Just for fun, I was just thinking how different the 1998-2008 era could have been with juries in the mix. It was a bit of a wild west era for Eurovision, with televote magnets being the name of the game for many years, loads of novelty entries and more elaborate staging and presentation with bigger and bigger hosting venues, turning the contest on its head and sowing the seeds for what it's like today.

As an example, I've been listening to 2002 today and came up with the following possible revision if juries had been voting. But for anyone watching at the time (e.g. @Last Dreamer or who has watched any of these contests back), I'm interested in what you think could have changed in the televote era if it had always been a 50/50 split.

Televote (we know how this turned out):

1. Latvia: Marie N - I Wanna

2. Malta: Ira Losco - 7th Wonder

3. United Kingdom: Jessica Garlick - Come Back (joint 3rd)

4. Estonia: Sahlene - Runaway (joint 3rd)

5. France: Sandrine François - Il Faut Du Temps

6. Cyprus: One - Gimme

7. Spain: Rosa - Europe's Living A Celebration

8. Sweden: Afro-dite - Never Let It Go

9. Romania: Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel - Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel

10. Russia: Prime minister - Northern Girl

11. Croatia: Vesna Pisarovic - Everything I Want

12. Israel: Sarit Hadad - Light A Candle

13. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Maja - Na jastuku za dvoje

14. Belgium: Sergio & the Ladies - Sister

15. Slovenia: Sestre - Samo ljubezen

16. Turkey: Buket Bengisu & Safir - Leylaklar soldu kalbinde

17. Greece: Michalis Rakintzis - S.A.G.A.P.O.

18. Austria: Manuel Ortega - Say A Word

19. North Macedonia: Karolina - Od Nas Zavisi

20. Finland: Laura - Addicted to You

21. Germany: Corinna May - I Can't Live Without Music

22. Switzerland: Francine Jordi - Dans le jardin de mon âme

23. Lithuania: Aivaras - Happy You

24. Denmark: Malene - Tell Me Who You Are

Jury (rough assumption):

1. France: Sandrine François - Il Faut Du Temps

2. United Kingdom: Jessica Garlick - Come Back

3. Sweden: Afro-dite - Never Let It Go

4. Malta: Ira Losco - 7th Wonder

5. Estonia: Sahlene - Runaway

6. Germany: Corinna May - I Can't Live Without Music

7. Israel: Sarit Hadad - Light A Candle

8. Spain: Rosa - Europe's Living A Celebration

9. Romania: Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel - Tell Me Why

10. Latvia: Marie N - I Wanna

11. Austria: Manuel Ortega - Say A Word

12. Switzerland: Francine Jordi - Dans le jardin de mon âme

13. Finland: Laura - Addicted to You

14. Croatia: Vesna Pisarovic - Everything I Want

15. Turkey: Buket Bengisu & Safir - Leylaklar soldu kalbinde

16. Lithuania: Aivaras - Happy You

17. Denmark: Malene - Tell Me Who You Are

18. North Macedonia: Karolina - Od Nas Zavisi

19. Cyprus: One - Gimme

20. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Maja - Na jastuku za dvoje

21. Russia: Prime minister - Northern Girl

22. Slovenia: Sestre - Samo ljubezen

23. Belgium: Sergio & the Ladies - Sister

24. Greece: Michalis Rakintzis - S.A.G.A.P.O.

Overall:

1. United Kingdom: Jessica Garlick - Come Back

2. Malta: Ira Losco - 7th Wonder

3. France: Sandrine François - Il Faut Du Temps

4. Latvia: Marie N - I Wanna

5. Estonia: Sahlene - Runaway

6. Sweden: Afro-dite - Never Let It Go

7. Spain: Rosa - Europe's Living A Celebration

8. Israel: Sarit Hadad - Light A Candle

9. Romania: Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel - Tell Me Why

10. Croatia: Vesna Pisarovic - Everything I Want

11. Cyprus: One - Gimme

12. Germany: Corinna May - I Can't Live Without Music

13. Austria: Manuel Ortega - Say A Word

14. Russia: Prime minister - Northern Girl

15. Turkey: Buket Bengisu & Safir - Leylaklar soldu kalbinde

16. Finland: Laura - Addicted to You

17. Switzerland: Francine Jordi - Dans le jardin de mon âme

18. Bosnia & Herzegovina: Maja - Na jastuku za dvoje

19. Slovenia: Sestre - Samo ljubezen

20. Belgium: Sergio & the Ladies - Sister

21. Denmark: Malene - Tell Me Who You Are

22. North Macedonia: Karolina - Od Nas Zavisi

23. Greece: Michalis Rakintzis - S.A.G.A.P.O.

24. Lithuania: Aivaras - Happy You

Thoughts:

