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:: NEWS BEFORE KIYV ::
< return to current news >Stronger Every Minute
ABBA rumours continue to circulate, which I am not convinced by. However the Preliminary show had a great muppet video featuring cameos from all of ABBA (including reclusive Agnetha and a blonde! Freida) along with Rik Mayall, Mark Gatiss (from League of Gentlemen, and writing for the new Dr Who series). If only we had the BBC's commentary I am sure we'd know something of the BBC's efforts in putting it together.
The songs this year underwhelmed everyone on their release, but we have seen some great performances so far which have really lifted the quality of the contest. Anyone could win this, but Ukraine, Cyprus and Turkey are now my favoured options (off to bet!).
Final line-up for the Final (in order of performance): 01 Spain / 02 Austria / 03 Norway / 04 France / 05 Serbia / 06 Malta / 07 Netherlands / 08 Germany / 09 Albania / 10 Ukraine / 11 Croatia / 12 Bosnia / 13 Belgium / 14 Russia / 15 Macedonia / 16 Greece / 17 Iceland / 18 Ireland / 19 Poland / 20 United Kingdom / 21 Cyprus / 22 Turkey / 23 Romania / 24 Sweden.
Making Your Mind UpThe latest odds, just before the Grand Final, with the detritus omitted.
Greece 3
Ukraine 7/2
Sweden 8
Cyprus 10
Serbia & Montenegro 11
Belgium 12
Germany 12
Russia 20
Bosnia & Herzegovina 25
Ireland 25
Malta 25
Albania 28
Iceland 33
Turkey 40
United Kingdom 40
Poland 40
Spain 50
Netherlands 66
Romania 50
France 66
Norway 66
Croatia 100
FYR Macedonia 125
Austria 150
Shake ItAn open letter to Des Mangan.
Dear Des,
Your affection for Eurovision is unquestionable. You are now the face of Eurovision for SBS and have been among the ESC press for two years running. Do you think it is acceptable for the show you represent to be interupted by commercial breaks throughout the contest? Like every 30 minutes?? Just for Telstra and station promos. How about the ticker text running over the face of singers advertising a last minute change to SBS scheduling (starting the Danish wedding coverage 30 minutes earlier after Channel 7 decided to show it live). The ticker ran every 20 minutes for the whole length of the Preliminary.SBS actually ran an ad between two ESC songs, advertising the Royal Wedding starting at 11pm. They could not be bothered amending their advert, but were happy to ruin the telecast. Only once did the ticker run over a postcard.
Time to put your influence to some effect. Tell them if they do that again, you'll pull out of future ESC telecasts - and then try and get the ABC to steal the show. At least they wont interupt the show with adverts!
We Will Play At Loving One AnotherAustralia's ESC network - SBS - has launched a great schedule for ESC 2004. From Saturday May 8th to Friday May 14th all 36 videos will be shown as part of typically kitsch programming called 'Countdown to Eurovision.' The qualifying final will be delayed a full 36 hours(!) and screen at 7.30 on Friday May 14th (and in a kitsch killer, it will be followed by the wedding of that Tassie chick to the Danish prince, live from Copenhagen!)
Unfortunately SBS will insist on having Des Mangan's commentary over the transmissions - rather than Terry Wogan's classic and traditional commentary. On ABC's Mondo Thingo on April 29th, Mangan defended his role suggesting that Wogan's jokes about certain British TV hosts involved in the telecast went over Australian's heads. Based on that logic, if Mangan cracks a joke about Edsilia Rombley (Netherlands, 98) which most folks dont get then he should be replaced by someone else! Or to fully show the weakness of the argument - Premier League soccer should have Les Murray talking over it in case someone mentions a footballer we dont know, or Andrew Denton should dub all of Parky's interviews for fear a British personality is mentioned and we all die from ignorance.
SBS seems to be in a pickle currently - they have next to no paid advertisers. (This is obvious from the number of ads shown between shows: example, Joss Stone's CD was plugged twice and one of her songs played in its entirety, all in the same 5 minute break!). Add to that the defection of stars Stratton and Pomeranz and the federal government's known dislike of the network, and there is a serious risk SBS won't be around in a year or two's time.
So, I shall cease kicking the wounded SBS. I shall pay them respect for the schedule and their (over-zealous) commitment to Eurovision over the years. I shall bite my lip on Mangan's commentary (just so long as Wogan's version is shown later on - thats the one to keep for posterity).
