[quote="TCOTV" pid="699953"]I believe this is the UK entry for this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckqWgepMEL0[/quote i saw that on the graham norton show and wondered did i miss something was there no making ur mind up show to choose who to represent in eurovision? did they decide to just put them in with out all this choosing malarkey coz what we choose always fails.
i saw that on the graham norton show and wondered did i miss something was there no making ur mind up show to choose who to represent in eurovision? did they decide to just put them in with out all this choosing malarkey coz what we choose always fails.
Yes, they wouldn't give us a proper programme this year.
i saw that on the graham norton show and wondered did i miss something was there no making ur mind up show to choose who to represent in eurovision? did they decide to just put them in with out all this choosing malarkey coz what we choose always fails.
Yes, they wouldn't give us a proper programme this year.
Well isn't that because its been a disaster the last few years?
i saw that on the graham norton show and wondered did i miss something was there no making ur mind up show to choose who to represent in eurovision? did they decide to just put them in with out all this choosing malarkey coz what we choose always fails.
Yes, they wouldn't give us a proper programme this year.
Well isn't that because its been a disaster the last few years?
How do you know it won't be a disaster this year too? Is the final score the only important thing anyway? Lets say all other countries thought they might be able to have a higher chance of winning if they cancel their big selection programmes like Melodifestivalen etc. that have lots of entries in and just get someone to write one song and pick a group who broke up and haven't had a song out for years instead. Would everyone, and every country prefer listening to one song that their broadcaster has got someone to write and sung at the end of their Graham Norton-type chat show instead of their big selection programmes, because their broadcaster thinks the song they got written is better?
Would you prefer to see just one song instead of all the national finals and would it make better TV and music TV programming? When you watch Eurovision would you prefer only the winning song was sung or all of them (one from each country competing - even though only one will get top score)?
Last edited by Neo on 15 March 2011 9:49pm - 6 times in total
How do you know it won't be a disaster this year too? Is the final score the only important thing anyway?
I don't, it may very well be. However if the BBC are able to break the issue of Making Your Mind Up being a crummy sub-par talent show and actually, by possibly winning Eurovision, attract decent acts to want to be in Eurovision then perhaps it could reappear.
Something had to be done though, and whilst I appreciate they did try a few changes with ALW and Waterman I think a sudden break and diktat entry might be the only way to break the spell.
And of course winning is not the only thing, but given the choice of winning or a crap one week talent show that nobody watched on BBC1, I'd take winning.
Last year's selection show was watched by 2.9million viewers apparently - which isn't exactly a triumph. I think the ratings for previous Eurovision Selection songs have been stronger however. Even the lousy selection programmes before the ALW "Your Country Needs You" (was that "Eurovision Your Decision" or "Making Your Mind Up"- they're all blurring into one?) rated reasonably ISTR. IMO, the multi-heat "Your Country Needs You" format was as good an attempt at a decent selection show that the BBC has come up with in recent years. That combined with a star turn on the stage in the shape of ALW and some strong promotion across Europe before and during Eurovision week made the song the success it was. According to wikipedia, that was the first year the UK actively promoted the song - it clearly made a huge difference to the televoting public - after all, if you've heard a song only once during the contest itself you're not as likely to remember (or vote for) it if you've been hearing it all month on chat shows, radio and even in shopping centres.
People often forget that we did finish fifth that year - which is a credible result. Last year's Pete Waterman attempt was less of a success and ultimately didn't deliver a strong enough song or performance. Plus, the selection show was only a one-night affair ISTR, again - not likely to pick up an audience or whip up much interest.
I'm actually of the opinion that not bothering with a selection procedure and simply choosing an act and a song isn't a bad way of going about it, particularly given the fact that the BBC doesn't appear to be able to do anything right at the moment and if they had spent a fortune on a multi-week selection show like Melodifestivalen they'd have been slammed by the press for wasting money on an 'unimportant' project,
So long as the Blue song gets decent publicity and promotion both here and abroad, here's hoping it will do reasonably well. Frankly, given our recent performance (2009 excepted) anything above last will do me just fine!
I was so happy when I found out it was going to be a full internal selection. The very thought of sitting through another dreadful, disappointing NF wasn't appealing at all. Even in 2009 when we got a great result and a multi-week format, the actual show was desperately boring and endless.
