Good Evening, Oslo!

At her first ever Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow 2009, Australian commentator Julia Zemiro admits the SBS team hit the ground running and fervently chased a lot of local footage that was ultimately extraneous.

As she explained to TV Tonight, this year they will be more discerning in deciding what needs to be covered.

“Last year we were a bit over-ambitious in that we thought we needed to film lots of outdoor pieces to color the presentation. But in fact there is really no room to fit all that stuff. We did use some of it on the website but really the two Semis and the Final are pretty self-contained. You get Postcards within it, so all we’ve got is a bit of time at the top, in the middle and at the end,” she said.

“This time round we’re really going to try and interview every single person for the Final. During the Semis you’re kind of randomly backstage interviewing people, you don’t know who’s going to make it to the Final, apart from the ‘Big Five.’

“But we’ll certainly be trying to get whoever is in the Final in case we get the winner,” she said. “We had lots of other things planned and in the end we realised, ‘No, we don’t actually need to do that.'”

Zemiro and co-commentator Sam Pang will once again be fronting the Australian broadcast of Europe’s favourite pop contest, to air across 3 nights this weekend. They will pepper the broadcast with comments in between the songs, without giving the full editorial panache of retired British broadcaster Terry Wogan.

Joined by a small SBS production crew, Zemiro is hoping contemporary Oslo is a more accommodating city for filming than the red-tape of Moscow and its Red Square.

“Security wise it was really intense and language-wise it was difficult sometimes, even though we had a Translator. She was often quite red in the face having to argue with people about how to get into the building when we’d been getting in there for two days running. All of a sudden that entry didn’t exist any more or we didn’t have the right accreditation blah, blah….

“I have a feeling we’re going to get there and it won’t be as weird and bizarre and difficult as Moscow was because I think a lot of them will speak English. I’ve got my little Norwegian tape from the International Book Shop and I will be learning some Norwegian.”

There are over 2000 journalists / media at Eurovision but Aussies are definitely in the minority. The RocKwiz host says in Moscow some were surprised at the SBS interest for an event happening across the other side of the world, which precludes Australia from voting.

“They were definitely a bit stumped by that, asking ‘Why in the world would you be interested in this in Australia?'” she said.

“I explained that we had a station called SBS and they’ve been showing it for years and that we are quite a multicultural country and that we think it’s a bit of a laugh as well, and they understood that.”

This year the SBS team has the experience of Moscow to assist them in both content delivery and organisational challenges. Last year they were cramped in one of the media cubicles at Olympiski Arena.

“We didn’t realise that you can actually ask for a double if you’re filming because you need more room. So we were filming and had a camera in a cubicle that’s really only just for sound not for visual,” she said.

“This time round they’re going to be booking a double cubicle so we can all fit in there properly.

“And the weird thing (about Moscow) was it was ‘dry.’ You couldn’t get an alcoholic drink in the place for love nor money! I remember thinking on the last night, ‘At least for the Final it’d be nice to have a bottle champagne in your cubicle’ and have a champagne while you’re watching like you all are (at home)]. But nope. No alcohol allowed and none being sold in the venue.

“I tried to sneak in a half bottle of wine from the mini-mart and they confiscated it. But luckily I snuck in two little bottles of Vodka from the mini-bar in my makeup case. I think they thought it was foundation or something or perfume so they didn’t confiscate it from me.

“But hopefully in Norway they’ll think more of the audience and assume they can have a couple of beers. But we’ll see how we go.”

Eurovision Song Contest airs 7:30pm Friday and Saturday (Semi Final One / Two) and 7:30pm Sunday (Final) on SBS ONE.

David Knox blogs Eurovision at sbs.com.au