Italy - Yesterday at the press conference concerning the San Remo Festival and the Italian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a sentence was uttered by Marco Simeon, the Head of international affairs at RAI, that has caused some discussions about how Italy will broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. ”Eurovision had been losing its interest over the years and therefore we did not follow it anymore. Now it has also become a competition between the TV stations and therefore the RAI is back. With one condition: to be able to adapt it to our needs and fit into our formula. We take the signal from Düsseldorf and adopt it to our own program from Casinó di Sanremo.”
Now what does “adapt to our needs” and “fit into our formula” mean? Some people suggest that Italy might just show the entries and parts of the voting. During the opening, the postcards between the entries and the interval act (and maybe even parts of the voting) RAI would cut back to a studio in Italy with several panelists discussing the show. In Italy talk shows are quite popular and RAI might see this as a way to get Italians interested into a contest they have nearly forgotten about. I think it is ok for the first year after their 14-year break, but then they should broadcast the entire show. The Italian public would not get the entire atmosphere of the contest. Imagine you watched the 2010 contest without the flashmob, the maps forming over the heads of the audience or the interview with Lena at the end. Would it still have been as great a contest as it was?
I would also criticize that the EBU seems to bend over when Italy has certain demands just to get them back. They already got the Big5 status for nothing…
Well we’ll see in May how serious Italy will take its participation and how the contest will be perceived in the country.
Source= ilkar.blogspot
oh god yes no flashmob! (lol i seriously hated it)
WHat???? What is wrong with you???
i agree it’s sad and weird from RAI, but the flashmob is purely silly, boring, irrelevant, crappy, annoying, cheap… oh my i could go on
T’es dingue! It was OOOO-Mazing ^^. Sometimes I don’t get you… likes soccer but no flashmob tztztz ^^
i wonder what togravus thought
lamest interval act ever or almost, i liked the ones in semi so much better
I never really watch the interval acts because my sis and me are too busy collecting and counting the votes at our parents’ party every year. I watched it later and thought … well, this is going on for quite some time, isn’t it?
*Faints*
I see that the contest would need explaining since it was RAI’s fault that almost all Italians forgot about it or never lived through it. Maybe I could live with it for one year. If they flop I hope they don’t pull out again. I fear Austria might do that if they flop too. No in and out cycles, please!
Austria does not really have an excuse anymore. If Germany can win it, they can too and if they can’t its their (songs) fault..
their songs are great, second best NF this year really!
I like 5, but one is already out: Australian Gate . I don’T get why the juries kicked that one out…
coz it sucked?
It doesn’t! Every time it starts playing I think “oh waht is this..” and then it’s Australian gate
that forgettable huh?
You two are hilarious. <3
This could mean the Italian’s get a ‘watered down’ ESC, not the full experience. So i’d feel sorry for the Italian audience more than anything for what they could miss out on. But maybe it’s just for this year only. Maybe RAI are trying to re-introduce ESC to the public in a way that they would understand. After all, there have been so many changes since 1997.
i can’t understand that. why would they introduce the contest to the audience in such a bad way? other countries did not do sth like that the first time they showed Eurovision. they could promote the show but not cutting parts of it during the live broadcasting. Besides, it would be a good idea to show the 2010 contest so that the audience will remember what Eurovision is.
It’s just a suggestion. It would seem logical to promote the contest beforehand and then send some commentators and do it the proper way like everyone else does. Why RAI has to do it this way i don’t know. It seems a bit ridiculous.
omg, i’m afraid RAI will screw it up. why don’t they broadcast Eurovision 2010? Eurovision needs promotion but by cutting some parts of the contest is just silly and it won’t work. it’s ok to cut the interval act (many broadcasters show commercials during that part) but the postcards and part of the voting?? no!
Interval acts are just that. They are not main course. RTP did not air the 2010 interval act either, but they showed every country’s votes. As for the big status, it’s just a question of money.
This is really a shame imo. Italy gets big 5 status and then decides not to broadcast the show in its entirety? If they do not understand that ESC is more than just songs (and Italy winning of course …), I’d rather have them stay at home!
Shevek
Do you know the reason why RTP didn’t show the interval act? And what did they show instead?
They showed endless commercials and I left the room at some point to organize the drinks (hence the threat not to serve anymore wine if a single vote for Belarus 10 saw the light of day
).
