Talk:UK national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest

Article name update: revert to 'classic' name?

Now that the UK selection show has been off air for several years, I suggest 'A Song for Europe' should be the article title, because that title was used for the majority of years in which it ran (1961-95, and 2000-03). It made sense to use alternative titles when they were current, but now there is no 'current' name for the show, using the title that had the most longevity would seem logical.

'A Song for Europe (UK Eurovision selection show)' could be used for disambiguation purposes, including distinction from the Father Ted episode that borrowed the UK selection show's title (despite being an Irish production itself, they didn't use the Irish selection's name for the spoof, which reinforces how well known 'A Song For Europe' is as a selection show title). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_for_Europe_(disambiguation) PRL1973 (talk) 11:00, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

2007 Controversy

Perhaps it is worth mentioning that Wogan said "Cyndi" whilst Fearne said "Scooch" as they declared the result?

Cyndi Celebrating

Watching the recording (yup, I'm that sad), there's no visible evidence that Cyndi celebrated in Making your mind up. She was next to Ferne Cotton and would have heard both names at a similar volume. Scooch were next to Wogan and accepted defeat. 82.69.90.226 17:43, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Making Your Mind Up A More Successful Format?

"Making Your Mind Up has provided an interesting and more successful format than had been in place when the relatively poor results of the early 2000s occurred". That's surely highly debatable. 16th, 19th and two 22nds is hardly more successful than 2000-2002?

Corrections

I removed the line about MYMU being 'an interesting and more successful format' as it is PoV, not to mention incorrect (the UK continues to fare badly). I removed reference to Belle & the Devotions being booed in Luxemburg because of miming. As the O'Connor book referenced elsewhere in the article confirms the booing was connected to the behaviour of English football hooligans in the city several months before the contest 172.142.73.206 (talk) 01:33, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Someone re-instated the claim about booing and their song/performance. I took it out for the reasons outlined above - they were booed because of the behaviour of English football hooligans. Vauxhall1964 (talk) 12:23, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

There are two reasons for the booing. One was from the Luxembourg audience who were retaliating against the English soccer violence and one was a more orchestrated demonstration by the Dutch TV representatives against the song's plagiarism and 'fake' peformance by the trio. The Dutch action was widely reported in the media at the time of the contest and confirmed again in a 2010 on camera interview with Belle (aka Kit Rolfe). I've included the interview as a second source for the story. TVArchivistUK (talk) 07:07, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Winners

I was wondering if we really need this list as there's one almost identical to it in the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest article. If anyone thinks it's really needed here as well, I'll convert it to a table (something I truely think it needs anyway). If replacing it with a link to the other table will suffice, there's obviously no point. ~~ Peteb16 (talk) 00:23, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Article name

Why is this article called Eurovision - Your Decision when it is refereed to as Eurovision: Your Decision in the article itself and at [1] and [2]? I personally think a rename is appropriate. Camaron | Chris (talk) 13:55, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

It was originally named Eurovision: Your Decision, the user who moved it to this article justified the move saying that was the true name of the show. [3] Another change was then made to the redirected article so administrator intervention is now needed to fix this problem. ~~ Peteb16 (talk) 15:52, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

A search reveals that there is a bit of a divide on the internet on which name to use. ESC Today uses both names, while Eurovision.tv interestingly use Eurovision - Your Decision. However, the BBC call it Eurovision: Your Decision, and as it is a BBC TV show, I am quite sure it is better to use the BBC name as the article name. Therefore, I am going to move the article to Eurovision: Your Decision in a few days unless any objections are raised here - I am an admin so I can merge the page histories. Camaron | Chris (talk) 17:19, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

OK, per above I have completed the move. Camaron | Chris (talk) 19:17, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

The Picture

There is a jpg image on the page suggesting that it is the logo from the first A Song For Europe in 1957 - there is absolutely no way that this is true as the 1957 contest was known as the "Festival of British Popular Song" and not "A Song For Europe"—Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.108.42.66 (talk)

You are quite correct. The name "A Song For Europe" was not adopted until 1961, so there is no way the logo posted could represent the earlier years of the programme. TVArchivistUK (talk) 15:41, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Help!

I'm trying to crate a navbox with all winners and winners singles, judges and presenters but proving to be hard can somebody help me please?

Is this necessary? anemoneprojectors talk 22:41, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

Category

I think there should be a category for Eurovision judges.

I don't think Eurovision has judges. anemoneprojectors talk 00:04, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

In the UK they have panellists and judges, so i guess they'll have that in Europe to. There has been over 30 judges on the UK Eurovision, so i think there should be a category created to keep them all together. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.150.221.179 (talk) 00:36, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Well it sounds like something to be discussed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Eurovision. anemoneprojectors talk 00:54, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

I would say not. This year, Pete Waterman was absolutely a judge in the preliminary round. No arguments. And in some respects Terry Wogan (in 2008) and Andrew Lloyd-Webber (in 2009) were judges too, in so far as they were given an opportunity to 'save' performers. But apart from those examples, the judges of the UK selection have always been viewers! Whether viewers en masse who could vote via postcard or telephone, or viewers selected into regional juries. There have never been judges for the winning song other than the viewers. Even Pete Waterman and Andrew Lloyd-Webber had to sit back accept the public's decision. So no, there should not be a judges section at all. TVArchivistUK (talk) 17:00, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