There are just some countries that absolutely must use internal selections because they almost always come out with something brilliant and different: Bosnia, Turkey, France (unfortunately going back to an NF next year) and I think the UK could join them and offer up some real gems if they do it right in the future.
With the exception of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber format, most of the UK selection shows in recent years have been terrible, and the quality and ratings of last year's show just killed it.
I suspect the simple truth this year is that the BBC One Controller just decided he didn't want another car crash on his channel, and just didn't commission a selection show. (Not all countries select their entry on a TV show - though the UK has historically used a TV to select the UK entry on many occasions in the past)
The basic issues are that high-quality single-edition entertainment shows are VERY expensive to produce - as you only get a single show budget to commission a studio set, titles, graphics, and have far less money to pay for a production team to set-up the show. If you have a multi-episode format (like the ALW format - and Melodifestivalen or Norske Melodi Grand Prix) you have a much bigger pot to draw from, and can spread the costs of set, titles etc. over multiple weeks, and have a bigger production team starting earlier, all of which will deliver a higher quality show. (You don't usually get more money for a single show than you do for the same duration shows in a series...)
As BBC One aren't, apparently, in the market for an ALW Talent show or a Melodifestivalen selection show, running over multiple weeks, I suspect it will ever be thus.
Denmark must have a huge budget for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix because that is a single episode show with very high production values - but then DR's budgeting system may be VERY different to the BBC's.
It's another demonstration of the huge difference between the way UK (and to a degree France) treat Eurovision compared with many other countries. In the UK it is in no way really connected to the UK music industry (because that industry is hugely successful and vibrant without any need for a once-a-year TV show to generate success), whereas in many other countries it is seen as a key marketing tool for local music talent. Melodifestivalen is as much a national showcase for Swedish pop music as it is a tool to select their Eurovision entry.
This isn't going to change anytime soon - the UK music industry just doesn't need Eurovision.
In terms of why we did better when Jade Ewen was selected - this may well have a combination of causes. The song wasn't chosen by the UK public - just the singer. The UK public historically select songs that they THINK are Eurovision (based on some dated 70s/80s view of what won - not what wins now) - so they send cheese and pop - rather than the stuff that has actually been winning. An exception to this rule was "Come Back" from Jessica Garlick - and that came 3rd (?)...
The year Jade won the song was NOT chosen by the UK, just the singer. (And Jade's entry to the contest was a little unorthodox - so you might think that possibly the UK didn't really chose the singer either...)
Also - Jade was chosen MUCH earlier than in previous years - and the BBC did a proper Eurovision promotion tour - so she'd appeared on many other Eurovision and general shows across Europe - so had a much higher profile than previous entries had.
Was Andrew Lloyd-Webber also a draw? I don't know...
That's where we go wrong. We, over here have become and take it as a laughing stock mostly. If we had taken it more serious in the 80s onwards then may be we could have gone on to do a show on the scale of Melodifestivalen?
At the end of the day Melodifestivalen has become the mother of all selection shows. Sweden have slowy built it up and it is now one of the highest viewed shows over there. We need to slowly but surely start building it up to a better and more respected show. I look at Melodifestivalen with envy. What we do is always a let down!
As far as our entry is concerned, bland and average Blue type song. You can't go on just what people think on you tube. That is a false sense of security. Europe has a VERY wide and varying music taste. Going on the last few years, it is even more unpredictable than ever but even so, I cant see us winning at all. We'll get top ten if we're lucky.
It's a shame but I think his time was coming because I remember he was quite surprised to be back in 2010 for some reason. I absolutely loved him during Wogan's years because... well he was better than Wogan. But when Graham came along he was overshadowed somewhat. Also the duo commentary never worked, I don't know why they started doing that when Paddy was perfectly capable on his own.
It was a bit of an oddity that he did it because that was his last link with BBC Choice/BBC Three.
At the end of the day Melodifestivalen has become the mother of all selection shows. Sweden have slowy built it up and it is now one of the highest viewed shows over there. We need to slowly but surely start building it up to a better and more respected show. I look at Melodifestivalen with envy. What we do is always a let down!
Yes - and no. Though MF was massively rebooted in 2002 in pretty much the current format - it has been a pretty major show in Sweden for decades.