The Americans say the first edition of the well-known song competition was not a TV magnet, but the producer thinks it will take time to adopt Eurovision.
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Europe’s well-known “Eurovision Song Contest” was to take American TV viewers by storm, the producers in NBC hoped.
The first episode went live for two hours on the channel on Monday, but had to be beaten by another song competition on a competing TV channel.
2.9 million American viewers watched the “American Song Contest” during the live broadcast on NBC, but with the competitor ABC, a new episode of “American Idol” received 4.8 million viewers, according to figures from Showbuzz daily.
Artists Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson are the hosts of the American version. 56 artists from the 50 US states compete for the best song through four television programs.
As in Europe, the winner is chosen with a mix of voices from the TV viewers and a jury panel with music experts from all parts of the country.
“Does not live up to Eurovision”
Yahoo his music editor Lyndsey Parker wrote that the first episode of the “American Song Contest” “failed to live up to Eurovision’s crazy promise or premise”.
The Swedish producer Christer Björkman tells the Swedish media that you need some editions of the show to really make it work, that it was not a huge hit overnight.
In social media, the reactions are also mixed. Some American TV viewers say on Twitter that both the songs and the TV program should be promoted better ahead of the premiere.
Will collect «a split USA»
The “Eurovision Song Contest” has existed since 1956, with 200 million annual viewers. The competition has been relatively unknown in the United States, but has been broadcast on American television for some years.
In recent years, however, “Eurovision” has received more attention in the North American media. Several also got an insight into the music circus after the Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Christer Björkman and Ola Melzig, who have been behind previous editions of the Eurovision Song Contest, announced in 2019 that they had secured the rights to produce their own version of the competition in the USA.
In an interview with Aftonbladet, the responsible producer, Ben Silverman, stated that he hoped the competition could help bring together a divided United States.
In Europe, the song competition has had a special significance for uniting Europe in the aftermath of World War II.
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