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Physicists Uncover TV Show Biases
Tsalg writes "Interesting to see what scientists can uncover from watching one of the silliest TV shows in Europe, where singers represent countries in a contest, and then countries vote for.. for what exactly? Well it was reported in a Nature article where the show was used as a barometer of European nations' feelings about their neighbours, that
Britain is in harmony with Europe, Nordic countries fancy each others' stars, and France is out on a limb."
But eventually, all other countries adopt the principles put forth by France.
This looks way more interesting than "American Idle," which isn't nearly as good as the original, "Eric Idle."
David Letterman, though, does acknowledge that his very popular "Will It Float" segment is based on the original British "Is It Buoyant."
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual contest where the countries of Europe (or, more accurately, members of the European Broadcasting Union, which includes Israel) come together, each put forward a song and performer, and have a contest.
.. then all the people in Europe call in and vote while a dire interlude performance is shown (this is how Riverdance became famous). After that, each country is contacted and a representative reads out the votes that country's viewers gave.. which vary between 1 and 12 points.
Generally twenty four countries make it through to the final (which is all most people watch).. four of those are automatic placements from the main contributors (UK, France, Germany, Spain) and the rest survived the semi-final.
Then they all perform a song, most of which are hideously awful, and sometimes ham up national stereotypes in the most hysterical of manners (this year, Moldova had a crazy celtic style thrash rock song with some 90 year old woman banging a drum)
Inevitably, national biases always come out. Greece and Cyprus often give each other 12 points, all the Nordic countries vote for each other, and, nowadays, all the Baltic states vote for each other too. Until recently, Greece and Turkey would never give each other any points.
The whole contest is really an opportunity to laugh at our fellow Europeans, see some hideous songs which will never make it anywhere, and listen to some great commentary which pokes fun at the whole charade.
Look, the reason you vote for culturally similar countries, is that you share taste in music with them. Obviously these former russian nations actually think they're sending something good. I for one think it's crap and I think the contributions from my neighboring countries are superior. Not because I somehow "like" these people, the music is just closer to my preferred style. There are some exceptions though, like the year Turkey won for example.
TV executives discover elusive Higgs boson!
The host, Terry Wogan of BBC Radio 2, has to be the only reason I watch the Eurovision Song Contest. As a UK resident too, it is one of the silliest programs we have on our schedule -- and we continue to humiliate ourselves year after year.
This year, we lost out right at the bottom, with only 18 points. Compare that to a Moldovan granny banging a drum, which sailed on to 6th place with 128 points. And, before you ask, the granny in question was beating the drum from a rocking chair on stage. The commentary before and after that little number was hilarious.
The real problem with Eurovision, is the underlying politics. The Eastern European and Baltic Countries cannot dismiss this as a singing competition. They instead fight furiously for votes, and vote for the neighbours whenever possible. This is what is turning the whole competition into a farce... the Baltic 'block voting' means that the 4 primary contributors to the European economy (France, UK, Germany and Spain) are the last 4 on the leaderboard -- year after year.
I makes me wonder exactly why we continue this ridiculous tradition -- Greece gives 12 points to Cyprus, Cyprus gives 12 points to Greece, and on and on... Quite frankly also, the singing was abysmal -- I can sing better when drunk than the winning entry this year, and that is saying something.
"I makes me wonder exactly why we continue this ridiculous tradition"
Umm, because previously European matters of national pride (read "pissing contests") were settled (or not) with guns and bombs.
Stick with the dumb TV contests - fewer refugees that way, and it will allow Europeans to hold on to their self image as peaceful, war hating types.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Yes, there is a good deal of "friendly" voting going on. The reason may at least partly be taste, though. Neighbouring countries tend to be very close, culturally and lingustically, people tend to meve between them a lot and can usually see each others television and radio broadcasts. So they will tend to have more similar taste in music than countries far apart. I would not be surprised if that is one part (not all, obviously) of the "bloc voting".
:)
As for your second point, why would the amount of money contributed to the EU correlate in any way with the popularity of the songs? Looking above, you'd expect the opposite, actually. A country is a large contributor because it's, well, a large country. And a large country tend (other things being equal) to be more insular and less influenced by the cultures around it. The songs will tend not to appeal as widely among its neighbours or other european countries as the smaller, more exposed, countries.
And yes, musically it's rather like a slow-motion trainwreck, but that's part of the appeal
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