Eurovision 2014 - 06/08/10 May 2014

No - don't think they crashed any of the songs. They took more of the contest than last year - including the interval act. They filled both ad breaks with BBC content (to be honest the VTs in the break were pretty weak - not as good as SVT's last year), and replaced the second recap (as the UK couldn't vote that made sense - though DR have done nice "back stage" bits for the second recap which we'll see on Thursday I guess) and a couple of VTs, one of which was quite good, the other was in the same mould as the two commercial breaks.

Not sure if anyone else noticed but the BBC Three in-vision bits and VTs were HD this year.

It's more what they talked over rather than what they cut - talking over the hosts was just rude and made pretty poor television, while if they didn't think the interval act would hold viewers attention I think it's surely better to not screen it than to talk over most of it, especially when reading tweets rather than putting the performance into context.

Having two hosts fighting for the mic didn't help either - Scott would have been fine on his own really.

Caught up with BBC as it wasn't on RTE Player when I got in. It wasn't that bad and certainly a huge improvement on the car crashes of earlier years.

Agreed Scott should do it on his own.

Which is why I'd just let the EBU feed run. However, the preemptions were better handled than in previous years and it makes sense to drop the second recap, green room banter and commercial fillers rather than the Interval act.

I watched the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 First Semi-Final last night. Here are the results:

My desired qualifiers: Sweden , Iceland , Russia , Belgium, San Marino , Portugal, The Netherlands , Montenegro , Hungary , plus one only out of Albania , Ukraine , Moldova.

Actual qualifiers (in order of announcement): Montenegro , Hungary , Russia , Armenia, Azerbaijan, San Marino , Ukraine , Sweden , The Netherlands , Iceland .

Bold entries represent the actual qualifiers that match my preferences.

OUT: Latvia, Estonia, Albania, Belgium, Moldova, Portugal.

My points of view about which countries qualified are on my blog:
Nemesis Nick's Blog: Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Semi-Final 1 - Results

If you want to see my comments about the songs which I wrote whilst they were being performed, and which I posted on my blog shortly after the last song finished, please click here (it's the same page but higher up):
Nemesis Nick's Blog: Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Semi-Final 1

Yep - showing a recap of the songs you can't vote for a second time is a bit painful. (How many countries in Eurovision take the SemiFinal that they don't have to?)

DR did a good job on the second recap though - they had backstage reaction from the artists as well as the performance for the second one.

The issue with the BBC Three opt-outs (pre-empt is such an American phrase) is that some years the commercial breaks are filled with dreadful stuff that really doesn't work for a BBC Three audience.

However the last two years, the host country has been Northern European and shared a very similar sense of humour with us Brits, so it's been potentially less of an issue. But you don't know that is going to be the case in advance.

Have to say, good job to all for making the contest less political. Many wanted Russia out, but the performance must have impressed the juries.

BBC Three's Eurovision coverage makes me glad they're scrapping the channel.

Don't talk over the host nation's presenters. Ever. They do it every year and it's banal, infuriating and rude. "The UK can't vote". We know. That's why there's no phone number on screen. We couldn't vote even if we tried. So shut up and let people enjoy the contest. If you MUST read out tweets, do it just during the postcard VTs.

Don't opt out of one of the most expensive, polished television programmes in existence if all you've got to show is trashy, cheap filler cobbled together on a shoestring. Maybe the interval act "isn't to British taste". Well tough, it's meant to showcase what the host nation thinks is appropriate.

The fact BBC Three thinks audiences want to see its "yoof filler" and "quirky" (xenophobic, disrespectful) presenters rather than the polished show as delivered is only proof of how out of touch it is. Good riddance.

Does that mean you didn't enjoy the speed dating section?



I have to disagree about not ever talking over the presenters - they should, where what they are saying is directly contradicted by what applies to us. However, totally agree when whats-her-face started yapping over them introducing themselves so that she could tell us it was the first time there was ever three presenters. I think Norton normally gets the balance right, and Mills is certainly improving.

It has to be said, with half of the countries not able to vote in the Semi's, why the presenters themselves don't mention anything about it.

What makes me laugh is the fact that if Eurovision was held in the UK, Scott Mills and whatever female sidekick they decide to hire wouldn't dare speak over British hosts.

Well to be fair, it was the least-worst VT they've produced in recent years (and I much prefer Laura Whitmore over Sara Cox). Could just have easily have gone on the website though.



They could always do that after the presenters have finished speaking, if the strap saying "UK VIEWERS CANNOT VOTE" is judged too complicated to understand.



Which also isn't true. Germany had three presenters.

So they would let them tell everybody about the text / app voting?