Eurovision song contest 2019 - jury shows & rehearsals

[Kubasaak]

Hello peeps I wanted to ask if anyone here is planning on recording the jury shows/other rehearsals from this year's ESC in Tel Aviv?

 

[daro2096]

Why are the BBC still spending god knows who what money on this show piece? We will never win it. You could put in a well know successful band in with a catchy tune and we still would come last. It is a waste of money.

 

[Topper]

Why are the BBC still spending god knows who what money on this show piece? We will never win it. You could put in a well know successful band in with a catchy tune and we still would come last. It is a waste of money.

As has been for more than 50 years this is produced and broadcast via the European Broadcasting Union and each individual member of that authority splits the costs. I agree with the sentiment that it has always been too politically biased to win but that is no reason to stop entering it. It costs the BBC less than £300,000 per year which is less than some lazy TV football pundits get paid so I really do not understand where you are coming from, it is a drop in the ocean compared to many things the BBC does. One could argue why does the BBC have three highly paid pundits on a Saturday night to drone on about the most boring sport on earth?

 

[solly]

I try to recoard ibc hd live from tel aviv

 

[Kubasaak]

Why are the BBC still spending god knows who what money on this show piece? We will never win it. You could put in a well know successful band in with a catchy tune and we still would come last. It is a waste of money.

Because as Topper said, it has been running for over 50 years and the BBC is funding it because it's part of the BIG5

 

[Analoguesat]

Because as Topper said, it has been running for over 50 years and the BBC is funding it because it's part of the BIG5

Being the big 5 didnt help any of them about 5 years ago when the big 5 ended up the bottom 5

The reason the UK never wins these days is simple - our entries are on the whole terrible. Listen to some of our entries from the 1970s & 1980's - you will find they are melodic catchy tunes. I have a simple rule that works fairly well for songs that are going to do well - can you sing it in the shower?? If the answer is no then dont bother getting excited about it.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Being the big 5 didnt help any of them about 5 years ago when the big 5 ended up the bottom 5

The reason the UK never wins these days is simple - our entries are on the whole terrible. Listen to some of our entries from the 1970s & 1980's - you will find they are melodic catchy tunes. I have a simple rule that works fairly well for songs that are going to do well - can you sing it in the shower?? If the answer is no then dont bother getting excited about it.

Doesn't explain the behemoth win last year.

 

[Analoguesat]

There are of course exceptions.......

 

[dankargo]

I've been recording them each year since 2016, when I first discovered I could receive the feed on my 80cm dish. I moved house this year and have since had a 90cm dish installed, though it's definitely not aligned as well as the 80cm it replaced, so I do hope I'll be able to pick them up this year.

Since the EBU shelved a Blu-Ray release, I guess its nice to have a copy of them in the best quality possible. The dress rehearsals are also a nice bonus as we have a means of seeing the exact footage that the juries scored on, very interesting when there's a discrepency in votes between the jury and televoters.

Why are the BBC still spending god knows who what money on this show piece? We will never win it. You could put in a well know successful band in with a catchy tune and we still would come last. It is a waste of money.

You see now this is the problem, it's that kind of attitude that comes across off-putting to many. Going back to the show's original purpose, to unite a continent by the means of music, is something that still stands today. For a lot of countries, having a platform to showcase their cultural music offering to millions of viewers worldwide is enough to make the participation fee worthwhile. With 41-42 participating countries each year, there's still only ever going to be one winner - if every broadcaster had the same 'we will never win' attitude, there would be no show.

We will probably never win the World Cup again, but for that reason, should we just not bother entering it?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Very few entrants have a 'cultural' song much less the winners. These days they are more often some politically correct mish-mash of lyrics that the monkeys typed long before perfecting the Shakespeare sonnet, with a bland repetitive beat that a two year old could knock out on a xylophone.

For example

 

[Topper]

That is the first time I have heard or listened to that, it is quite catchy but definitely not possible to sing in the shower, so according to AS should not have won, so what was the reason behind the win?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Using the same AS logic, did this get ripped to shreds because of the shower quotient ?

I think not.

 

[Dave5118]

As has been for more than 50 years this is produced and broadcast via the European Broadcasting Union and each individual member of that authority splits the costs. I agree with the sentiment that it has always been too politically biased to win but that is no reason to stop entering it. It costs the BBC less than £300,000 per year which is less than some lazy TV football pundits get paid so I really do not understand where you are coming from, it is a drop in the ocean compared to many things the BBC does. One could argue why does the BBC have three highly paid pundits on a Saturday night to drone on about the most boring sport on earth?

You were doing so well up to that point. If it's the most boring sport on earth, why is it the most popular?

Why are the BBC still spending god knows who what money on this show piece? We will never win it. You could put in a well know successful band in with a catchy tune and we still would come last. It is a waste of money.

The reason the beeb still show the ESC, is it's cheap TV..... and surprisingly quite popular with viewers.

 

[Channel Hopper]

The reason the beeb still show the ESC, is it's cheap TV..... and surprisingly quite popular with viewers.

I'm not sure the figure of £300k is correct. Graham Norton is reputed to earn £50k per chatshow appearance, a few days in the Middle East, flights for him and his make up crew and hanger ons, plus the admin costs of the 'So' company that pays them all must come to somewhat more.

Anyhow it's all covered by the licence fee payers, along with the commission for Capita to 'run' the database.

 

[dankargo]

Eurovision is no longer the cheese-fest that a lot of the public, especially in the UK, make it out to be. It was the case a decade or two ago but its changed dramatically since then. There's a lot of ignorant people out there who will dismiss a song once they find out it is linked to the contest, even if its pleasing to their ears. I'll never forget a great example in 2014 when the Dutch entry made its way into our chart and playlisted by Radio 2. It came on the radio in the warehouse and a colleague shazamed the song, as soon as he saw 'Eurovision' on the single artwork, he was no longer interested.

I follow the contest in the same way I follow the World Cup, I listen to the entries as they are selected and stick some money on those that I feel are 'under the radar' with the bookmakers. I can honestly say that this year in particular, there's a large majority of songs that I would class better both musically and lyrically than what you'll find in our mainstream charts.

 

[Adam792]

As others have said, it's pretty cheap TV for the BBC compared to making other programming to fill two two hour slots in the week and a 3 and a half hour slot on Saturday night.

Unfortunately there are also a lot of people who subscribe to the whole "I don't enjoy X so nobody else should be allowed to either" point of view!

We might win it if we didn't tend to enter dross into it.

 

[Channel Hopper]

I can honestly say that this year in particular, there's a large majority of songs that I would class better both musically and lyrically than what you'll find in our mainstream charts.

Must resist !

 

[itchybag]

Doesn't the UK help in the Production which negates them having to qualify

 

[Analoguesat]

Using the same AS logic, did this get ripped to shreds because of the shower quotient ?

I think not.

No - the reason that one got ripped to shreds is that its crap.

 

[Analoguesat]

Hers the list of the UK entries. Look at that list from 1967ish onwards - some great tracks that have stood the test of time. Most of them pass the "can you sing them in the shower" test even today

BBC One - Eurovision Song Contest - UK Entries

Learn more about UK Eurovision Song Contest entrants through the years.

www.bbc.co.uk

Then you reach the mid 80s and it all goes horribly wrong. Most of the tracks are long forgotten with one or two exceptions. Get into the 2000's and things get really dire - a succession of z list singers who took their crack at fame and flubbed it.