Oh, yes … I forgot. RTP is allowed to show commercials at night too. Fortunately, public broadcasters in Germany (ARD and ZDF) are not allowed to show commercials after 8 p. m.
You were lucky that those 12 points for Belraus came at the end of the voting. I hope that everyone was already drunk at that point.
Well. Kinda… LOL
Stop messing about Italy,either your in Eurovision song contest or not.You should have picked one of your top current singers with a good fan base and promoted them well.Instead you are going down the old San Remo road again and that festival is’nt as popular as it used to be (see my reply to the other Italy report with regards to S. Remo).Well at least your in the contest and showing it but not in the right way.After 14 years of not letting your general public view a great show they have not seen how it has changed since 1997.Are you now regretting saying you will enter.
WHO EXACTLY ARE THEY ??? that’s the burning question –
why do all of europe and the EBU need to bend over so one stinking country could do what ever they want to with the contest – getting big status, not brodcasting it whole etc… i mean – it’s just a one country – and one that i am sure won’t be missed in the contest.
It’s money will though!
GENERAL REPORT
The last week or so has been so disapointing.News that Italy are going to mess up with broadcasting,poor songs chosen.Elizabeth Andreassen not going through in Sweden.Jedwood for Ireland(god help us),we had to suffer them in U.K. two years ago on X factor.Lets hope the coming weeks will get better.My only pleasure was hearing that if U.K. were to win it could be in the capital of my country(Cardiff) next year and I only live 20/30 minutes drive from the city.
Elisabeth Andreassen, Mary Spiteri … you seem to be a real diva guy.
TOGRAVUS,
Yes.
Annifrid’s my all time fav.Also like K.E. (GER 70/71/80),V.L.(LUX 67/72) but it’s Frida for me always.
Well, ESC fans come in all shapes and colours, and a good thing it is. I am more the rock (Mor ve ötesi, manGa etc.), electronic (Sébastien Tellier, Malcolm Lincoln etc.) and ethnic ballads (Patricia Kaas, Marija Sestic, Hari Mata Hari etc.) type. Of course we didn’t have those genres back in the 60s which are my favourite decade … but even from the old years I prefer the less mainstream stuff like Yugoslavia 63, Luxemburg & Portugal 65, Sweden & Yugoslavia 67, Belgium 68 etc.
TOGRAVUS
What did you think of Yugoslavia 1976 as it was my favourite song in that contest and my view has’nt changed since.Hated my countries song that year (uk) and could not believe it when it won our song for europe and then ESC.Well we all get it wrong some years.
Steve.
Yugoslavia is in 2nd place on my 1976 list.
My runaway winner for that year is Portugal, which is one of the best songs that ever honoured an ESC stage with its presence imo. When I watched the contest live, my favourite was Austria though (well, I was only 8 years old and thus might get everyone’s absolution for that …). UK ’76 is ok imo and has become an ESC classic. Btw, I hated my country’s song that year too (Germany) and still do. ‘Sing Sang Song’ has always been in last place on my ’76 list.
Togravus
Just one last thing for now as I have to go out. When I said how we can get it wrong well in 1978/1990 and after listening many times to all songs in those years I had Israel last in 78 and Italy last in 90.See what I mean
Steve.
I absolutely love Israel 1978.
Enjoy your night out!
i hate Uk 76 and i absolutly love Coco’s “Wake Up” can’t believe they didn’t make it… when they did in 78, it’s my fave Uk entry ever… first time Uk left the top 10 how unfair?!
i have Yugoslavia 2nd in 76 too, how odd (but Greece is my winner)
Italians want things their way like usual, they’re rather up themselves. Why return to Eurovision when you’re not even interested in the other entries or broadcasting the whole show at all? I don’t get the point. Wouldn’t surprise me if there was another demand – a fixed top 5 placing, lol. Apparantly special rules apply when it’s Italy. I don’t like it one bit.
Unlaky italians dont knows eurovision yesterday Sanremo have 12.000.000 viewers 45% audience
Honestly I could bear without flashmobs, and all kinds of mobs actually.
with disappointment I read that Italy wants it all about them again.
I take back what I used to think about their return being what Eurovision needs.
Let them disappear again next year and good riddance.
Roman Empire is so BC!
But its obviously alive and well in their heads.