GO
Are all RTE entertainment programmes like this? It felt like it was made for the elderly, hardly anything youthful about it aside from (some of) the music. Truly horrible sound quality during all the performances and the graphics were hideous. Ghastly choreography and direction as well. The interviews they had with the mentors before each song felt so dated for some reason, it was almost like watching some naff music documentary from the late 90s.
It's a real shame that Nikki didn't win but from a purely selfish point of view this should see the UK press get more excited about Eurovision than they have done in many years.
It's a real shame that Nikki didn't win but from a purely selfish point of view this should see the UK press get more excited about Eurovision than they have done in many years.
NG
Well - now that there are two HD outlets we'd better hope that there is nothing originated in HD for BBC Two between 2000 and 2200 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in that week in May that can't be timeshifted...
(Even if the previous year's format was followed and the in-vision opt-out stuff continued to be SD they'd still be well within the SD quota for a BBC HD show...)
BTW - am loving Melodifestivalen and Norsk Melodi Grand Prix this year... (Sweden has far better songs - but gotta love NRK for giving it a good go. And Alexander Stenerud's medley in the second week was great)
noggin
Founding member
There's hope for the ESC SF's in HD from the BBC ...
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09-Feb-2011 @ 16:46
see this exchange on ….
TWITTER.COM/#!
09-Feb-2011 @ 16:46
Well - now that there are two HD outlets we'd better hope that there is nothing originated in HD for BBC Two between 2000 and 2200 on Tuesdays and Thursdays in that week in May that can't be timeshifted...
(Even if the previous year's format was followed and the in-vision opt-out stuff continued to be SD they'd still be well within the SD quota for a BBC HD show...)
BTW - am loving Melodifestivalen and Norsk Melodi Grand Prix this year... (Sweden has far better songs - but gotta love NRK for giving it a good go. And Alexander Stenerud's medley in the second week was great)
Last edited by noggin on 12 February 2011 3:57pm
CO
Just a personal view, but I thought the RTE selection programme, done as a special edition of the usual Friday night 'Late Late Show' chat/entertainment combo, was rather good. I'd agree it went on perhaps a shade too long, though the lengthy gaps for commercials, removed from the rte.ie live feed leaving a blank screen, added to that impression.
But as much as anything, I liked the approach - Ryan Tubridy, still only in his second year as Late Late Show presenter, is proving rather good at this sort of thing. He showed you can take the contest seriously, but still be light-hearted and have a joke when the moment arises. The show also felt like an occasion, a celebration of Eurovision, if you like, with two former Irish contest hosts being interviewed about their memories during the interval while the phone vote took place, and even a performance by the original Bucks Fizz (well, three of them).
And, since it all took place within an existing format, the audience, studio and host were already in place, so I wouldn't have thought it was too expensive to stage (compared to a normal Friday night edition on RTE).
But as much as anything, I liked the approach - Ryan Tubridy, still only in his second year as Late Late Show presenter, is proving rather good at this sort of thing. He showed you can take the contest seriously, but still be light-hearted and have a joke when the moment arises. The show also felt like an occasion, a celebration of Eurovision, if you like, with two former Irish contest hosts being interviewed about their memories during the interval while the phone vote took place, and even a performance by the original Bucks Fizz (well, three of them).
And, since it all took place within an existing format, the audience, studio and host were already in place, so I wouldn't have thought it was too expensive to stage (compared to a normal Friday night edition on RTE).
TE
Yes, if anything this programme costs less to stage than a typical Late Late. It's a Eurosong model that's been used for quite a few years now, as it both costs considerably less to integrate it into The Late Late Show rather than stage a Sunday night extravaganza as was done in years past, while also capturing a significant established audience.
Agreed with earlier comments about the abysmal direction and its 1990s qualities. The Late Late is directed by Niamh White, who coincidentally, vision mixed the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and frankly her style hasn't changed since. Remarkably conservative. She directed the Late Late in the early 2000s before being brought back when Tubridy took over in 2009, and nothing has changed since that earlier stint either. The move was baffling, as the whole point of the change of regime was to freshen up the production values. She hasn't a notion how to use a jib arm, her pedestal movement as pedestrian as it comes, and the vision mixing sluggish and dull.