SBS Schedule
- Saturday 8th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: Finland, Belarus, Switzerland, Latvia, Israel, Andorra- Sunday 9th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: Portugal, Malta, Monaco, Greece, Ukraine- Monday 10th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: Lithuania, Albania, Cyprus, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia- Tuesday 11th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: Estonia, Croatia, Denmark, Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina- Wednesday 12th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: The Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Norway, France- Thursday 13th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: Germany, Belgium, Russia, Iceland, Ireland- Friday 14th May, 7pm: Countdown to Eurovision
Videos: Poland, United Kingdom, Turkey, Romania, Sweden- Friday 14th May, 7.30pm: Qualifying Final (Delayed Broadcast)
- Sunday 16th May, 7.30pm: ESC 2004 Final (Delayed Broadcast)
Our PlanetA major change to the voting system for Eurovision from this year onwards. All 36 nations competing in either (or both) the qualifying and grand final will vote in BOTH finals. So even if Albania bombs in the qualifier it will have as much impact on the Grand Final result as one of the Big Four. Oh, and it'll take so long for the 36 to vote that they are not going to repeat the scores in French! BOO!!
So, there goes the Neighbourhood Watch predictions, which were made on only those in the qualifier voting on the qualifier and ditto for the grand final. This may negate neighbourhood voting in the Grand Final so long as no one from your neighbourhood qualifies. So if none of the Balkan nations qualify (for example) they will be free to vote for the best song in the Grand Final. But if only one Balkan state qualifies, it can expect support from several non-qualifying neighbours.
Get ready for the most controversial Eurovision for years!
Below are order in which the songs will be performed, the order all 36 nations will vote on both nights and finally the odds from William Hill betting (ignore the UK and Ireland odds which must be drug induced).
Can't Wait Until Tonight
Presentation Order Voting Order Betting Odds (19 Apr) 01 Finland
02 Belarus
03 Switzerland
04 Latvia
05 Israel
06 Andorra
07 Portugal
08 Malta
09 Monaco
10 Greece
11 Ukranie
12 Lithuania
13 Albania
14 Cyprus
15 FYR Macedonia
16 Slovenia
17 Estonia
18 Croatia
19 Denmark
20 Serbia-Montenegro
21 Bosnia & Herzegovina
22 Netherlands
01 Spain
02 Austria
03 Norway
04 France
05 Serbia
06 Malta
07 Netherlands
08 Germany
09 Albania
10 Ukraine
11 Croatia
12 Bosnia
13 Belgium
14 Russia
15 Macedonia
16 Greece
17 Iceland
18 Ireland
19 Poland
20 United Kingdom
21 Cyprus
22 Turkey
23 Romania
24 Sweden01 AD Andorra
02 AL Albania
03 AT Austria
04 BA Bosnia-Herzegovina
05 BE Belgium
06 BY Belarus
07 CH Switzerland
08 CS Serbia-Montenegro
09 CY Cyprus
10 DE Germany
11 DK Denmark
12 EE Estonia
13 ES Spain
14 FI Finland
15 FR France
16 GB United Kingdom
17 GR Greece
18 HR Croatia
19 IE Ireland
20 IL Israel
21 IS Iceland
22 LT Lithuania
23 LV Latvia
24 MC Monaco
25 MK FYR Macedonia
26 MT Malta
27 NL Netherlands
28 NO Norway
29 PL Poland
30 PT Portugal
31 RO Romania
32 RU Russia
33 SE Sweden
34 SI Slovenia
35 TR Turkey
36 UA UkraineBelgium 6/1
Sweden 8/1
United Kingdom 12/1
Serbia & Montenegro 12/1
Russia 12/1
Ireland 12/1
Germany 12/1
Malta 14/1
Denmark 14/1
Greece 16/1
Finland 16/1
Cyprus 16/1
Ukraine 20/1
Spain 20/1
Poland 20/1
Norway 20/1
Turkey 25/1
Romania 25/1
Netherlands 25/1
Iceland 25/1
France 25/1
Belarus 25/1
Portugal 33/1
FYR Macedonia 33/1
Lithuania 33/1
Bosnia & Herzegovina 33/1
Albania 33/1
Switzerland 40/1
Slovenia 40/1
Monaco 40/1
Latvia 40/1
Israel 40/1
Andorra 40/1
Croatia 50/1
Austria 50/1
Estonia 66/1
I Admit... It Hurts...For RealAll entrants are now known and all of the songs are out there in the ether (bar four or so). For all the news on each nation, check out their individual news updates under either the qualifying round or the grand final.
