Probably wouldn't have made a difference. I really don't subscribe to the idea that the majority of the viewers are sitting there thinking about which countries to vote for according to what's in the news or what countries they like/don't like. They're voting for the acts/songs
I'm sure most won't have even watched the news on the Saturday. Those who actively dislike Israel and its policies won't be voting for them already.
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 15 May 2018 7:43am
BM
BM11
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-eurovision-chief-on-shabbat-and-2019-show-it-s-not-our-problem-1.6091838 This might pose some challenges for the EBU in terms of the managing the rehearsals. Could we possibly see the contest moved to Sunday night? I think compared to 20 years ago Sabbat followers have more political power within Israel.
I do wonder if the EBU will fear that protests like yesterday could occur during the contest with similar consequences and try and encourage a move to Tel Aviv - through that would possibly not stop protests.
May is a particular sensitive time of the year in the region as well - quite possible that the first semi will be May 14th 2019 ( so one year on from the events of yesterday) because May 9th 2019 will be a public holiday in Isreal so the contest is might not be that week ( the Wednesday night where a dress rehearsal usually is will be a fireworks display).
Last edited by BM11 on 15 May 2018 11:43am - 5 times in total
I think that Eurovision in Israel next year is most likely to be pushed back a week or two to late May, with the final on 25th May. Who knows it might even be that the two semi's are on 28th & 30th May with a 1st June 2019 final maybe? Back in '99 it was a very late contest, on 29th May, latest ever I think that was.
Not sure why the date of Eurovision has slipped since the 90's. The contest always used to be held in late March or during April mostly. In 1979 in Israel it was on 31st March. They won it again on home turf that year
(Milk & Honey, Hallelujah, a top 5 UK hit)
but declined to be hosts again in 1980, so another venue had to be found and even the UK turned down the chance as host.
Unlikely to be on the 1st June as that will be the night of the champions league final and in several European countries the contest and the final would normally air on the same channel. The contest tends to avoid the Champions League.
I think that Eurovision in Israel next year is most likely to be pushed back a week or two to late May, with the final on 25th May. Who knows it might even be that the two semi's are on 28th & 30th May with a 1st June 2019 final maybe? Back in '99 it was a very late contest, on 29th May, latest ever I think that was.
Not sure why the date of Eurovision has slipped since the 90's. The contest always used to be held in late March or during April mostly. In 1979 in Israel it was on 31st March. They won it again on home turf that year
(Milk & Honey, Hallelujah, a top 5 UK hit)
but declined to be hosts again in 1980, so another venue had to be found and even the UK turned down the chance as host.
Joint latest with 2010.
The most possible dates appear to be 14th -16th and 18th May as the following week is the German cup final on the Saturday night and Eurovison rarely coincides with that.
The whole contest stream record disappeared from YouTube on Sunday afternoon, it reappeared on Wednesday, with SuRie's performance wholly re-edited using a mix of live, jury final and rehearsal footage. Very well done too, yet the story of the contest has been removed from the official record which is sad.
I'm sure there will be plenty of clips shown of that incident for years to come, but I understand why the EBU would prefer to re-edit for their official channel considering their strong rules on political messages.
I think that the sympathy vote that Graham had hinted we might have expected didn't come because people outside of the UK may not have really noticed. It happend so quickly and Surie handled it so well that it may well have slipped by anyone not paying close attention.
For some reason, after it happened, I seem to remember one of the female hosts who was in the "green room" looked like she was listening to the director in her ear for a second or two before she started smiling and talking and it seemed like she was told to carry on and ignore what had just happened. I can't confirm, as the bottle of wine I had consumed by that point may have affected my recollection of it.
Graham Norton pointed out in commentary that this particular green room insert was not scheduled, so the presenters did well to hold things together. Certainly a contrast to the 1991 contest of chaos when there were sound issues during Carola's performance, and the presenter took a while to clarify whether they were going to re-perform the song or not.
My partner actually missed the entire thing as she was on her phone at the time, so it's not implausible that many others may have as well. I suspect, however, it's more that the sympathy vote would be limited because how much would we care if someone had run on the stage during song 14 or whatever?
It should not be sanitised and cleaned up
(edited)
as if it never occurred.
I disagree. The political nature of the interruption needs to be removed otherwise it will encourage copy cat actions, and be seen by the supporters of the guy as being a defacto acceptance of what happened by the EBU.
I agree it would be better to acknowledge the edit with a caption, but to leave the whole incident in untouched damages the contest.
Besides, it's not like this is the "official record", full copies of the PaB will be held all over Europe and the EBU won't be demanding they're deleted, it's only the YouTube copy which only Eurovision fans are going to want to watch anyway.