This admin of AKOE has some VERY good ideas ^_^

 

The result:

1 Serbia 268

2 Ukraine 235

3 Russia 207

4 Turkey 163

5 Bulgaria 157

6 Belarus 145

7 Greece 139

8 Armenia 138

9 Hungary 128

10 Moldova 109

11 Bosnia & Herzegovina 106

12 Georgia 97

13 Romania 84

14 Macedonia 73

15 Slovenia 66

16 Latvia 54

17 Finland 53

18 Sweden 51

19 Germany 49

20 Spain 43

21 Lithuania 28

22 France 19

23 UnitedKingdom 19

24 Ireland 5

 

 

Unlike last year when I was doubley delighted with the result (a good contest winner and a Top 10 result for Ireland) this year I have very mixed feelings on the result. I'll start with the winner. I think "Molitva" is a reasonable song and probably a worthy winner in such a low calibre competition but unlike the last few year's when the winning song went on to be an international hit (albeit a small one in the case of "My Number One"), I don't see "Molitva" being a significant hit outside of the Balkan area. The English lyrics are pretty poor, and unusually the only way I could actually see the song doing well, is the very good dance remix of the song which is already available.

 

Apart from the "Serbia coming back from the cold" angle, I don't think that this year's winner will be a big media story like Lordi's victory was last year and I fear the winner will be forgotten in a couple of weeks. Minor Eurovision trivialities like tthe fact that this is the first debut winner since 1956 and the first winner not to use English since 1998 will only be of interest to Eurovision anoraks.

 

The big story is obviously the Eastern European strangehold on the contest. All of next year's automatic finalists are from south or east of the Danube. By contrast, the "Big 4" (the people who pay for most of this contest) fill four of the bottom six places. In my opinion neither of these facts can be good for the contest.

 

From an Irish viewpoint this was without doubt a disasterous result. We finish last in the contest for the first time ever, and the only points we gained were five from what I believe was an Albanian back-up jury (there's a belief here that not enough votes were cast in Albania to make the televote valid). I always had reservations that Irish traditional music was right for Eurovision, but I thought that we might be able to salvage something. I don't blame Dervish or the songwriters. I just feel that the in the current climate of voting patterns the best Ireland is ever going to do is the Top 10 result gained by Brian Kennedy last year.

 

Tonight I was able to call 26 of the 42 "twelve points". Without hearing the songs, I could probably do the same for the 2008 Contest. This has ceased to be a song contest. It's become a contest where neighbours (from all over Europe) swap points, and emigrants show their feelings for their home country by voting for it, whether it be Turks in Germany, Lithuanians in Ireland or Romanians in Spain. It's becoming boringly predictable.

 

I've always believed that if you have pointed our a problem, then you should try and suggest a solution. With this in mind, here are the changes I would make.

 

Bring in 50/50 voting where the televote counts for 50% , but a panel of experts awards the other 50%. So that these experts are not nameless and unaccountable, they should be announceed in the country on the day of the contest.

 

Two semi-finals should start next year, and the division should be based on time zones. I have some sympathy with Cyprus and Finland who feel that they might be in the "wrong" zone, but the 50/50 should give them a better chance of making the Top 10. Only countries taking part in each semi should vote.

 

Only countries that reach in the final should call in their votes, the countries eliminated in the semi should all pool their votes into one giant pot, and points be awarded at the end based on the percentage each finalist got. So 100 points (1 per percentage point) should be called out at the end, keeping the non qualifiers involved and making the voting more exciting.

 

Andrew is going to be adding more pictures over the next day and when he does I will write a song by song review on Monday evening when I get back home.

 

And finally, not forgetting the country that has had the best organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest in my memory....

 

KIITOS SUOMI (THANK YOU FINLAND)

 

I have to say I agree, and that 100 point pot is a REALLY good idea :o :wub:

and the only points we gained were five from what I believe was an Albanian back-up jury (there's a belief here that not enough votes were cast in Albania to make the televote valid). :o!

 

 

and yes i agree with everything that he said... if something isn't done ALOT of western people will start to switch off...