PREDICTION: 50th Eurovision will be held in former Soviet UnionUsing patterns of neighbourhood voting (eg. Cyprus & Greece swapping 12 points each year) and ignoring the quality of songs totally (much like many entrants this year), a prediction of where votes may flow has been suggested by EDU's own statistian.
The semi-final will see a mixture of Balkan, Baltic and slavic states progress to the Final. Malta's deals will get it through to the Final also. Our projection of the ten nations to qualify to the Grand Prix are to the right. The qualifiers radically influence the neighbourhood votes in the Final. And the pattern is clear. The top three nations are all slavic nations formerly of the USSR.
Clearly with Ukraine and Russia unheard at this point it is hard to estimate where legitimate votes will go - but EDU reckons Belarus' track is pretty good. Imagine Eurovision's 50th Anniversary in Minsk - a celebration of the last Stalinist state in Europe!
Now all this must be taken with a grain of salt. Voting rarely follows neighbourhood patterns in all nations each year. It just means if your favourite song is not in the top ten of either projection, they will have to win purely on their own merit - and some of their competitors have an unfair advantage.
SEMI FYROM 1st Belarus 2nd Lithuania 3rd Ukraine 4th Bosnia 5th Estonia 6th Latvia 7th Serbia 8th Andorra 9th Malta 10th
FINAL 1st Belarus 2nd Russia 3rd Ukraine 4th Lithuania 5th= France 5th= Turkey 7th Spain 8th= Romania 8th= Serbia 10th Germany
For Real(ity)This year's ESC is starting to look like Round 2 of 'World Idol' except with no evident Bono impersonator... yet. Many nations are either sending their winners of 'Pop Idol' or similar variant or are holding extended selection shows which are basically the same as 'Idol''s format.
Nation Singer Pop Idol ? Albania Anjeza Shahini X Andorra Marta Roure 12 Punts Austria Tie-Break X Belarus Aleksandra & Konstantin X Belgium Xandee Boets X Bosnia Fuad Backovic Deen X Croatia Ivan Mikulic X Cyprus Lisa Andreas X Denmark Tomas Thordarson X Estonia Neiokõsõ X Finland Jari Sillanpää X France Jonatan Cerrada Pop Idol FYROM Tose Proeski X Germany Max X Greece Sakis Rouvas EuroStar Iceland Jón Jósep Snjæbjörnsson X Ireland Chris Doran You're a Star Israel David D'Or X
Nation Singer Pop Idol ? Latvia Fomins & Kleins X Lithuania Linas & Simona X Malta Julie & Ludwig X Monaco Maryon X Netherlands Re-Union X Norway Knut Anders Sørum X Poland Blue Café X Portugal Sofia Operación Triunfo Romania Sanda Ladosi X Russia Yulia Savicheva Fabrika Zvezd (Star Factory) Serbia Zeljko Joksimovic X Slovenia Platin X Spain Ramón Operación Triunfo Sweden Lena Ph X Switzerland Piero Esteriore Music Stars Turkey Athena X UK James Fox Fame Academy Ukraine Ruslana Lyzhichko X
Spanish Stand OffLast year it was dance songs. Every second country had a dance song, which meant the people who liked dance songs had too many to pick from and only t.A.T.u. got a chunk of votes. This year its Spanish-stlyed Enrique wanna-bes. There's too many songs sounding too similar - they will cancel each others votes. Alf, Norway's ballad and Urban Trad profited last year from the dance deluge... who will benefit this year?
Maltese ShenanigansMaltaSong's Chairwoman has described the secret lobbying for votes on national TV (subtle!). Grace Borg announced Malta was contacting Cyprus to get votes in the ESC Semi-finals. Earlier junkets were arranged for delegations from Lithuania and Ukraine to attend Malta's finals. Keep an eye on the votes!
Further scandals have emerged with accusations the jury for the national final were hired by Malta OGAE Vice-President, Massimo Ellul, who was the manager of several singers in the final. The whistle-blower (Antonella Vassallo, an ex-Maltasong committee member) was sacked by Malta's Minister of culture, Mr. Mugliett
Source: http://www.euro-tnt.com/
It's a Date - or twoEurovision 2004 will be held in Istanbul, Turkey between May 12 and May 15, 2004. The Semi-Final will be held on Wednesday May 12th and the final on Saturday May 15th. For us Australian viewers, the final will presumably be screened on SBS-TV May 16th at 20.30 AEST - no idea what SBS may do with the semi, yet!
The venue is the Abdi Ipekçi Stadium. Word is, Swedish TV has agreed to help Turkey with the production of the shows - their 2000 show was pretty super so that bodes well - as long as they dont die of heat exhaustion.