c4countdown

As BBC Four fell off the air just after the results of Semi Final One came in (can't the BBC do anything right about Eurovision this year? First they give us 3 horrible songs to pick, then Sophie Ellis-Bextor gets sacked from the jury...)

I got 8/10 qualifiers correct - did not think Belarus or San Marino (!) would get through. Good to see Eurotrash still has its place, particularly as I become more and more of a gay stereotype.

Our song won't do well on the basis it was rejected by Sweden who have been in the top 10 every year bar one since 2011 so they have good judgement. It didn't even make Melodifestivalen - i.e. not in their shortlist... of 28...

UK's screwed... If ye participated properly (i.e. went through the semis) it'd already be over.
I expect you to place no higher than 17th and no lower than 23rd.

The song's not terrible, but John Lundvik definitely kept the best one for himself.

Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, Australia, Russia and Sweden are going to be the top 6... but in what order?!
Hmmmm...

I kind of San Marino to place highly, in spite of the fact the guy singing has a rather terrible voice...

Australia to win if only so next year Sydney can host next year

Although our song definitely wasn't winner material, it definitely didn't deserve last. Also, what a surprise to see Greece and Cyprus giving each other 12 points from the jury vote (yawn) - I'm amazed these juries aren't banned yet.

Still, the song that won wasn't bad, it wasn't one of my favourites but it wasn't bad either - seems the bookies know their stuff!

L'oisleatch McGraw wrote: ↑Sat May 18, 2019 2:47 am UK's screwed... If ye participated properly (i.e. went through the semis) it'd already be over.
I expect you to place no higher than 17th and no lower than 23rd.

The song's not terrible, but John Lundvik definitely kept the best one for himself.

Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, Australia, Russia and Sweden are going to be the top 6... but in what order?!
Hmmmm...

It wasn't so much the song that was crap, it definitely wasn't the worst, it was the fact it was us singing it. I agree Sweden definitely had the better song but even if they'd had our song they'd still have finished respectably.

I was quite surprised Australia weren't higher - I expected them to be top 3 tbh.

Australia winning is the only way England will get a chance of hosting it ever again

Elliott Mellor wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 9:06 am It wasn't so much the song that was crap, it definitely wasn't the worst, it was the fact it was us singing it. I agree Sweden definitely had the better song but even if they'd had our song they'd still have finished respectably.

I was quite surprised Australia weren't higher - I expected them to be top 3 tbh.

I also expected a Top 3 for Australia. That staging was one of the most visually pleasing things ever to grace a Eurovision stage. #Spectacular.
As for the UK, where I didn't expect dead last (and annoyingly enough, Spain came last with juries and Germany was last with televoters, so ye were doubly unlucky to manage last place overall) it wasn't a surprise to see it in the bottom 5.

Each set of votes presents a top 10 only. 16 songs must be excluded. The odds of scoring nothing at all are quite high. Surprising that there was only one 0pts (Germany in the televote) awarded on the night. Another factor to consider is that of affinity voting i.e. ex-pats, diaspora, and good neighbours... UK pretty much has no-one, compared with, for example, Russia who have a shit tonne... In the televote Russia will always be guaranteed some points, Uk don't have that luxury. A UK song and performance that is deemed to merit 22nd place would get around 14th - 18th if it had the name "Russia" attached to it instead. So, your entries really need to be well above average to place mid-table or higher.

As for Sweden, I agree that they would have finished higher with BTU. The juries (in general) have a permanent hard-on for Sweden, probably because they put so much effort into ESC, and attract top writers and performers. Their recent run of top 5 jury results (that have not been mirrored by the televote) suggests this is probably the case...

I was firmly rooting for Sweden last night. Love that song.
But Netherlands is a fine winner. A well written contemporary song, could be a chart hit... good for the contest.

This probably should be in a seperate thread but here goes.
Most people who criticise the event cite national bias collusion , hatred of the UK etc.
What if the same judges that vote on the songs hear them on tape weeks before they are played on radio , social media etc with no prior knowledge as to what country they represent.
Then they vote on them and these votes are sealed until the actual event and you still have a public vote with their scores being worth a lot less than 50 of the final score.
Then you would get a truer reflexion of which song deserves to win

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 9:04 am This probably should be in a seperate thread but here goes.
Most people who criticise the event cite national bias collusion , hatred of the UK etc.
What if the same judges that vote on the songs hear them on tape weeks before they are played on radio , social media etc with no prior knowledge as to what country they represent.
Then they vote on them and these votes are sealed until the actual event and you still have a public vote with their scores being worth a lot less than 50 of the final score.
Then you would get a truer reflexion of which song deserves to win

I'd actually welcome some form of anonymity in the contest, though I'm not quite sure how you'd achieve this. With the songs released a good while before the contest it's no secret by then what country is what song.

Thats why the voting juries would need to get the songs before anyone else and actually seal their votes until the big day

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 10:50 am Thats why the voting juries would need to get the songs before anyone else and actually seal their votes until the big day

Staging plays a key part though. They have to vote on live vocals, visuals etc...

I didn't think visuals were part of it , if so Australia should have won

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 3:26 pm I didn't think visuals were part of it , if so Australia should have won

It's the performance. So song, visuals, singer(s), costume, message.

In which case it's no wonder we came last.
I'm sure it wasn't always this way

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 6:31 pm In which case it's no wonder we came last.
I'm sure it wasn't always this way

Depends what you mean by "always".

Sure the visuals have got better as technology improves, but drama has long been a big factor.

I give you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iua3QxRoj1I

The skirt-whipping-off won it IMO.

I'm curious what the budgets are for staging ?

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 9:04 amThen you would get a truer reflexion of which song deserves to win

This is totally off-topic but I enjoyed your use of "reflexion" rather than "reflection" here, you don't see that any more. I used to read a lot of Agatha Christie stuff when I was very much younger and was always struck by her use of an 'x' rather than a 'ct' in some words and have always associated it with a kind of early 20th-century sensibility. Is that your secret, Marc? Are you really 120 years old? If so you should challenge Jeanne Calment (who I think Toby has established is a fraud anyway).

JimBentley wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2019 4:59 pm

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 9:04 amThen you would get a truer reflexion of which song deserves to win

This is totally off-topic but I enjoyed your use of "reflexion" rather than "reflection" here, you don't see that any more. I used to read a lot of Agatha Christie stuff when I was very much younger and was always struck by her use of an 'x' rather than a 'ct' in some words and have always associated it with a kind of early 20th-century sensibility. Is that your secret, Marc? Are you really 120 years old? If so you should challenge Jeanne Calment (who I think Toby has established is a fraud anyway).

Completely unaware I did it and for once I cannot blame the autocorrect