Show Watch: Eurovision 2007

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.


SBS is about to get into the swing of Eurovision soon. We are off to Helsinki for the very first time! You can once again expect to hear the dulcet tones of Mr Terry Wogan (yay) for the Semi Final and Final.

And to kick your parties off, there is the added special, Finland Zero Points.

Here is all the essential info!

Thanks to Wikipedia:
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 will be the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland on May 10 (for the semi-final) and May 12 (for the final). The hosting broadcaster of the contest is YLE. Finland earned the right to host the event thanks to the rock band Lordi winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 as Finland's representatives. The victory in Athens, Greece on the May 20, 2006 was Finland's first in their history of competing in the Eurovision Song Contest. It also meant that the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 will be the first Eurovision Song Contest to be arranged in Finland. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki are popular Finnish television personality Jaana Pelkonen and the Finnish musician, stage performer, and actor, Mikko Leppilampi.

A record of 42 countries will partipicate.

Semi Final
The semi-final includes those countries whose ranking on the scoreboard the previous year was not high enough to ensure direct qualification for the final. As of 2006, it is necessary for a country to attain a place within the top ten of the final scoreboard to be assured of direct qualification for next year's grand final. The ten most highly-placed countries in the final are guaranteed a place in next year's final, without the need to participate in next year's semi. These ten positions exclude Big-Four countries; so that if, for example, Germany comes in the top ten, the 11th-placed non-Big-Four country will automatically qualify for next year's final

The Big Four
From 2000 onwards, four particular countries would always qualify for the Eurovision final, regardless of their positions on the scoreboard in previous Contests. They earned this special status by being the four biggest financial contributors to the EBU (without which the production of the Eurovision Song Contest would not be possible). These countries are France, Germany,Spain and the United Kingdom. Due to their "untouchable" status in the Contest, these countries became known as the "Big Four".

1 Bulgaria Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov
Water
2 Israel
Teapacks
Push The Button
3 Cyprus Evridiki
Comme Ci, Comme Ça
4 Belarus Koldun
Work Your Magic
5 Iceland Eiríkur Hauksson
Valentine Lost
6 Georgia Sopho
Visionary Dream
7 Montenegro Stevan Faddy
Ajde Kroči
8 Switzerland Dj Bobo
Vampires Are Alive
9 Moldova Natalia Barbu
Fight
10 The Netherlands Edsilia Rombley
On Top Of The World
11 Albania Frederik Ndoci
Hear My Plea
12 Denmark Dq
Drama Queen
13 Croatia Dragonfly Feat. Dado Topić
Vjerujem U Ljubav
14 Poland The Jet Set
Time To Party
15 Serbia Marija Šerifović
Molitva
16 Czech Republic Kabát Malá Dáma
17 Portugal Sabrina
Dança Comigo
18 FYR Macedonia Karolina
Mojot Svet
19 Norway Guri Schanke
Ven A Bailar Conmigo
20 Malta Olivia Lewis
Vertigo
21 Andorra Anonymous
Salvem El Món
22 Hungary Magdi Rúzsa
Unsubstantial Blues
23 Estonia Gerli Padar
Partners In Crime
24 Belgium The Kmg's
Lovepower
25 Slovenia Alenka Gotar
Cvet Z Juga
26 Turkey Kenan Doğulu
Shake It Up Shekerim
27 Austria Eric Papilaya
Get A Life - Get Alive
28 Latvia Bonaparti.Lv
Questa Notte

BOLD indicates through to FINAL.

Final
The participating countries of the final will be:
* the 4 automatic qualifiers;
* the top 10 placed countries from the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 final
* the top 10 placed countries from the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 semi-final;

