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Latest on the Wogan Eurovision Succession
Graham Norton and a new selection show for UK
So far, Graham Norton has been installed as the hot favourite to replace Terry Wogan. Already a hugely popular chat show host and entertainer, he was widely applauded for his part as co-host of the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest in 2007 and will again host the show in Glasgow next month.
It will be revealed tomorrow by The Sun newspaper that a review of the national selection is underway, and Graham Norton has been approached to front a new look selection show.that will look to take on the popular X Factor show and provide members of the public with the chance to win the right to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.
The Sun reports that a BBC insider stated "The BBC need an alternative and Graham is their man. He is currently talking to bosses about the Song For Europe show, which will run some time in March next year. Execs have big plans for the show and want to make it more glitzy, with one eye on X Factor".
Is this the beginning of a new dawn for the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest? Time will tell. In the mean time, esctoday.com has launched a poll asking readers who they would like to see as the next United Kingdom commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest.
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We had almost the same discussion a couple of years ago when the Norwegian commentator was changed..
NRK retired the now legendary Jostein pedersen. Some of his introductuctions made Terry Wogan sound like a schoolboy. One of his best one was when he introduced the Swedish act "Fame". He claimed they were as charming as "Billy the bookshelf" from IKEA. But this year we had a girl introducing the countries and songs etc. And she was joined by a guy when the poins were given..
Her reactions when Norway was the last to be announced as a finalist has been watched nearly 13,000 times on youtube..
ANYWAY...
The dissapairance of Terry Wogan may seem like a tragedy, but in the end, it wery well may be a revitalizer to the whole attitude towards the E.S.C. in the U.K.
(And god knows they need that)
@7 times
why sould it bother you that it could be a Homosexual that could take on the Job for the Job,I can understand that if this was Affecting Ireland,but why sould it affect you ,let us Brits worry about who sould take on the Job,after all its about UK .
but thank you for having your Comment on here,and I hope Ireland willl do well for 2009 in Moscow.
please dont make this show any more gay than it is...its being ruined by homosexuals camping it up on stage in the audience and now another thing to make it as big as gay pride...please give to it a straight man and leave the irish out of it...use one of ur own
I was so intrigued about everything I read on here about Graham Norton that I did a little research on him and I watched a youtube video from an interview with Roseanne Barr and omg it was hilarious...he was talking about a village in Austria called F******...can't write the word...but I really like his style 
Ben Gray - re your comments:
"Doesn't the BBC realise there are people in the UK that want to watch the show without being force-fed this "humour?" Graham would have sniggered and called Vania Fernandes a fat cow, described the staging of Qele Qele as a Muslim orgy, called Isis Gee a Stepford Wife punched in the vocal chords, and probably even attacked Diana's disability, leaving the less serious entries "
I think this shows more of your own ignorance and prejudice than anyone else's. No gay man worth his salt is going to accuse a diva like Vania Fernandes of being a fat cow. That is your own thought. If you can't think beyond that it's your own affair. Qele Qele represented Armenia, which is 95% Christian, so when you talk about a muslim orgy, what do you mean exactly? In any case, the whole concept of a muslim orgy is extremely offensive. Again, your own thought. Nothing to do with Graham Norton. Diana Gurtskaya is blind, but only you feel it is necessary to mention this as a disability. She doesn't see it like that, I can bloody tell you that much.
Apart from that, commentators have to adhere to extremely strict guidelines about what they can and can't say. Sexism, racism and other discrimination are rightly banned, but what would you know? Professional broadcasters are not going to accuse international stars of being fat cows, nor has Graham Norton ever done so to my knowledge. It's time you got a sense of reality and perspective on that one.
At the same time, I agree that Graham Norton is not the man to commentate. Campery like Eurovision is much better commentated on by folks who have no camp sensibilities whatsoever - bring on Sue Barker, Des Lynam and the rest. It's always been fun watching Terry Wogan (a man to whom a golf jumper is a fashion accessory) trying to work out what is going on. We don't need Dale Winton to say 'ooh ah there's a lovely pair of pecs'. It would ruin it for everyone, gay and straight alike.