UK and France did so well anyway on the public vote and clearly would have dominated a jury vote. Both were fanastic singers, Jessica with a belting voice and Sandrine in the Celine mould would likely have won the jury, with UK squeaking past overall due to the higher televote. I still think Malta would have been high in the mix for the jury, as it was a charming, well delivered song with a strong performance. Latvia wouldn't not have done hugely well on the jury, but probably fine enough for her televote win to only drop her to 4th overall. With Sweden and Estonia clearly being jury favourites too. Germany were the favourites going into 2002, even up to the night of the contest and I think juries would have listened to that hype enough to put them high, as they'd have no knowledge of the cool public reception to it.

Personal ranking of 2002:

Amazing:

Malta: Ira Losco - 7th Wonder (still an all-time favourite, this was Malta's time to shine, robbed!)

United Kingdom: Jessica Garlick - Come Back (One of the UK's best 21st century entries, Jessica sung the hell out of this and managed top three even despite performing 2nd, I always wonder where it would have been with a late draw like Latvia and Malta had!)

Germany: Corinna May - I Can't Live Without Music (poor robbed Corinna, I was happy with its odds and couldn't believe how the public treated this fine schlager </3)

Estonia: Sahlene - Runaway (I Believe I Can Fly part 2, but who can resist infectious Sahlene)

Great:

Croatia: Vesna Pisarovic - Everything I Want (loved this, Croatia had some great pop in the 90s and 00s)

France: Sandrine François - Il Faut Du Temps (So classy, just like 2001 although not quite as good)
Denmark: Malene - Tell Me Who You Are (last place? This was one of the few actually strong songs of the night, very slick track)

Good:

Spain: Rosa - Europe's Living A Celebration (good fun although Rosa deserved a more impressive song really)
Sweden: Afro-dite - Never Let It Go (not a Sweden fave of mine to be quite honest, but still decent in a weak line-up overall)

North Macedonia: Karolina - Od Nas Zavisi (I quite liked most of Macedonia's early-mid 00s entries)

Switzerland: Francine Jordi - Dans le jardin de mon âme (quite a charming schlager ballad)

Finland: Laura - Addicted to You

Slovenia: Sestre - Samo ljubezen

Average:

Latvia: Marie N - I Wanna (one of the worst winners...fun performance and an early example of staging helping somebody to victory imo, the song doesn't have a lot going for it)

Israel: Sarit Hadad - Light A Candle

Cyprus: One - Gimme

Lithuania: Aivaras - Happy You

Austria: Manuel Ortega - Say A Word (All Right Now wants its melody back)

Turkey: Buket Bengisu & Safir - Leylaklar soldu kalbinde

Russia: Prime minister - Northern Girl

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Maja - Na jastuku za dvoje

Romania: Monica Anghel & Marcel Pavel - Tell Me Why (very dull, overwrought, dated ballad, surprised it went top ten on the televote)

Awful:

Greece: Michalis Rakintzis - S.A.G.A.P.O. (so awful)

Belgium: Sergio & the Ladies - Sister (yet not as terminal as this, Belgium had some horrors in the 00s and 10s)

Edited April 8Apr 8 by gooddelta

2002 holds such a special place for me as it’s the first contest I watched all the way through, aged 13 (having remembered parts of earlier contests going back to 1996) and listened to all the songs in advance on the Eurovision website, which was extremely cool to do then in those pre iTunes/Youtube days. I’m sad it’s sort of ignored or called a “bad year” now, falling in that awkward gap where it’s neither full on retro/vintage like the 90s or earlier, nor seen as anything remotely current or matching present day Eurovision.

Your favourites generally match mine, I loved Germany’s song and it still holds tons of childhood nostalgia to me as I bought the CD and played that one to death, I also really liked the UK entry so nice to see that could have won under that voting setup! Had we won I guess Terry would have hosted again in 2003, with someone like Fearne Cotton this time?

Thank you for replying! I was kind of thinking this was a waste of time thread as nobody replied or reacted, but it was of interest to me ha.

Yes I loved the innocence of the early 00s/early days of the internet where the songs were available to hear in advance, but you had to work at it to hear them. I still remember trying to search for them in the school library at break times, but when I bought the CD a few weeks ahead of the contest is when I really first got to know them properly. And that wasn't easy to find back then either.

Good call on a hypothetical UK hosted 2003. Agree it would have been Terry, Fearne might have been deemed a little young at that point so it could have been someone like newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky who co-hosted the National Final in 2005.