eurovision! 2016 grand final!

[iainpj]

Something I posted elsewhere, but I thought I might as well stick it here. Basically, a running commentary (sometimes on the running commentary) of Eurovision as televised by Logo. Edited somewhat to clarify things here and there. Additional commentary designated by NOTE.

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And the grand final! It has begun!

List of contestants in

Comments

[nonelvis]

I didn't find Carson and Michelle completely insufferable until a good couple of hours through, the point at which they were simply openly snarking on countries they barely acknowledged existed. (Also: "Germany just gave Israel guilt points. And I'm okay with that, because I'm a Jew." As a fellow Jew: WTF, MICHELLE, WHY WOULD YOU EVER SAY SUCH A THING OUT LOUD.)

I am also slightly embarrassed to admit that my favorite song of the night was Belgium's flawless 1970s disco pastiche.

[iainpj]

Belgium actually had my favorite song; Russia had what I thought was the best overall performance. I would not have been unhappy if Belgium had won, although I would genuinely have been quite shocked.

I hope FiveThirtyEight does an analysis of the results in the next day or two. They did a piece earlier noting that the rules changes wouldn't have made any difference the past two years at the very top, but it scrambled things a lot at rankings from third place down. I suspect that they might have made a difference this year; I kind of think that the jury vote being separated out that way blocked Russia from winning.

[iainpj]

And, indeed, FiveThirtyEight analyzed the results and the rules change made a difference in the top three this year. Under last year's rules, Australia would have won.

[nonelvis]

Fascinating! I'm glad they also took a footnote to explain how Poland would have come in much lower under the old rules; I get why Polish Military Drag Vampire Sings Terrible Rock Ballad would be popular with a Eurovision audience, but wow, I did not think they deserved eighth place.