In addition, the Late Late has got extremely lazy in recent years in its ditching of all forms of ceremony relating to music acts. The performance area set changes on a weekly basis, and for the most part is comprised of tawdry and thoroughly incoherent swags of fabric tat, perspex units and anything you're having yourself. Trashy LED floor strips and the occasional light box completes the dismal ensemble, while the whole lot is lazily carried out on the flat. No flooring units, no steps, no sculptural rostrum of any description.
It's a total mess and sadly it comes even more into focus during Eurosong.
Agreed with earlier comments about the abysmal direction and its 1990s qualities. The Late Late is directed by Niamh White, who coincidentally, vision mixed the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and frankly her style hasn't changed since. Remarkably conservative. She directed the Late Late in the early 2000s before being brought back when Tubridy took over in 2009, and nothing has changed since that earlier stint either. The move was baffling, as the whole point of the change of regime was to freshen up the production values. She hasn't a notion how to use a jib arm, her pedestal movement as pedestrian as it comes, and the vision mixing sluggish and dull.
In addition, the Late Late has got extremely lazy in recent years in its ditching of all forms of ceremony relating to music acts. The performance area set changes on a weekly basis, and for the most part is comprised of tawdry and thoroughly incoherent swags of fabric tat, perspex units and anything you're having yourself. Trashy LED floor strips and the occasional light box completes the dismal ensemble, while the whole lot is lazily carried out on the flat. No flooring units, no steps, no sculptural rostrum of any description.
It's a total mess and sadly it comes even more into focus during Eurosong.
IS
The Late Late Show is on the RTE player until the 4th March at: http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1091513
NG
noggin
Founding member
Hmm... The RTE show really doesn't fare well in comparison to Melodifestivalen does it? (Or the Dansk/Norks Melodi Grand Prix. Heck even Malta and Iceland do it better...)
ISTR that in the 80s (early 90s?) the UK song was chosen via Wogan (Terry's chat show) - but that looked and sounded better than the RTE show.
Ignoring the staging and the coverage - the actual production and sound mix was woeful... I'm assuming it wasn't a nice 5.1 mix a la MF for the last goodness knows how many years... In fact the sound was what stuck out most - it was terrible.
All that said - the UK can't exactly claim any superiority - apart from the Lloyd Webber vehicle our attempts have also been pretty dire.
ISTR that in the 80s (early 90s?) the UK song was chosen via Wogan (Terry's chat show) - but that looked and sounded better than the RTE show.
Ignoring the staging and the coverage - the actual production and sound mix was woeful... I'm assuming it wasn't a nice 5.1 mix a la MF for the last goodness knows how many years... In fact the sound was what stuck out most - it was terrible.
All that said - the UK can't exactly claim any superiority - apart from the Lloyd Webber vehicle our attempts have also been pretty dire.
GO
It was strange because it was like watching the 2009 and 2010 shows all over again, aside from the guests and the acts I don't think a single thing had changed. I'm pretty sure they'd done that "funnier" Eurovision moments segment before and the utterly hideous points graphics were back for their third (I think) outing. At least this time round they had that young girl there to talk a bit of sense and drag conversation away from the usual "remember when this happened in Millstreet/Dublin?", "I think it's exactly what Europe wants but we're not going to do well because of the Eastern Bloc" and whatever idiocy Cheryl Baker had to say.
It really is horrible to watch programmes where you just know the majority of the audience are over 55 but the content is really only of interest to much younger people. I mean for god's sake, you could see very elderly women sitting in the audience behind Jedward's mentor seconds before they came on to jump excessively round the stage!
And speaking of the mentors, it's unbelievable to think that they had this great concept of having five mentors essentially battling it out against each other X Factor style... and they didn't use it at all! The documentary they showed last Saturday essentially made out that they were all pulling out their big guns and doing what they could to win and what we actually saw last night was extraordinarily underwhelming in that regard (I mean in terms of the mentors rather than the acts). They could have at least used the mentors as judges rather than having Cheryl Baker saying that she could imagine hearing that ghastly Talking With Jennifer song on the radio. Give me a break.
