So, there we go – the UK did quite well. Norton was certainly acceptable as the “voice-over” man. The Russians did some bizarre and strange half time act with no apparant regard for any health and safety law and Norway won with an insipid song.
That really sums up the evening.
What made the evening more interesting was linking the programme with twitter. Using Twitter Fall and following the keyword #twumpet I could read (some of, there were far too many to read all) the comments in real time, re-tweat some that were interesting and contribute to an online massive dialogue.
This takes the level of viewer interaction to a whole new level. To some extend it’s a real time version of Points of View, but in real time and unfiltered. Add into that the comments of Philip Schofield, Jonathon Ross and other celebrities and it brings a different dimension to the “entertainment”.
It’s upon us, the greatest night of the year on the TV entertainment stakes, Eurovision. There is something about the bizarre mix of European music, tv and voting that makes it gripping television.
The UK, rather bland, entry this year is:
Which remarkably according the bookies actually has some vague chance of not coming entirely last. This has been brought around by the democratic twist that although people can phone up to vote for their favourites, a “panel of experts” will then decide how the voting should go.
Hopefully, in the eyes of the organisers this will help overcome the various voting habits of neighbours voting for one another. Historically the UK has never done well out of “friendly voting”, mainly because we don’t have that many European friends! Whether this change will make any difference only time will tell.
The other big change is the lack of Terry Wogans ironic comments throughout the evening.
His blatent insults of the entries, the scoring and indeed the whole concept has kept Eurovision alive with the British public. Whether Graham Norton will attempt the same, or a more serious approach, only time will tell.
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