Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade 2008

Life isn't fair though - and plenty of countries around the world watch Eurovision without the ability to vote - or even compete. I really don't think voting would be that big a deal.

Another football comparison but an obvious one - Euro 2008. It'll air in the UK with no UK involvement. Fair enough ratings here may suffer due to it, but UEFA aren't going to go out of their way to accommodate us just to be "fair".

Well I've said this previous years on DS and here, I'll say it again. I think that the countries eliminated at the semi-final stage (there are 18 of those this year) should have their 1 to 12 point scores electronically put on the final scoreboard right at the start, in one block without a spokesperson announcing them. The scoreboard would shuffle into descending order, and everyone would see who's in the lead after those countries (in this case 1 have "cast their votes" in this manner. After that, the finalists would announce their 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 point scores in the traditional manner in order of performance, with the scoreboard constantly shuffling.

W-O-W. I forgot how AMAZING the graphics looked from last year. They were just shown on the BBC News.

This years graphics are such a let down. I really loved last years. I learnt they were designed by Dog Design however their website doesn't have anything to show that they created them! Such a shame!

Swedish Press Conference from svt.se

Worth watching at 3:03 just for Christer Bjorkman's reaction when he sees that Charlotte's drawn 15th position - the same as she played in Jerusalem, to a fairly good degree of success...!

Hi!Greetings from cloudy Belgrade .I came on this forum just to see what impressions and opinions about ESC 2008 you guys have.I didnt read whole thread,just last few pages and I am glad,on first place that you don't have some huge complains about serbian hosting of this show .Yeah,it's not completely serbian organisation,someone explained that on previous pages,lot of people from so many countries helped in organisation of this project.It looks spectaculary,whole stage,graphics,whole enterier of Belgrade Arena, thats my opinion,but every next year it all looks more and more better,no metter what country is host.
Now,about the competiotion...
First semi-final,not so much quality songs,only 3-4 made some impression on me...
The second semi-final,much better,only 10 places for final and at least 13-14 songs which deserved that place.I didn't liked all of those 13-14,only few made impression on me but anyway the rest of them obviously have some quality,too.
What to expect in saturday's final?Hmm,bookers says that Russia has the biggest chances for win,Ukraine is the second according to their prognoses,Greece third etc...My opinion,we should expect the same bloc-voting for neighboor countries like in the previous years,3 part of those blocs-ex-SSSR countries,Scandinavian and ex-Yugoslavian countries...In that constalation Russia really has big chance to win coz Dima Bilan is huge star in that region and I'm not sure did Russia already won ESC before,coz if they did not won yet, maybe it's now about tim for that.I must say that I don't like russian song much,it's ok song but there are some better IMO.
Songs that I liked are on first place bosnian entry,Laka-Pokusaj,cool song,I also thought like many of you that it's some bizzare trash pop song while I heard preview before but after performance in the first semi-final I have to admitte that I was wrong.That song BLASTS!!!Nice melody on first place(reminds on brit-pop I would say) and the lyrics eventhough they are on first view childish,as a metter of fact they aren't!!!I can't describe you know about what exactly the lyrics are about, but trust me,they are talking about some "serious" things on funny way,that people didnt became from monkeys than from love (it's punch in the face for Darwin theory fans ).I simplifyed it...
English song is ok also,but not so much I think.The main advantage of UK song is,for me,because the performer looks like the Faithless singer hehe .He may trick lot of people on that and get some points in that name hehe.Just kidding...
So,at the end,expect same system of voting(ESC should change some rules,it's getting unfair,especially for some small countries which have good songs,like Cyprus this year...),and who will win? Who knows,maybe Russia,maybe Greece,I'll be for Serbia and Bosnia,but at the end the main thing is to we all have good fun,we in front of TVs,those in Arena,and of course performers.....
All the best from Serbia,Belgrade!!!See you this year on EXIT festival,cheers ...