Talking of "Britain's got talent" Paul Potts is very popular in Sweden. He's been performing here twice this year 
imno
"Also the bbc dont have a saturday night singing show since they axed fame academy in 2003"
Good point, thats probably partly why they're doing it. Because they're seriously falling behind in talent/reality programmes, the x-factor, britains got talet (how ironic lol!) both belong to ITV The only BBC talent/reality programme I can think about at the moment is "Britains missing top model" and that was shown on BBC3 and like nobody watched it lol! (I did though and it was quite good 
)!
The bbc dont have the fa cup to show on saturday teatime in the new year so unless "comic relief does fame academy" stops stripping and take on a weekly format, I say they should do the "Eurovision Factor" but it will be sad to see "Eurovision: Your Decision" axed after one year. Also the bbc dont have a saturday night singing show since they axed fame academy in 2003
nigel mc macerson
That would actually be hilarious!! But can you imagine Jonathan Ross, imagine him trying to say "and here are the Rankings for this years eurovision . . . . ." I think we all know how it would sound lol!!
I still think Dawn French or/& Mel Giedroyc would be the funniest Or Grahame & Mel Giedroyc, or Jonathan & Mel Giedroyc, or Dawn & Jonathan . . . lol the possibilities are endless!!!
""a new look selection show.that will look to take on the popular X Factor show ""
sounds good >.< ... but i wudnt count on it!!!
@jonny
why not both ross and norton?!
Ben
Yes OK good point 
I can see where you are coming from. Whilst at first I was against him being commentator, I begginning to think it would be a good idea in terms of ratings. For eurovision to remain popular in the UK we need Grahame Norton or Jonathan Ross realistically, and I can't say who is the more offensive of the two lol!
no matter, who is gonna take over, i hope he or she will be less patriotic while commenting and will not create wrong impressions of voting conspirancies against the UK like this man did. Some of his comments were indeed funny, but in the last years he crossed over the line and he was reacting and commentig very bitter and ungry just because the UK has been finishing top bottom
@Jonny
Simply because the vast majority of Graham's shows are late night television which allow swearing and innuendo, he should not the the Eurovision commentator.
Ben
I can see where you're coming from but I think you're going a bit far, I don't watch BB so I can't relate to the characters mentioned though.
I think Grahame can be a bit OTT but I seriously doubt he would say the things you mentioned. He certainly wouldn't attack Diana's disability. And bear in mind alot of the programming he does is later stuff, past the threshold for swearing etc, so his comments will be more . . . . outgoing! I'm pretty sure if he did comentate for ESC (which he probably will) he would be alot more reserved, considering it is a family show the BBC would warm hin beforehand anyway. And if he does go too far, he'll just be taken off the position or have a fine incurred on him, so theres nothing to worry about !
@ Garry
Yes I know, a bit like Stuart on Big Brother who got evicted last night, I quite liked his dress sense. I know he's straight but you can't tell me he wasn't a little bit feminine-looking. Unfortunately if I'm going to compare Big Brother housemates to Graham Norton though I think we can all agree that underneath the professional shell Graham Norton is like Dennis who was removed several weeks ago. A snidey horrible mix of every worst stereotype of gay men. I can just imagine the things he would say if he commentated on the Eurovision final.
Doesn't the BBC realise there are people in the UK that want to watch the show without being force-fed this "humour?" Graham would have sniggered and called Vania Fernandes a fat cow, described the staging of Qele Qele as a Muslim orgy, called Isis Gee a Stepford Wife punched in the vocal chords, and probably even attacked Diana's disability, leaving the less serious entries to speak for themselves. That's what his humour is like. He's a nasty little piece of s*** stirring scum.
@ Rob Dell & Benjamin Johnson
Why is it that I see you discussing Eurovision in a fairly civil way most of the time but when it comes to the UK it's a farce and a joke? What are you doing on this site if that is what you think?