Did anyone see any of Malta's NF this year? The production values were astonishing compared to previous years! Gone were the Christmas tree lights of 2009 and in came a very decent stage and really good direction. They surely hired someone in to produce it because it was just something else. Maybe Svante's retired to Malta?!
You're not wrong! And I'd argue the Lloyd Webber thing wasn't spectacularly produced either. It was a terribly boring programme that at least produced a very good result.
Yes, if anything this programme costs less to stage than a typical Late Late. It's a Eurosong model that's been used for quite a few years now, as it both costs considerably less to integrate it into The Late Late Show rather than stage a Sunday night extravaganza as was done in years past, while also capturing a significant established audience.
Agreed with earlier comments about the abysmal direction and its 1990s qualities. The Late Late is directed by Niamh White, who coincidentally, vision mixed the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and frankly her style hasn't changed since. Remarkably conservative. She directed the Late Late in the early 2000s before being brought back when Tubridy took over in 2009, and nothing has changed since that earlier stint either. The move was baffling, as the whole point of the change of regime was to freshen up the production values. She hasn't a notion how to use a jib arm, her pedestal movement as pedestrian as it comes, and the vision mixing sluggish and dull.
In addition, the Late Late has got extremely lazy in recent years in its ditching of all forms of ceremony relating to music acts. The performance area set changes on a weekly basis, and for the most part is comprised of tawdry and thoroughly incoherent swags of fabric tat, perspex units and anything you're having yourself. Trashy LED floor strips and the occasional light box completes the dismal ensemble, while the whole lot is lazily carried out on the flat. No flooring units, no steps, no sculptural rostrum of any description.
It's a total mess and sadly it comes even more into focus during Eurosong.
Agreed with earlier comments about the abysmal direction and its 1990s qualities. The Late Late is directed by Niamh White, who coincidentally, vision mixed the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and frankly her style hasn't changed since. Remarkably conservative. She directed the Late Late in the early 2000s before being brought back when Tubridy took over in 2009, and nothing has changed since that earlier stint either. The move was baffling, as the whole point of the change of regime was to freshen up the production values. She hasn't a notion how to use a jib arm, her pedestal movement as pedestrian as it comes, and the vision mixing sluggish and dull.
In addition, the Late Late has got extremely lazy in recent years in its ditching of all forms of ceremony relating to music acts. The performance area set changes on a weekly basis, and for the most part is comprised of tawdry and thoroughly incoherent swags of fabric tat, perspex units and anything you're having yourself. Trashy LED floor strips and the occasional light box completes the dismal ensemble, while the whole lot is lazily carried out on the flat. No flooring units, no steps, no sculptural rostrum of any description.
It's a total mess and sadly it comes even more into focus during Eurosong.
It was strange because it was like watching the 2009 and 2010 shows all over again, aside from the guests and the acts I don't think a single thing had changed. I'm pretty sure they'd done that "funnier" Eurovision moments segment before and the utterly hideous points graphics were back for their third (I think) outing. At least this time round they had that young girl there to talk a bit of sense and drag conversation away from the usual "remember when this happened in Millstreet/Dublin?", "I think it's exactly what Europe wants but we're not going to do well because of the Eastern Bloc" and whatever idiocy Cheryl Baker had to say.
It really is horrible to watch programmes where you just know the majority of the audience are over 55 but the content is really only of interest to much younger people. I mean for god's sake, you could see very elderly women sitting in the audience behind Jedward's mentor seconds before they came on to jump excessively round the stage!
And speaking of the mentors, it's unbelievable to think that they had this great concept of having five mentors essentially battling it out against each other X Factor style... and they didn't use it at all! The documentary they showed last Saturday essentially made out that they were all pulling out their big guns and doing what they could to win and what we actually saw last night was extraordinarily underwhelming in that regard (I mean in terms of the mentors rather than the acts). They could have at least used the mentors as judges rather than having Cheryl Baker saying that she could imagine hearing that ghastly Talking With Jennifer song on the radio. Give me a break.