1 Bosnia & Herzegovina Maria Šestić
Rijeka Bez Imena
2 Spain D'nash
I Love You Mi Vida
3 Semi-Final Qualifier
4 Ireland Dervish
They Can't Stop The Spring
5 Finland Hanna Pakarinen
Leave Me Alone
6 Semi-Final Qualifier
7 Semi-Final Qualifier
8 Semi-Final Qualifier
9 Lithuania 4fun Love Or Leave
10 Greece Sarbel
Yassou Maria
11 Semi-Final Qualifier
12 Sweden The Ark
The Worrying Kind
13 France Les Fatals Picards
L'amour À La Française
14 Semi-Final Qualifier
15 Russia Serebro
Song #1
16 Germany Roger Cicero
Frauen Regier'n Die Welt
17 Semi-Final Qualifier
18 Ukraine Verka Serduchka
Dancing Lasha Tumbai
19 United Kingdom Scooch
Flying The Flag (For You)
20 Romania Todomondo
Liubi, Liubi, I Love You
21 Semi-Final Qualifier
22 Semi-Final Qualifier
23 Armenia Hayko
Anytime You Need
24 Semi-Final Qualifier

SBS Schedule:
Eurovision Grand Final 7:30pm Sun May 13 (delayed)

SBS will receive the United Kingdom's broadcast, including commentary from Paddy O'Connell and Terry Wogan.

Winner: Serbia.
Marija Šerifović took out the show with her power ballad 'Moltiva.' Serbia scored 268 points, defeating Ukraine (235), Russia (207) and Turkey (163). It is Serbia's first win.

Official Eurovision site. (Hear the songs!)
Wikipedia: Eurovision and Eurovision 2007
Alistair Birch's EV blog with an Aussie voting scoresheet. Live from Helsinki!

Final scoring.

See Marija Šerifović's winning act here.
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First Review: The Sideshow

Whoever came up with the idea of bringing back The Big Gig as The Sideshow was inspired.

Since the demise of Hey Hey its Saturday there's been a gaping, big hole in Saturday night variety / comedy.

This is just what the doctor ordered.

Drawing heavily (even blatantly) on the 1980s comedy format that starred Wendy Harmer, Glynn Nicholas and the Doug Anthony All Stars, this is its unapologetic love child.

Dwarfed in the carnival rostrum, McDermott is assured in a ringmaster role. His humour is cynical and smart, challenging the audience to keep up, although the canned laughter sweetening was a little heavy-handed. McDermott was clearly on the offense, make that the offensive, with his opening routine (please, no more Diana gags).

From there a lazy susan of comedy and variety acts, some familiar and some fresh, were the perfect mix. Tripod are always fun with their deft harmonies and under-achiever comedy. They slip neatly into the vacant DAAS slot. The Umbilical Brothers similarly assume a video role left by the long-forgotten Empty Pockets. Claire Hooper could have easily been the offspring of Jean Kittson.

The show similarly places it audience in between the ricochet humour of its acts, just as The Big Gig had done, and dresses the ugly camera equipment with festoon lights.

The new finds were a joy. Eddie Perfect's biting cabaret will be a treat. The Kransky Sisters have emerged from behind SBS' In Siberia Tonight to delight and baffle us with their deadpan delivery. Who else would sing with a guitar, a tuba and a singing saw?

And the Fondue Set are like a stunning surprise act that might have been thrown up by Red Faces.

Which brings me back to where I started.

I hope The Sideshow eats up the opportunities that are available to it in this lacking timeslot. It's surprising nobody bothered to fill it before (Hint: Channel Nine, have you bothered to find Bert his own Parky timeslot yet?).
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BB Housemates revealed?

Leading spoiler website Behind Big Brother Australia claims to have unveiled 18 housemates who are set to enter the Big Brother house tonight.

The site has photographs and names of potential housemates it says were uploaded in a glitch on the WAP site.

Looking at the photos, this lot don't appear to be any older than previous years, with nary a wrinkle or grey hair in site. Instead there are muscles, boobs, headbands and cheesy grins.

According to the site 10 housemates will enter this evening with the remainder entering on Sunday, in an effort to thwart leaks.

Maybe an element of the Sunday show will be live after all?

It also seems the cashless prize may just be starting at $0 with housemates being made to earn their kitty. Again, the phrase "launching the series without a cash prize" may prove to be mere semantics.

BB Watch
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Survivor: China

The 15th season of Survivor will take place on mainland China.

Currently the US is watching season 14 set in Fiji, but ratings have not been glorious.

The Chinese shoot will be the first time the reality show has shunned an island setting since season 11 in Guatemala.

