumps on truly spectacular staging, and a wider festival to boot - did Dublin ever need it more at the minute! - but I'd be concerned about direction, ticking off the list of in-house directors who are in line for the job.

gottago, you take the words out of my mouth every time!

I think you misread. I think Stockholm in 2000 was the game-changer. Compare it to Ireland in 1997, Birmingham in 1998 and Jerusalem in 1999 and there is a total step-change in coverage and ambition. Personally I thought Jerusalem in 1998 was a bit of a let down after Ireland in 1997 and Birmingham in 1998. (Very limited space I guess - but the scripting felt less tailored to the song - and I don't think LED had quite arrived when they used it - just too coarse)



Hmm - that was the case possibly until the 00s - but from then the EBU took over a lot more responsibility for the show (effectively Svante and Sweden took over...) After that unless you were a major broadcaster with in-house experience or hadn't got a decent director pencilled who the EBU approved, it wasn't a director from the local national broadcaster who directed the contest if you won - it was a Swede - either Marius or Sven (mainly Sven)

2000 Stockholm - Marius Bratten and Sven Stojanovic co-directed I think
2001 Copenhagen - local Danish director I think (Jan Frifelt - or did he produce?)
2002 Talinn - Marius directed
2003 Riga - Sven directed
2004 Istanbul - Sven directed
2005 Kiev - Sven directed
2006 Athens - Volker Weicker (experienced German director) directed
2007 Helsinki - Timo Suomi (experienced Finnish director) directed
2008 Belgrade - Sven directed (Well Sven has former-Yugoslav heritage)

So Sweden, Finland and Copenhagen (I think - haven't got my copy to hand) used domestic directors. Greece got in a German director, and Latvia, Estonia, Turkey, Ukraine and Serbia all used Swedish directors (Marius or Sven).

Sven also directed Melodifestivalen for much of the mid-00s (and then produced it) as well... (I hope he got a rest the years he did both MF and ESC back-to-back...)

I think you're barking up the wrong tree with references to the 00s contests and in-house directors...

HOWEVER - if you're talking about pre-selection shows - that's a different kettle of fish (though Sven directed MF from 2003 until 2006 or 7 ISTR - and then produced 2008? Not sure about more recent events)


Err - not for Greece. They booked a very experienced German director. Volker Weicker. He has a background in awards shows and talent contests I think.

I agree I didn't enjoy Greece as much - but it wasn't because it was a local Greek director directing. (Massive over use of a Spider with a none-too-special SD camera on it. A pity as the rest of the cameras were HD - as it was an HD pilot for Helsinki going HD in 2007 ISTR)



Well the Moscow 2009 stage was designed by the team who did one of the Irish contests ISTR - and it was amazing. As I'm sure was the price tag.

I was incredibly impressed with the Oslo staging last year. They didn't try to better Moscow - they took a different tack - and I thought it was all the better for it.

Hasn't the NRK producer for Oslo taken over from Svante at the EBU? If so - I suspect the EBU would probably dictate to RTE who was and wasn't approved to direct the show... (But I doubt it would get to that)

Of course many broadcasters don't have in-house directors for these kinds of shows anyway - the industry is much more freelance based.

The BBC don't have a single in-house staff director in BBC Vision Entertainment any more (apart from the P/Ds in Events which is technically a part of Entertainment). In fact outside of BBC News (and the Nations) there are very few staff directors at the BBC. There is absolutely no doubt if the Beeb won the contest it would be a freelancer directing (in fact I think it was the last time!)

There's an ebook on Amazon Kindle called Bulletproof Eggshells which was written by someone who worked on the show in 2009 and it's full of interesting tidbits. It's not very well written but it's only £3.

That big LED ring hanging above the stage was originally meant to be 30 metres wide but had to be downsized to 24 metres when they realised that it would actually be impossible to get a shot of the entire stage anywhere in the arena!

I agree about 2000 being the real turning point for Eurovision (though in terms of music I'd say it was 2004/5 that countries really upped their game with the semis). I think 2009 and 2010 have quite easily been the best produced contests and I really hope they continue that style long into the future.

IMO the last two years have made 2008 in particular look quite weak. The lighting was really poor during some of the performances, the green room moments were hideous and the live inserts they had during the final from somewhere in Belgrade were truly unbearable. I'm guessing the host broadcaster was left to deal with that last one because they looked like an absolute mess.

