ESC-TV around the clock "Best of ESC": SRF with pop-up channel for the Song Contest
Until May 25th, a special SRF channel will be showing archive gems from 20 years of ESC history. blue News has taken over 60 hours. With all the risks and side effects.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- SRF is running a massive ESC campaign with references in all main channel programs.
- The SRF pop-up channel "Best of ESC" offers a wide selection of ESC moments from the past.
- The continuous loop of the ESC archive highlights the repetitive elements of the event.
At SRF, ESC fever is now reaching peak temperatures: almost no program is without reference to the mega-event in Basel. Hazel Brugger talks to Gredig. Background information on the preparations at DOK. Sven Epiney as a guest on Samschtig-Jass, Eco Talk and G&G. Even Kulturplatz andSternstunde Philosophie can't escape the pull of ESC Week.
SRF pop-up channel "Best of ESC"
If the program on the main channel is not enough to get you going, you also have the chance to get an extra dose these days. A pop-up channel will be available on Swisscom blue TV and SRF Play until May 25. "Best of ESC" shows hand-picked recordings from the SRF archive around the clock. 61 hours of continuous programming: from the highlights of previous years to Nemo's victory in Sweden in 2024.
Anyone who zaps into it is on the direct path to delirium. Only the telephone numbers for voting from the live broadcasts at the time have been made unrecognizable. Otherwise, it's the stuff of Eurovision happy hormones and ESC nightmares. SRF cleverly dispenses with toxic substances such as the performances by Gunvor or Six4One. Vanilla Ninja and DJ Bobo's Vampire - from the less salutary eras of Swiss ESC participation - can be watched again, however.
ESC highlights from the years 2005 to 2024
Because "Best of ESC" shows complete semi-finals and finals from nine years of the last twenty years. These include the always popular recaps from Düsseldorf 2011, when Stefan Raab and Anke Engelke hosted. Or when "The Code" by Nemo 2024 in Malmö became an instant earworm. Almost forgotten by now: The Dutch winner from 2019, who missed the following year's edition (2021) in Rotterdam due to a coronavirus infection.
In between, soothing documentaries about Swiss artists with an ESC past are included in the program grid as a sedative pill. Luca Hänni, Gion's Tears, Remo Forrer, Marius Bear and Nemo have the honor. Anna Rosinelli, who sang her way straight from the streets to the ESC stage in 2011, is the only woman on the line-up.
The crowd makes the poison
The 60-plus hours also have their side effects. The concentrated load of ESC on loop shows how repetitive the event is: the rigid 3-minute format of the songs. Sven Epiney's nerdy presentation card texts timed to the minute. The dance teams of no more than six people performing their formations for the fixed cameras.
At some point there is an overdose. The constant streaming makes you immune. The trends copied from the pop business can no longer be distinguished from the interspersed local color with which countries like Greece or Moldova want to score points. Every year, a different country presents a traditional costume with extravagant headgear, or a bit of sirtaki to the big disco boom. Unfortunately, "Best of ESC" also shows that the substances are inferior and sometimes stretched. A real superstar like Taylor Swift completes a three-hour show on her own these days - with just as many hair flips and costume changes as the ESC musicians.
