Thread: Eurovision on TV in Russia and in Europe.

In Russia before and after (and in the middle of ) the broadcast of the Eurovision there's a special talk-show dedicated to it that I call "the support show" . Before the broadcast they discuss the chances of our singer to win and after they discuss the results. They always invite the relatives of the participant, famous singers, the participants of the previous contests, etc. But what is sad it's that the show always turns into the blind support of our singer. The opinion that prevails there can be presented as following:
1. Our singer is the best.
2. The other singers (except some favorites) are awful.
3. (logically follows from 1. and 2.) If our singer hasn't taken the first place it's because the contest is unfair.
This was exaggerated, of course, and the other, more objective, opinions are also presented but this is the general impression that I get.

So my question is: is there something like that in the other European countries? Maybe there's something else that surrounds Eurovision in your country; that would be also interesting to hear about.

In Holland, England and most of Western Europe you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who takes the Eurovision Contest seriously. Everyone who does watch it, watches it as one would watch the beginning stages of 'Pop Idols', 'American Idol' etc...
So in Holland we didn't have (or I didn't notice) a 'Support Show', but some radio-presenters did comment on this year's hopefuls. Holland wasn't one of them, and we admitted that quite easily.

BTB, of course the contest isn't fair... All South-eastern Europeans voted for one another, all Scandinavians as well, etc. And it's the same story every year. In Holland, it's common knowledge that the votes that the people phone through, aren't counted at all. The big sponsors get the most points, then, as you said, the points are given according to how related, politically more than anything, those countries are to each other. E.g. Germany always gets lots of points from Turkey, and vice versa. Could this be because Germany gives the most humanitarian aid to Turkey, and because Germany has more Turkish immigrants than anywhere in the world?

Its all a stupid and expensive joke. I wish people would spend money on schools instead.

Originally Posted by Friendy

So my question is: is there something like that in the other European countries? Maybe there's something else that surrounds Eurovision in your country; that would be also interesting to hear about.

We didn't have exact situation, but the process is too closed to politics. In 2002 Maria Naumova won the contest, and only then government bethought she has no citizenship (The contender must have citizenship of the country which he present). It was like a hell in 2003 when Eurovision was in Riga. Whole police staff was nearby Sconto Halle.

Originally Posted by garmonistka

Its all a stupid and expensive joke. I wish people would spend money on schools instead.

Bah, Humbug.

ha..ha...ha.. I thought this kinda "being rockstar virus" (at least to me) is only spreading in small number of country, but I'm absolutely wrong. It's very hard for me to take it seriously, but in my country this stuff is influencing quite a lot of people. It's also a big money maker for the television business here in my country.

Originally Posted by Pinczakko

ha..ha...ha.. I thought this kinda "being rockstar virus" (at least to me) is only spreading in small number of country, but I'm absolutely wrong. It's very hard for me to take it seriously, but in my country this stuff is influencing quite a lot of people. It's also a big money maker for the television business here in my country.

You seem to be misttaken. Eurovision isn't one of those tv talent shows. Its been going for 50 years.

ah, I see . You're right, I've misinterpret about it. Sorry .

I knew about this year's Eurovision only yesterday (although I knew this event in general) and it doesn't seem that I suffered much from this lack of knowledge.

Propp, I'm like that here. I normally don't know who the teams playing in the Super Bowl were until after the event has passed. In fact, some years I don't even notice that there's a Super Bowl.

Whats a Super Bowl?

Looky. There are three types of answers one could expect after such a comment.

The ignorant comment: WTF? You live in Texas and you've never heard of the Super Bowl? Get in touch with real life, man!

The sarcastic/witty but slightly standard comment: Exactly.

The Pravit comment. Please do think up something nice.

Super bowl, конечно это типа "чашка супа"
да?

I wasn't aware England entered the Eurovision Contest or ever had.