Have Iceland had their national selection yet?

Last year I watched the live webcast of Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2010. "Je Ne Sais Quoi" sung by Hera Björk made it to Eurovision 2010 and qualified to the grand final. I was ever so disappointed how badly it did in the ESC 2010 grand final, it was an excellent song which should have been in the top three. I voted for that on the night of the grand final. I hope other countries weren't turning against Iceland over the havoc the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in April 2010 caused to air transport. That eruption was a natural disaster (act of God), not the fault of Hera Björk or the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV.

If it was last night, I wouldn't have been able to have watched it due to a very slow Broadband internet connection at present.

Good tip - will look it up! I remember reading the construction/lighting blog at the time about the "ring of doom" or whatver it was nicknamed.


I hope they discovered that before they made it...


Yep - I was talking about the telly. The Stockholm opening was just such an eye-opener - and it was the first time I think we saw really witty non-native English speakers doing a really good job of presenting in English (and not taking themselves too seriously - whilst doing a brilliant job). Confidence is the key - the show felt REALLY confident.



Yep - Moscow was jaw dropping - but I think Oslo brought some new thinking (a set not entirely made up of acres of flat LED panels was welcome)

I didn't particularly enjoy the Moscow aerial swimming pool stuff - impressive as it was. The Oslo Flashmob was beautifully conceived. I think that the hall coverage could have been improved - but as a concept it was just brilliant (and I know it impressed a lot of telly types watching)

All that said - the Moscow semi-final presenters were dreadful. The green room presenter was massively better... The final presenters were a lot better. (I don't think anyone beats Maria from Athens in 2006 in the annoying presenter stakes. 'A-ma-zing' - I think not)



Yep - the OB into the event was from an SD Serbian TV truck - and not at all good...

Yes - it's been running for weeks and finished last night (along with Norway and Finland I think)



Yep - I have a soft spot for Hera. Loved Je Ne Sais Quoi - but it was never going to do well - and it stuck out as a song with huge energy and a tune (though it was a shame it followed a similar decent pop song from Albania in the final - it might have made more impact after a ballad). It was pure camp, hands in the air, Euro-pop - which has tanked for years in the contest (I can't really think of anything since Dana International and Charlotte Nilsson/Pirelli that was that poppy and won - and that was in a totally different, and smaller, era of the contest).

Hera did well to get through the semis with it - a lot of similar stuff hasn't in recent years (Malta and Slovenia have entered similar high-energy stuff and not got through to the final) That said Euroband (who Hera performed backing vocals for - as she also did for Yohanna) managed it as well with a great stomper of a song. (If you've heard the difference between that song as performed at Eurovision compared to the song performed during the local selection show you'll see what magic Pall Oskar worked on it in production terms)



Hmm - I think you're overplaying things somewhat. Euro-pop doesn't do well in the modern Eurovision... I don't think the volcano did for Iceland any more than the Iraq war did for the UK... I'm sure RUV are very grateful they didn't win - just as they were the year before with Yohanna (when she came second). I think they still have very real financial issues as a country...



It was. I'm sure excerpts are already on YouTube or similar video sites.

Unfortunately I don't have the facilities to watch Icelandic TV off-air - though I can watch quite a few other selection shows. (At least one in HD!)

Iceland's preselect was overshadowed by the death of one of the semifinalists, not surprisingly this was reflected in last nights results, when the song that he was due to perform was sung by a group of his friends, they went on to win and will represent the country in Germany.

Yes - very sad story. Very understandable that they selected the song they did. I feel sorry for Yohanna though - she was a very strong contender. (On the other hand going to the contest having previously come second puts a lot of pressure on you to win. Malta's Chiara must know that - going from 3rd in 1998 to 2nd in 2005 and then not doing at well on her third attempt)

Last night's Super Saturday results were extraordinary, with peculiar wins in Malta, Belgium, Finland and Norway. The only expected result being the progression of Sanna Nielsen in Sweden to Globen.

I wouldn't call Norway's win peculiar, more expected. She's the only MGP entry this year to reach number 1 and she was in the last semi! Malta's song was the best of a bad bunch. Belgium is hideous and Finland's lyrics are terrible.

I really hate that 7 Days and 7 Nights song that also went through in Sweden. There were some much better songs than that.