These things are definitely going wrong with the German ESC preliminary round

Astrid Lund - Betty MacDonald fan club organizer: I completely agree! I have a really bad feeling about it! Hopefully it won't be the same in Basel: Germany 0 points. Nothing but expenses!---------------------- Trierischer Volksfreund These things are definitely going wrong with the German ESC preliminary round 22 hours • 4 minutes reading time Doomed to success as the organizer of the ESC preliminary round: Stefan Raab. The Eurovision Song Contest is in crisis in Germany. Stefan Raab is supposed to save it. That is the plan of ARD and RTL, who are entering into an unusual collaboration to achieve this. Just as it was back then, when Raab made an unknown singer the star of the event almost overnight, it should work now too. Raab is being asked to do nothing less than win the ESC 2025. ARD program director Christine Strobl said this very clearly beforehand. he of the Trierischer Volksfreund Clear warning signs before the ESC preliminary round 2025 That alone sounds like a terrible collaboration. The blame is distributed before anyone even has the opportunity to fail. But the way in which the ESC preliminary round is being held this year also dampens hopes of success. The star for the ESC 2025 in Basel is being sought over four live shows. The details published in advance do not seem as if Raab has landed a major hit with his new concept. We give three reasons why skepticism is appropriate. 1. The selection of musicians is a disgrace A competition like this over several rounds is most exciting when you find your personal favorites. Maybe even people from your own area who you can keep your fingers crossed for over several evenings. If you don't come from one of the German metropolises, you can largely forget about it. The official list of participants for the ESC preliminary round reveals this even before the first show. This year's artists come from Cologne, Cologne, Cologne, Cologne, Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Berlin... No, I didn't repeat myself by accident. That's how this list really reads. Add in a little Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt and you'll get a feeling for what's going on here. A single participant is located in a really small, rural community. The participating band from Saarland usually doesn't even mention their home town of Neunkirchen. Perhaps too small with a little less than 50,000 inhabitants? It's better to just say: Saarland. Now you can discuss the locations at length. Whether someone really comes from Berlin or from the small village right next door is up for debate. But the big elephant in the room has to be addressed with this selection: Not only that there are probably no suitable singers from the "province" between Bitburg and Bautzen. For the ESC 2025, there are simply no hopefuls from East Germany who are located outside the capital. RTL, ARD and Raab should perhaps explain how this could happen with 3,281 applications. 2. It feels like a bad trip down memory lane No matter, the viewers can still decide who should go to Basel for Germany. Or let's say: They can have a say right at the end, when most of the applicants have already been eliminated. In the first three shows, only the jury has a say. It is only in the final that the viewers decide, and then really on their own. The composition of the jury does not make things any better. If Stefan Raab, Yvonne Catterfeld and Elton are sitting at the table, it is undoubtedly a sure thing. With this combination, nothing fundamentally can go wrong. But like so many things about Raab's comeback, the jury also feels like "a team from back then". As if time had not moved on since the entertainment giant took its big break almost a decade ago. New momentum for a struggling show format looks different. Now the viewers can still hope that the guest judges will bring more momentum to the matter. But the names will not be revealed beforehand. 3. The main thing is a lot of airtime - the ESC song comes later It really is a long way to the final in the ESC preliminary round. An incredible amount of airtime passes before the four-part event comes to a head. Admittedly, in the past Raab has taken things to even further extremes. In 2010 he won with Lena Meyer-Landrut after the singer went through an eight-part casting show. But the format was also different to now, 15 years later. The first two rounds of the preliminary round are each scheduled to last more than two and a half hours. Round three will last just over three hours. That is a lot of airtime for viewers to spend in front of the TV.