That's very true, Jack. "Is it political?" aside, Western viewers will quickly become bored of the contest if we continue to do so badly, it's possibly right that something is done.

 

edit: it would, of course, be interesting to see who the "experts" are ... do you think we could convince Cowell to be our music expert? "Sorry, it didn't sound enough like a Westlife reject to me, nil points" :P

Edited May 13, 200718 yr by Andrewy

What he says its about right, there be more countries competing in the future, they need to break it down into 2 semis

I really like the 50/50 idea. It wouldn't be half as fun if you coulnd't vote for your favourite but I think some countries do abuse that just to vote for whoever is close to them so a panel of judges as well to keep a tally all the way through and then announce their scores before the phone vote results or something?

 

But then you would need a selection of judges who weren't bias.

The Albanian vote was about the most sensible last night tbh...

That's very true, Jack. "Is it political?" aside, Western viewers will quickly become bored of the contest if we continue to do so badly, it's possibly right that something is done.

 

edit: it would, of course, be interesting to see who the "experts" are ... do you think we could convince Cowell to be our music expert? "Sorry, it didn't sound enough like a Westlife reject to me, nil points" :P

 

maybe the big four should just jack in the funding for the competition and launch their own new competition and have simon cowell to judge them with a pannel of experts after each song.

 

then again all the songs could just be named from 1 to 26 in the main contest but keeping the countries vote at the end??? like in the bbc show with each of the regions.

The reason why Televoting was actually brought in in the first place was for the very reason that the whole "Panel of Judges" thing was just so biased and it was continually being criticised, now people are moaning about the facts that Central (which is what the likes of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, and the Baltic States ARE, not "Eastern European" at all) and Eastern European (such as Armenia, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia etc...) are the ones who are the major players now and it's not being dominated by the "Big 4" anymore.... Tough sh!t Sherlock... Why the hell should a person from Serbia or Croatia vote for a French, Irish or British act they've never heard of as opposed to an act from a neighbouring state that is quite famous and well known where they come from...? As for the whole immigrant complaint... Well, maybe if enough indigenous Brits had actually bothered their arse to vote for ESC and took it a bit more seriously, then our 12 points may have gone to somewhere other than Turkey.... Dont complain about the "immigrant vote" just cos they're the ones in the country that are taking it a bit more seriously than we do....

The reason why Televoting was actually brought in in the first place was for the very reason that the whole "Panel of Judges" thing was just so biased and it was continually being criticised,

 

I was expecting the Eurovision to be caught up in the phone-vote scandal that richard and judy/glitterball etc etc was caught up in. but the papers went for 'Graham Norton's show - Faked' instead :lol:

 

now people are moaning about the facts that Central (which is what the likes of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, and the Baltic States ARE, not "Eastern European" at all) and Eastern European (such as Armenia, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia etc...)

 

actually i think Armenia is actually a country in Asia, but gets by as being European as its not Muslim, ruled by Turkmenbashi and has genes good for Chansoners :lol: :lol:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/AznavourLaBoheme1968.jpg

I was expecting the Eurovision to be caught up in the phone-vote scandal that richard and judy/glitterball etc etc was caught up in. but the papers went for 'Graham Norton's show - Faked' instead :lol:

actually i think Armenia is actually a country in Asia, but gets by as being European as its not Muslim, ruled by Turkmenbashi and has genes good for Chansoners :lol: :lol:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/AznavourLaBoheme1968.jpg

 

Armenia is technically "Eurasian", the point at which Europe and Asia actually geographically intersect.... Armenia, Georgia, etc are where the Caucasus Mountains are, and where the term "Caucasian" actually originates....

I think the UK need's to come up with a decent song. Its not just about political voting although that does play a part. Ireland and France's songs were also bad, which is why all three countries did badly. Scooch sounded awful live too.

Armenia is technically "Eurasian", the point at which Europe and Asia actually geographically intersect.... Armenia, Georgia, etc are where the Caucasus Mountains are, and where the term "Caucasian" actually originates....

