RTÉ Fail in Europe, AGAIN!
Well congratulations to Germany and that really annoying girl Lena. In a landmark result for the ESC, Germany came from nowhere to win in Oslo with a song reminiscent of Lily Allen and Dita Von Teese. The slight annoying girl took the competition by storm with an awful song and a terrible performance, ensuring that Europe’s most wealthy country will get to host the juggernaut that is the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011.
While the UK came dead last with yet another terrible Pete Waterman classic, Ireland failed to move beyond second place for most of the night’s nauseating results show. After a few late charitable donations from some unlikely candidates, Ireland left the competition with a measly 25 points in 3rd last position. Lena may have one of the most successful songs in the former Reichstadt but Ireland’s entry, while gaining the first standing ovation of the night, failed to woo the interest of the European super-states.
Here’s where RTÉ played their part – they’re responsible for our entrant. Ireland stood firmly behind Niamh Kavanagh, a former winner, but our enthusiasm for a revisit of the ESC to a recession-thronged Ireland wasn’t enough to captivate the optimism of Eastern Europe – the bulk of votes in the ESC. As posted on Thursday, RTÉ fielded an awful set of candidates on the Late Late leaving only one which would ever be voted on. Yes I believe a conspiracy was a-foot here, and at the time, I too drank the Kool Aid.
But the words of Johnny Logan that night are burning my ears tonight, as I realised he knew that Niamh’s song, a ballad about nothing at all that sounded suspiciously like a Céline Dion number, wouldn’t win. Johnny of course should’ve been consulted, as he is quite popular in countries like Germany and the former Eastern Block countries. But RTÉ’s refusal to talk to the 3-time winner – publicly acknowledged by Logan himself on the Late Late and in the media in general – goes to the core of the problem here. RTÉ seem not to want to win the Eurovision. Pushing out the boat last year with a slightly edgy performance of ‘Et-cetera’ which failed to qualify led the team at the national broadcaster to wheel out the old tried-and-trusted ballad. ‘It’s for You’ was in good company this evening, but I’m sure that aside from the Belarussian Butterflies and the Waterman wash-out, Ireland failed to get out of the bottom three.
It’s now time for a quick tribunal of enquiry into the method of choosing a Eurovision entry in Ireland. Terms of reference should include, ‘Who decided on the songs which went on the Late Late?’, ‘Did RTÉ sufficiently advertise the song competition to all people who wanted to enter?’, ‘Why did RTÉ not consult properly with Johnny Logan on the type of song needed to garner points?’, ‘Who decided that Niamh should wear a purple dress and be supported by two male backing singers who couldn’t sing?’.
The way I see it, as long as RTÉ is allowed to run this sham of a Eurosong competition her, Ireland won’t win ever again. Had an act such as Lena been presented to the Motely Montrose Crew, it’d have been hushed up in my opinion. Lordi won for Finland with ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ but I doubt a similar entrant would have been supported by the authorities here – same with the semi-bondage outfit of the Turkish entry this year.
Are we really to believe that there are no good-looking, stunning, sexy, attractive women in Ireland who can sing?? No offence to Niamh this evening, but she was competing with beauties from Ukraine, Romania, Armenia and others who failed to qualify. Germany too, while incredibly annoying, had a very attractive entrant. If Ireland isn’t ready to play the sex-game that is the beauty contest in Europe, we should no longer force entrants to degrade themselves in Europe. I actually feel sorry for Niamh because I don’t believe RTÉ thought she’d win. Someone of her stature should not have been, in my opinion, stitched up like this.
But despite this, had Ireland won, I don’t believe RTÉ could’ve topped the Norwegian production. We may have the location in the Aviva Stadium, the O2 or even in Croke Park, but we don’t even have a decent HD production here. Switching between BBC HD and RTÉ this evening demonstrated that. Graham Norton did the BBC proud with his commentary performace, while Marty Whelan provided the odd giggle of shame for Irish viewers. The quality of the visual production, cinematography, visual effects and design creativity would’ve been stifled by such examples of bad television production as the Late Late, St. Patrick’s Day Parade coverage and other hideous broadcasts such as Fair City, the Craig Doyle show and, though much improved, the News.
I’m annoyed.
diarmy
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