Eurovision Is, Was And Will Be

Michael Hedges May 26, 2008

A nice tune performed by a Russian singer, written and produced by Americans, swept the Eurovision Song Contest voting. Commentators from countries that got few votes pulled no punches, calling the most watched single pan-European live television event doomed. The Contest’s eastward trajectory cannot be denied, nor can the phenomenon of the people’s vote.

When the 53th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) finally bid farewell from Belgrade at 0015 CET Saturday night (May 24) Russia’s entry – “Believe” performed by Dima Bilan, written by American Jim Beanz and produced by American rapper Timbaland – had racked up 272 voting points and a substantial gap from number 2 Ukraine and beyond. Viewers, assumedly, picked up their telephones and punched in the number and the code, not voting for their own country’s entry, and voted however they wanted. Sometimes they voted for the entry from a country nearby, sometimes their home country, sometimes a country they feel good about, sometimes they vote for a tune they remember and sometimes for one they like. Public broadcasters in each country tally the tele-votes, assign a rank order and a score. No country’s scores outweigh any other. There it is.

It wasn’t always like this. Once, each country’s public broadcaster picked a jury of music experts to determine the best song. The scoring was predictable: the highest ranking going to schlager music a generation (and more) removed from pop music trends. The show’s production level kept improving but audience levels were stalled.

Everything changed when Eurovision and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) replaced learned juries of public broadcasting music experts with a popular vote by telephone. Two things happened. Most importantly, the estimated audience jumped dramatically. People really do like to interact with a television event like the Eurovision Song Contest.

Too, in fits and starts, contest entries began pushing the norms. Who can forget Russia’s Tatu? That, arguably, peaked two years ago when Finland’s hard rock band Lordi won the ESC and the broadcasts’ ratings – best anybody will tell – were the highest ever. Lordi’s flash and glam hit “Hard Rock Hallelujah” had been well hyped from the outset but winning the ESC stunned many observers. Finland came back this year with another hard rock act but it failed to move the voters.

By convention, last years’ ESC (2007) was hosted by Finland where the awesomely talented public broadcaster YLE staged a brilliant and gold standard live television event. Serbia’s winning entry by singer title shook the ESC’s major funders – public broadcasters in France, Spain, the UK and Germany. With so many entries from ‘new’ Europe (and beyond) and home viewers voting however they like to vote a certain fear mounted that ‘old’ Europe, which provided most of the financial support, might never again produce a winning song even if the song was ‘good’.

Under that pressure, Eurovision changed the voting game for this years’ ESC. Two semi-finals were held in an attempt to ‘make the event more competitive.’ Read: dislodge the bloc voting.

This is more than vaguely reminiscent of the rules changes that nearly killed another big television event, also happening this weekend: the Indianapolis 500 Mile automobile race in the United States. Once, this US Memorial Day holiday event was a major television spectacle. (It was billed for years as ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’) Racing teams and sponsors pushed the event organizer for rule changes to ‘make the event more competitive.’ It became so boring (200 laps around a big oval track and nothing happening) the television audience nearly disappeared. Once, the Indy 500 was a radio-only event and attracted a worldwide audience several times the size of its more recent televised offerings. This year race organizers, team owners and sponsors pin their hopes on 26 year old Danica Patrick, the first woman to drive in this class competitively.

The Eurovision Song Contest (really) doesn’t have a content or contestant problem. Granted, this years finalists were diva-heavy (Poland, Armenia, Portugal, Sweden, Georgia, Ukraine, Greece, Serbia and Norway) and ballad-heavy. But it was not impossible to detect cultural effects in (almost) each entry. Isn’t that essential for public service programming? And, too, there was the spice of showmanship and – thank you, Spain – humor.

There isn’t (really) a production problem. YLE’s 2007 ESC production was both inspired and flawless, the benefit of a reasonably well-funded and highly experienced public broadcaster. Radio Television Serbia (RTS), one of the smallest and least well-funded, produced an adequate show, with moments of brilliance and few outright crashes. The 30 second pre-recorded introduction to each entry were truly inspired. But the camera work and direction was dull and repetitive and could not be saved by pyrotechnics. The dropped shot during the French performance was inexcusable.

The 2009 ESC, presumably in Moscow, will be – in Russian fashion – big. "It's so great that the prize is coming to Russia," said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Prime Minister (and former President) Vladmir Putin said he already formed the committee for Eurovision 2009 in Russia. It’s just a couple of phone calls. Money – or talent, frankly - will be no problem. German sources suggest Russia’s investment in this years’ winning performance was €10 million.

Eurovision and the EBU will face, again, unhappy West European broadcasters, more distressed at the idea of being excluded from the winners’ circle. BBC commentator Sir Terry Wogan went so far as to say future prospects for Western European entries are “poor.” Other UK wags piled on. It’s difficult to keep your perspective when you’re on a losing streak.

The 2009 ESC in Russia will, most likely, come off without a hitch. Entries will be chosen, same as this year, the production will be big and the voters will vote. Sir Terry, in a not-very-BBC moment, explained this years’ voting as “they know where their oil is coming from.”  Big decisions by the major broadcasters will likely be delayed for at least a year, after ESC 2009.            

Hopefully, Executive Producer Svante Stockselius, the Swede on whose shoulders the ESC rests, will persuade all the EBU Members to ride out this storm for the sake of the show and its audience.

My favorites: Turkey (girl friend is from Istanbul), Israel (lots of friends there), France (I can walk there from here)