Hang on... are you Eric Prydz?

Not sure I agree. Don't forget viewers in non-competing nations won't know how they voted nationally - and with your suggestion they never would (apart from going to a website), and neither would we.

It is also interesting seeing how countries voted, whether in the final or not, particularly where the 8,10,12 go. Also there is a huge amount of charm in seeing the voting representatives of each country - whether they've qualified or not.

Not seeing Belgium, The Netherlands, Cyprus, Malta etc. deliver their votes - and not seeing Cyprus give Greece 12 points as usual would be a real loss for me. The voting IS the contest after all...

I agree that we've lost something not having the 1-7 read out.- but something has to give - and I think that the Eurovision ideal of all countries, large or small, being treated equally (with the pragmatic expcetion of the Big Four, without whom the contest wouldn't happen), is an important one.

If you were Iceland you wouldn't have known how your country had voted for a couple of years until this year...

Just because life isn't fair it doesn't mean you have to make a show less fair for the audience. The contest is about Europe coming together and being treated equally - a small country, like San Marino, can enter and be treated the same as Russia. (With the exception of the Big Four who bankroll the contest)

I'm not sure you "get" Eurovision and how important it is in some countries. In countries like Malta - voting is as important as competing. If you suddenly deprived die-hard Eurovision nations of the ability to vote in the final - there would be a real feeling of negativity in strongly pro-Eurovision countries.

If Sweden hadn't made it to the final and thus couldn't vote in the final there would be a national outcry. The final of their Melodifestivalen selection show is the most watched show in Sweden most years (would that Britain were so enthusiastic...) - can you imagine telling the Swedes (who effectively produce the main contest most years) "Sorry chaps, you can't vote in the final". Isn't going to happen.

Also would the EBU refund some of the licensing fees of the competing nations if they can't vote? The show is effectively less interesting to watch if you can't take part at home after all. They are paying to take part - they have already been knocked out - if you removed their voting rights there is a strong change they either wouldn't show the final (and thus not pay the licence fee to show it), or would expect to pay less as the show has no interactive element for that competing country.

There is also the issue that as you won't know who has made it through to the final until the Thursday night, you would have to stand down the voting infrastructure in the countries that aren't competing (you couldn't stand-up such infrastructure with just 2 days notice) - which at 2 days notice would mean still paying for it. In other words you will be paying phone companies for nothing. Similarly broadcasters will have crew and talent booked to deliver their votes, again only to be wasted. Would the EBU refund this?



Don't agree.

Football results are dictated entirely by the two team playing and no more. Eurovision results are dictated by the viewing public of the competing countries. It's an apples and oranges comparison.

Sure countries like Australia and Japan watch the Eurovision contest with no hope of competing or taking part, but then US viewers will be watching 2008.

You also have to remember that the EBU produce the contest - so it is a show made by broadcasters to maximise audiences. Football contests are not made by broadcasters - and are thus not focused on the viewer at home in the same way. The role of the EBU is to make it the best show possible for EBU viewers - removing the voting rights of nearly half of the EBU audience to speed up the results would not improve the "viewability" for the entire audience...

Bottom line - EBU countries other than the Big Four are not going to support such a move - so it is unlikely to happen.

I do think that the countries that didn't go through should all be combined and be given twice or maybe three times as many points as normal and leave them right to the end of the show as that could make a lot of difference and in turn make them feel that their vote still could have counted?

Andy Abraham has no chance, song not great, 2nd act on, the block voting, no Ireland or Malta. Doomed.

Repeat over the next several decades or until a point at which we a) pull out or b) the songs become an integral part of the voting process.

I've been away for a week, and haven't been paying much attention to it all, so are the country's who didn't qualify not voting this time around?

I hear that the BBC have actually threatened to pull out, as they are one of the primary investors in the event, yet the political landscape is overcasting the votes, if things don't change, I wouldn't be surprised if the UK did pull out, for a few years at least.