Welcome to the TV review of the second semi-final of the Eurovision songfestival! Next to me is the brand new TV critic Amber Wiznitzer. Together we will provide live commentary on the Eurovision Song Contest commentary by Cornald Maas and Jacqueline Govaert. The former has been doing it for twenty years, the latter is doing it for the first time, as a replacement for Jan Smit. She received a lot of comments from viewers on her comments on Tuesday. She would be too negative.
AW: It’s a relief that Jan Smit is gone. Huh, Wilfred?
WT: Oh yes? What did he do wrong then?
AW: Jan Smit thought he was too good for the Eurovision Song Contest. Then you shouldn’t comment. Then you should look at something else.
WT: But Jacqueline Govaert also has that a bit. The first evening she thought no less than sixty percent of the songs were bad. In the comments afterwards she was called ‘sour’.
AW: That’s what they always say about critics who have a different opinion. I think she needs to loosen up a bit. What about you, Wilfred?
WT: She thinks many songs are ‘soap bubbles’ but always compliments the singers. ‘Well sung!’
AW: By the way, she says that with a little more confidence tonight. A stronger performance than Tuesday.
WT: Cornald now announces that the Greek singer has ‘a thrilling rendezvous with the cameraman’. Last time, Jacqueline thought a scantily clad singer looked too intensely into the camera. That made her uncomfortable.
AW: I thought that was a very prudish comment.
WT: Now she’s making a joke about Eurovision underpants for Cornald. He says that not everything would fit in it.
AW: That makes me uncomfortable.
WT: Jacqueline now says very often: beautifully sung and well filmed.
AW: That Frenchman just made a few slips, but she also thought he sang well.
WT: She may have been upset about her negative comment on Tuesday. This is of course the agreed division of roles: Cornald does the factual commentary and Jacqueline comes along sidekick always make a musical assessment.
AW: It’s also good for the mood that she finds so many things clever and fun tonight. And she always has the advantage that she is not Jan Smit.
WT: She even said that the French act gave her goosebumps in places she didn’t know were possible.
AW: It also makes me a little uncomfortable.
WT: Look, another singer in a space suit.
AW: You won’t survive in space with this, Wilfred. But it is a bit futuristic, yes.
WT: Now comes Israel. I’m curious what they say about it. At the general there were boos and someone shouted: ‘Free Palestine’. Now all you hear is civilized applause. Could that have been mixed in? They once did that in Russia to mask the booing.
AW: Jacqueline thinks that the Israeli singer also sang beautifully.
WT: And Cornald says about her controversial participation: ‘complicated story’. Protests against Israel outside the festival gate due to the war in Gaza. Police helicopters, snipers on the roofs. Palestinian flags in the hall confiscated. And all Cornald says is: complicated story…
AW: Very apolitical commentary. But it is also an apolitical festival, isn’t it Wilfred?
WT: Frisian flags were allowed to stay, by the way. We have now arrived at the final act. Cornald says: ‘This is from forty years ago. Then you were two, Jaqueline.’
AW: So typical to say that to a new young colleague. Where does that tendency come from?
WT: Oh Amber, that used to be very normal. But you weren’t born yet.
That’s it for tonight, dear readers. You can comment online on our Eurovision commentary, and if you look at us kindly, you may find us willing to comment on it again. Until the next!
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