It is believed to be a coup for an American network to shoot an entire series in China.

The Survivor shoot is part of China's on-going open policy to break-down cultural barriers, including its acquisition of the 2008 Olympic Games. In the US, the games will air on NBC while Survivor screens on CBS.

No word yet on when Nine will screen Survivor: Fiji after the late-night, low key screening of Survivor: Cook Islands. Read more...

Thank God: and now the critics.

As we all know Thank God You're Here recently launched in the US. It's had "respectable but not spectacular" ratings over the two weeks it has been on air (two hour premiere, plus 2 single eps) of around 8.2m. It dropped to 6.9m the second week.

And now we've had time to see what the critics have to say.

In a country where Whose Line Is It Anyway ran from 1998 - 2004, it's fair to say the reviews have been mixed.

The reviews have ranged from "cheerfully cheesy", "has potential" and "gently entertaining" to "could be vastly improved", "needs to loosen up" to "an embarrassing portion of an acting class" and "hit-miss in the way improv almost invariably is."

One reviewer went as far as to criticise TGYH for blocking a fundamental rule of improvisation.

And in a sense they are right.

Anyone who has tired impro (including me) knows the basic rule is to never block. No matter what crazy situation / statement / prop you are handed, you accept it and you add to it. This is known as the "Yes, And" rule. If somebody says, "wow I had no idea you'd won the Nobel Peace Prize" you'd effectively respond with something like "yes, and if only I could get you to clean up your room, son?" In effect it is taking the information and adding to it.

But in TGYH the supporting players have pre-prepared, even scripted, scenarios within which to move. They have a secure though-line path to follow, leaving the celebrity guest as the only rudderless participant.

In a true impro, the scene could lead anywhere based on what the actors collectively contribute.

In TGYH the celebrity cannot take control, and only serves to provide punchlines to the feeds that are supplied.

This isn't to suggest that TGYH isn't "cheerfully cheesy." It's fun to watch celebrities without a safety net.

But in truth it would be more fun to watch the whole team deal with the same odds. Kick off the scene, then all bets are off.

In Australia where we have limited comedy choices on the box, TGYH is a breath of fresh air. But in the US it may need a bigger point of difference.

Putting improv on TV? hardly.
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Sex hunk for Brothers and Sisters

Remember this guy in Sex and the City?

He had a scruffy hairstyle back then, but he and Kim Cattrall sure made sweet music together when he was the sexy underwear model, "Smith."

Now Jason Lewis will have a recurring role in Brothers and Sisters as a blurry straight / gay / metrosexual tease to Kevin.

When Kevin meets "Chad" at the local gym he isn't to sure what to make of Chad's flirting. But they guy is so drop dead gorgeous he can't stop himself from saying no.

Lewis' first episode is Monday April 30 on Seven. Read more...

Naomi in the afternoon

More news today that the Naomi Robson project in development is closer to becoming a reality.

As has been reported earlier, Seven has been developing a pilot for an afternoon programme.

Further newspaper reports on the project today indicate it is likely to air sometime between 2 - 4pm.

The Robson programme will be topic-based, a hybrid between an Oprah and a chat show.

Naomi was the only long-term popular host of Today Tonight around the country, but can she cross-over to daytime TV? Interviews were never her strong point on TT.

If the show includes audience participation, one of the challenges for producers will be to compel generally reluctant studio audiences to stand-up and vent. As several pilots found out many years ago, there is a big difference between American and Australian sensibilities. We're a pretty shy lot, really.

And as The Catch-Up is finding, afternoon TV audiences are no walk in the park.

Source: Herald-Sun.
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WIN edges PBL out of deal

In the latest tit for tat bid for Perth's Nine affiliate, Sunraysia has now now recommended a bid from WIN Television over PBL Media.

WIN's revised bid of $163m tops PBL's $136.4m offer.

If it goes ahead, Sunraysia will have to pay PBL $1.36m as a break-fee.

PBL and the Packer camp won't be happy about the likelihood of losing Perth from its grasp, as the ratings there are dragging down national figures.

Meanwhile, WIN is also making a move on NBN Newcastle.

Watch this space. This looks some way from being over...
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