@ ben its ok we (poofs) have nothing against (straights) after all it takes 2 straights to make us, and who would straight men have to thank for fashion tips and trendsetting if it wasnt for gay men, can u imagine a world where gay men werent there to set those trends, grooming products dance music ( remember that it was at a gay club where cher relaunched her flagging career by giving the first performance of believe), all night dance clubs, and fashion wise kalvin klein and levis would be bankrupt wihtout gay men raising their profile amongst the general public
why do people go on about the £1million pund recording contract, that doesnt mean the sinbger gets a £1million pound, thats the amount of money the record company will spend to promote the singer, look at last years winner leon that was surely the biggest waste of record company money, but it also goes to prove that even for all that money being thrown at promoting it doesnt always work, sometimes its more important who the singer is and how popular they are with the public, so a new selection show may well find someone that we can all get behind and be proud of them representing us
Rob
I totaly agree with you!!
BBC / UK should face facts - because of voting problems (disapora/neighbours/cultures/history etc....) the UK has no chance anymore. UK will always come near bottom whoever or whatever they send.
I hope El Tel does go and the BBC ratings plummet - UK will no doubt come last or thereabouts. Then, hopefully, the BBC will see sense and withdraw from this farce.
A song contest? LOL.
ESC now only reinforces sterotypes and old divisions - it's turned in to a nasty and divisive horror show. Exactly the opposite of what it set out to do.
It's funny how everyone is falling over themselves at the idea of an X-Factor type show for the selection process.
The "Prize" is to represent UK at ESC.....mmmm, that or the X-Factor £1m contract with Mr Cowell. Sorry, but it isn't that great a draw - true talent (e.g. Miss Lewis) would always choose to go after X-Factor..... So, expect 2nd rate reality wannabees... Great.
Either 2nd rate wannabees or theatrical types - not sure that Connie Fisher or Lee Meade types would go down well at ESC these days. Ok, Mr Ball did well but those days are gone.
It will mean another complete unknown entering for the UK - cue all the posts about UK not sending bigger acts.....
Sorry but I can't say I'm too thrilled about what this says.
Oh - and anyone who thinks this will mean a battle between Amy, Leona, Duffy, Mika, Adele, Take That, Natasha, Coldplay etc etc - think again.
OK Ben. It's funny how people either love or hate the guy...
John-
You're right, I take back the use of that word and apologise to anyone offended by it. I have nothing against gay people at all, it's just that Graham annoys me to no end.
Ben, any 'poof' with a good sense of humour is better than Wogan But seriously, perhaps you shouldn't use this word if you say you don't have anything against 'gay people in general' (whatever that means).
I voted for Dermot O'Leary in the poll. I really like him as the host of everything I've seen him do. He's great on X Factor, mind you maybe Kate Thornton would be a good replacement as well. Just not Norton please, I don't want some snobby poof with an annoying laugh to take over from Terry Wogan. (I mean no offence to gay people in general, I'm describing only Graham as a poof.)
Well there's no BBC announcements and I highly doubt that Terry's resignation has kicked them into action THIS early to find a new way to select our entrant, but I would welcome our own sort of X-Factor/Melodi Grand Prix crossover that runs for a couple of Saturday nights. It would give Eurovision a bigger profile in the UK but I would not like Graham Norton to be the man to take over for Terry. He is WAY too typical a choice and would bring all the wrong kinds of humour to the fray. He was unpleasantly snidey as the host of EDC 2007 and no doubt he'll be the same this year. I would rather Paddy took over, while maybe Fearne Cotton does the semis.
One eye on X-Factor?Wasnt this years representative from UK an X-Factor loser(2nd place in the final i believe).Norton would be ok if he plays it straight not a worse attitude than Wogan - no pun intended.
Maybe we should have renamed our selection "eurovision: wrong decision"
Loooooooool.....good one jonny
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