America to adapt Eurovision as state vs. state contest
It could be Douze Points Texan-style when The American Song Contest launches in 2021.
- Published by David Knox
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Uh oh. Not for the first time, the US has set its sights on an American version of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The American Song Contest to debut in late 2021, will pit state vs. state in a singing contest as
solo singers, duos or groups up to six members.
Voting is yet to be clarified by there are also 6 timezones to contend with. Propagate Content will oversee juries of artists and music industry notables who, along with audiences, will select top talent from all 50 states to compete.
A network is yet to be announced, although Viacom has previously been aligned to the concept. A state vs state contest was previously flagged in 2017 and as far back as 2008.
The European Broadcasting Union has long had its sights set on a US model and the news follows a recent Netflix movie, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Producer Christer Björkman said, “Eurovision has been a dream project ever since I was a child.
“To have a chance to use everything you know about the format and redo it from the beginning and to bring it to an audience that has no history with it is such a privilege.”
Executive producer Ben Silverman who successfully adapted The Office, Big Brother and The Weakest Link said, “I’ve spent 20 years trying to pursue this.
“When I was chairman of NBC, when I was an agent at William Morris and when I started at Reveille. I just love the format.
“When America is more fractionalized than ever and we are dealing with so many issues that divide us, the one [thing] that truly unites us is our culture. … It can unite it by celebrating its diversity, its distinctions and in pulling everyone around its love of music and its love of song.”
Meanwhile, the Eurovision Asia Song Contest was due to be staged by SBS in 2017.
Source: Variety
10 Responses
And I reckon the winner will represent USA as they make their debut at Eurovision 2022
Sure why not? I don’t have to watch or could turn it off.
Ah…as someone once said…Only in America…
Its a nice idea and as someone said 50 songs is a lot to sit through but i recon if they adapt the format then 25 states will go head to head in 2 semi finals and we get maybe 24-26 in the final. Thats what i’d assume would happen. It really could be a lot of fun though. Who knows what acts you’d get.
Here’s hoping one of the Southern states puts out the W! :)
It’s a tried and successful format. Hopefully it will be picked up for broadcast in Australia. We’re still waiting for the Eurovision Asia Pacific (Our Sound) contest to begin after so much hype, and eventually a global song contest that would be a grand international event that could possibly take up a couple of weeks and be a boon for the host city and winning country.
I would rather this than have americans infiltrate eurovision. 50 songs is a lot to sit thru, surely there would have to be off-screen qualifiers.
Eurovision is about 44-ish countries so they do it in 2 semi-finals
This could be hilarious! Redneck Hillbillies from Arkansas with duelling banjos, Dolly Parton lookalikes from Texas, Mormon choirs from Utah, Hallelujah Gospel singers from New Orleans! Can we get The Blues Brothers Band to represent Chicago?????
The US is rather over represented by oddballs