Eurovision 2021 - Netherlands - NPO/AVROTROS/NOS

I'm really hoping that it will die down soon...

No chance of that, we're only at the beginning stages. The question, as the government have rightly pointed out, is how long the general public will put up with closures, cancellations and postponements, when the vast majority of the infected show no, or only minor symptoms.

The original point of the song contest was to show off a TV network, so maybe they should go back to that ehos...

Host in The Netherlands, acts perform live from their home countries, no audience?

Will never happen but it would be great for us TV geeks to watch

Thinking about this earlier - and there is technically no need to cancel Eurovision this year - just swallow hard, take a deep breath and downsize it for 2020.

I know this is a tough sell for some around here, but.

Put your presenters in a studio in Hilversum, a couple of hundred medically signed off audience members, and off you go.

No live performances just play out the winning songs from each of the participating nations in video form from either the official video - or the performance that won the national heat.
Jurys vote on Friday. Televote as usual on the 'live' final on Saturday evening.

Have the singer/band entry with the national jury marks announcer in their local studio (sorry, NDR your outdoor screening in Hamburg will probably be cancelled this year anyways) and there we go.

Yes, NOS's Eurovision would be turned into a Saturday peaktime pan European MTV circa 1992 pop video programme, but at least it gets the programme out and keeps the show on the road in difficult circumstances.

Well then we better hope this has blown over by the middle of May!

And to come back to what someone said about how long will the public will put up with a shutdown-Not very long which is why it needs to die down quicker than June! Way quicker!

As the whole CV19 issue has been escalating over the past week, I was thinking that worst case scenario is they could run the show in the arena without the audience, however thinking about it now that still puts talent, the delegations, the crew and anyone associated at risk. I would say best thing now is to run each song performance locally from each country. Can they really postpone? Surely finding a slot that works for everyone later in the year must be nearly impossible now?

Gutted for The Netherlands as this was shaping up to be a great show. I was going to Rotterdam without a ticket so can cancel the hotel but will lose major money on Eurostar tickets

So do 2020 from each region and let The Netherlands host the 2021 show and then each winning country after that then has two years to organise the show

Of course, in the great scheme of things, this is all first world problems and is unprecidented. I work in the travel industry and my colleagues and I have gone from secure jobs to a very unsecure future literally overnight

They are predicting the peak to be in May (hence cancelling local elections here) so that would suggest June/July at the earliest for it to be going away.

Absolutely. As I said elsewhere optimistic estimates are that we are still 6 weeks out from reaching the peak in the UK, and that is the beginning of May. Cancelling events into the Summer is now a necessary and proportionate response.

Postpone until September. It has always been the case that countries drop out due to unforeseen circumstances. If enough countries drop out then they could do one semi final and a final, thereby reducing the length of the contest this year.

With the ban on mass gatherings in place across the continent then the pre-parties are definitely off the agenda now.

Well if this does get cancelled and imagine that they choose to re-schedule it will have to be before the middle of September as we're into Strictly territory after that!

We’ll cope, the world will cope.

Many hundreds of thousands of people may die in the coming months. Perspective.

Seems like your idea is indeed the back up plan. The director of RTVSLO (slovenia) says today :



This would be a terrible disappointment for the (Dutch) Eurovision fans. No side events and no audience at the shows. So, I really hope they postpone it for a year.

Suppose if covering your face is still advisable in mid May, we could merge Eurovision and The Masked Singer.

Love to see Ken on the judging panel

"The VT had clogs, windmills, and tulips in it, and you said there are more canals than roads in the capital.

I know EXACTLY which country you are singing for. Welcome to the Eurovision Masked Singer... Slovenia."