 

Armenia just misses out, its in that region if you wanna go down from just the normal continents to specific areas but not technically in two. however best to keep it simple or you'll end up going onto a random discussion about Australia :lol:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a6/TransAsia.PNG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Europe_location_ARM2.png

I def agree with the first message but Grimly has some good points too... but the problem is still the same, Western countries are just doomed now...

I don't think it's usefull to have 42 countries voting... Why don't we only keep the votes of the countries than made it to the final ?! that would be shorter and less biased I think.

I def agree with the first message but Grimly has some good points too... but the problem is still the same, Western countries are just doomed now...

 

i suppose you could always start up a rival contest and choose a different set of countries. maybe have a song version of miss world???

 

then again this might take ages/over different time zones so maybe just include some countries in Africa and go down one time zone??? however that might have the same effect as all the african states vote for each other.

 

and i suppose you cant have a live contest if all of the former eastern bloc countries are ejected and Australia, Canada and America are co-opted in as it will go out not in primetime.

I've a more simple solution. All Western countries (including the big four) boycot next year's contest until all this political voting has been sorted out and then see how the Balkan & Eastern Block countries show up.

 

I bet the show would become a non-entity.

 

I still think Scooch got what they deserved but I thought Sweden and Spain should have been Top 10.

 

For me the only half good song in the Top 12 was the Russian entry

 

What a farce.

Edited May 13, 200718 yr by Euro Music

I dont the expert idea would work, cos thats down to opinion too much...

 

How about, when viewers call in to vote, they give 3 points to their fave, 2 points to their 2nd fave and 1 point to their 3rd fave, and it could be done by pressing the relevant keys on your phone to select the 3 songs.

I've a more simple solution. All Western countries (including the big four) boycot next year's contest until all this political voting has been sorted out and then see how the Balkan & Eastern Block countries show up.

 

I bet the show would become a non-entity.

 

I still think Scooch got what they deserved but I thought Sweden and Spain should have been Top 10.

 

For me the only half good song in the Top 12 was the Russian entry

 

What a farce.

There is no political voting, it's NEIGHBOURLY voting, I quote:

 

There IS predictability and there IS block voting, but it is because THE BORDERING COUNTRIES HAVE SIMILAR CULTURE HERITAGE AND MUSICAL TASTE.

 

I think diaspora voting, the sort which sent Armenia and Turkey top ten, is a FAR bigger problem tbh -_-

I dont the expert idea would work, cos thats down to opinion too much...

 

How about, when viewers call in to vote, they give 3 points to their fave, 2 points to their 2nd fave and 1 point to their 3rd fave, and it could be done by pressing the relevant keys on your phone to select the 3 songs.

Would make the addition to get 12, 10 and 8 a lot harder - what if, for example, a country got lots of third favourites but no favourites? How would you calculate that?

I've a more simple solution. All Western countries (including the big four) boycot next year's contest until all this political voting has been sorted out and then see how the Balkan & Eastern Block countries show up.

 

I bet the show would become a non-entity.

 

I still think Scooch got what they deserved but I thought Sweden and Spain should have been Top 10.

 

For me the only half good song in the Top 12 was the Russian entry

 

What a farce.

 

*sigh*... This whole "political voting" argument is really just becoming bloody boring tbh.... Look, THERE IS NO POLITICAL VOTING!!!!! Pissed-up people on a Saturday night are not thinking about ruddy Politics ffs..... I think the the fact that it is actually televoting as opposed to it being a panel of judges actually makes Political Voting a lot less likely to occur not more likely.... I also think it would be a totally pathetic attitude for Western European countries to start boycotting because it'll just look like sour grapes...

 

I find it absolutely hilarious and rather ironic that when Justin Hawkins criticised the vote in the "Making Your Mind Up" prog he was criticised by most people here on this very Forum for being a "sore loser"..... :lol: :lol: Well, I reckon that's the pot calling the kettle black now, because there are a whole vineyard of sour grapes on this thread just cos Scooch got their well deserved drubbing.....

 

If anything I found MYMU more of a shambles than ESC...<_<