There are judges, in the UK there are Guest Commentators, Panellists & Judges, Jade, Peter and Burno was the judges this year, they give their comments to the contestants, so i do beleive that is what you call judges! --SitDownOnIt (talk) 19:59, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

No, Jade & Bruno were simply commentators. They were there to give comments and reaction to the artists. They had no say and played no part in the judging of the contest. Pete Waterman was a judge in that he chose to eliminate three acts. In the same way that John Barrowman and Carrie Grant did in 2008. This is noted in the relevant section. But the decision about who goes to Eurovision has never been judged by anyone except the viewers. TVArchivistUK (talk) 15:01, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

In shows like Pop Idol, the judges don't necessarily have a say in who is eliminated. They're the judges, not the executioners :) But I don't like that people are trying to treat EYCNY as if it's The X Factor or something. anemoneprojectors talk 21:01, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

I hate to be pedantic, but on shows like X Factor and Pop Idol et al, the judges do have a big say in who is elminated. They audition all of the acts and decide which will go through to the final stages. Their role does change as the series progresses, but they certainly act as judges in the early rounds. At Eurovision, other than the judges permitted to eliminate acts (2008 & 2010), the panellists perform no judging at all. They simply pass comments on the acts. This is noted in the section on the page. TVArchivistUK (talk) 11:08, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Oh yeah, I forgot about the audition stages of X Factor :) Anyway I still don't think a category is necessary. anemoneprojectors talk 11:49, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Dates

Is it correct for a one off annual show to have a "current" date? Surely as soon as the relevant year's show has been broadcast, it's no longer "current", at least not until the next year? I see someone agrees with the thought and changed the date to end at 2010, but someone else changed it back to current. It makes more sense to me to always have an end date, rather than an open date for this type of annual show. If it was an ongoing series, then current would indeed be appropriate. Thoughts?TVArchivistUK (talk) 16:56, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

I see this is coming up again. Surely an annual show cannot have a "current" presenter? Would Erik Solbakken be describe as the "current" presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest? No. Not for a moment. He presented it in Oslo and that's the end of his tenure as the show is over. He may get to present it in 2012 (I know that would never happen, but bear with me) but he's still not the current presenter. For the same reason, Graham Norton is not the "current" presenter of the UK heat. He presented it in 2009 & 2010. He may well present it again in 2011 and who knows, maybe every year until 2099. But he's still not currently presenting the show. Or am I missing something? TVArchivistUK (talk) 12:24, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. --Half Price (talk) 13:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Page title

I think this article needs a new title. But what? Any suggestions? Ideally "The United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest" but that's already been used for something else. Anyone got any bright suggestions? TVArchivistUK (talk) 01:20, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

I don't think the name needs to change. This article is about the selection program, not the selection itself. —Half Price 20:20, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

I always felt this article overlapped with United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in a major way. Plus, the selection show has gone through several different names and formats. It hasn't been the same show every time, just renamed. Each one is different. I think either this article should be merged with United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest or each separate programme should have its own article. Eurovision: Your Country Needs You is not the same as The Great British Song Contest. Or as TVArchivistUK suggested, rename it. Selection programmes for the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest or something equally bizarre. –anemoneprojectors– 21:28, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

How about "United Kingdom Eurovision Selection Programmes"? And have all the previous names (Song for Europe, Great British Song Contest, Eurovision: You Morons Make The Choice, etc etc) link as disambiguations. TVArchivistUK (talk) 02:14, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

I think this should be moved now that Your Country Needs You seems to have been abandoned. A Song for Europe is by far the most common (and well-known) name for the show, so this should be the title.--Tuzapicabit (talk) 10:56, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

I don't think a programme's name can be used as the title of this article anymore because it's about seven different TV programmes, plus something that isn't a TV programme at all. The article is about how the United Kingdom selects its entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest, so I think one of the previous suggestions is better. –anemoneprojectors– 22:15, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Your Country Needs Blue

Tricky. Strictly speaking, this is a stand alone documentary produced in the same manner as Precious: A Band For Britain in 1999, and whatever the Daz Sampson documentary was called in 2006. For that reason, I don't think it belongs on this page, but is perhaps deserving of it's own. I certainly don't think that the documentary programme name should be regarded as the title of the UK selection for 2011. There was no UK selection in 2011. The original entry of 'Internal Selection' should be reinstated. I know there is also some debate as to whether anything for 2011 should be included at all. I would suggest that for consistency's sake, it should be. At least until we know what the future holds. TVArchivistUK (talk) 03:57, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Renaming the page to "United Kingdom Eurovision selection process"

I'm in favor of a generic title as well for the page. There hasn't been any form of selection other than the BBC's internal process for a few years now. Titling it to a show that is by all accounts defunct makes no sense, IMO. ShawnIsHere: Now in colors 02:59, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Jonathan King as Head of Great British Song Contest

I have CD discs of the four finalists with pics of King on them. Are they worth anything now? King's Wiki entry says he was only in charge of the 1997 winning contest but here you say he ran it from 1995. Is that correct?Gary Bern (talk) 17:56, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

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Move?

Should the article be moved to the new title or should it be moved to a more generic name? -- [[ axg // ✉ ]] 20:59, 17 January 2016 (UTC)