Hmm... The RTE show really doesn't fare well in comparison to Melodifestivalen does it? (Or the Dansk/Norks Melodi Grand Prix. Heck even Malta and Iceland do it better...)
All that said - the UK can't exactly claim any superiority - apart from the Lloyd Webber vehicle our attempts have also been pretty dire.
NG
noggin
Founding member
Yep - was surprised how good Malta was this year. It's usually charming - but for all the wrong reasons.
Iceland always give it a good go - but there is a sense of recycling. (And it's always the sound that lets smaller countries down - as if they concentrate too much on the visuals and forget it's about what you hear as much as what you see.)
Looking forward to Denmark - as long as they ditch the hideous drop-field film-effect they used for the performances last year... Loved Felix and Julie last year.
One notable thing is how so many other countries use Eurovision heritage in their shows (Christer Sjögren singing Dschingis Khan tonight, last year's Norway v Sweden Schlager-off in the MF final, it's as though they expect their audience to remember Eurovision as more than a comedy show...)
Melodifestivalen is just streets ahead of everything else though. They just 'get' it. The amount of production is jaw-dropping. Spoof Aqua videos, Peter Stomare appearing in a weekly interval sequence, beautifully produced intro 'film sequences' (which are quite funny), little bits of production with the presenters, and amazingly covered performances - the show just oozes confidence.
Anyone working in music performance TV in Europe (in fact globally) should definitely be watching MF. It innovates on so many levels - and just as importantly it sounds great. (In HD and with 5.1 sound it's just the best telly of the week)
Iceland always give it a good go - but there is a sense of recycling. (And it's always the sound that lets smaller countries down - as if they concentrate too much on the visuals and forget it's about what you hear as much as what you see.)
Looking forward to Denmark - as long as they ditch the hideous drop-field film-effect they used for the performances last year... Loved Felix and Julie last year.
One notable thing is how so many other countries use Eurovision heritage in their shows (Christer Sjögren singing Dschingis Khan tonight, last year's Norway v Sweden Schlager-off in the MF final, it's as though they expect their audience to remember Eurovision as more than a comedy show...)
Melodifestivalen is just streets ahead of everything else though. They just 'get' it. The amount of production is jaw-dropping. Spoof Aqua videos, Peter Stomare appearing in a weekly interval sequence, beautifully produced intro 'film sequences' (which are quite funny), little bits of production with the presenters, and amazingly covered performances - the show just oozes confidence.
Anyone working in music performance TV in Europe (in fact globally) should definitely be watching MF. It innovates on so many levels - and just as importantly it sounds great. (In HD and with 5.1 sound it's just the best telly of the week)
IS
Really? I've always thought that Malta punched well above their weight at Eurovision. I've not heard this years, but they have had some good entries in the past and have certainly done better than the likes of the UK and France
Yep - was surprised how good Malta was this year. It's usually charming - but for all the wrong reasons.
Really? I've always thought that Malta punched well above their weight at Eurovision. I've not heard this years, but they have had some good entries in the past and have certainly done better than the likes of the UK and France
DE
Blimey that Late Late Show Eurosong special was rather dull. Still at least RTÉ bothered to make a show this year. Wonder if Graham Norton's show mightn't have been a decent place to put the selection procedure? Too late at night perhaps? Is Friday night the best slot? Maybe not. He'd certainly have the right attitude for it, at least in UK terms! Maybe that's definietly NOT what's needed... Makes you wonder what an Irish Eurovision would be like if they won again ...
GO
By the way, Blue will be performing I Can on the Graham Norton show on the 11th March. It's not clear if that will be the first time it's being heard at all but it will be the first time it's performed on UK TV. It'd be a shame if they didn't perform it on the promotional tour they're doing. They were in Malta last night and sang an old song and they will be in Spain next week as well as Italy, Greece and Cyprus (amongst others) in the future.