ot-el-reencuentro-rosa-lopez-eurovision

Gone are the days when there was no news of RTVE’s Eurovision plans until January. Following the broadcaster’s annus horribilis, which ended with Manel Navarro coming last in Kyiv, Spain’s public television is already making plans for Eurovision 2018.

And, guess what: they may use their last successful selection method Operación Triunfo! The contest gave us Rosa, Beth and Ramón, all of whom finished in the top 10 at Eurovision.

Rosa: “Europe’s living a celebration” at Eurovision 2002

RTVE confirmed the news at a press conference on Wednesday morning, when they presented the new edition of the show.

Castings will begin in June and the show will take place in autumn. Right in time to select a Eurovision representative!

Yes but, why is OT a good idea?

OK, I can see you scratching your heads in front of your computers.

You may think that reviving a 15-year-old show is a bad idea. Time moves on and people’s interest does as well.

Even if I — and countless others — am not 100% confident, there are still reasons to hope. Or at least to give a half-hearted shake, shake, shake.

First, one source of hope is that RTVE is not actually in charge of the show.

Production company Gestmusic gets the job once again, just as it did 15 years ago when it created the format, which was a huge ratings success.

They have also been responsible for other large-scale productions, including the 60th anniversary of RTVE, whose stage could easily have swallowed the entire Objetivo Eurovisión arena.

Moreover, reviving the show has a strong precedent.

Last year’s Operación Triunfo – El Reencuentro, which brought the participants of the first edition back together 15 years later, received a great reception from the country — and once again achieved stellar ratings.

The reunion series was a major talking point, even landing in several news bulletins. OT, el concierto — the live concert at the end of it —  exceeded all expectations, smashing the ratings and generating plenty of social media buzz.

More than five million viewers watched on television — representing a 30% TV share. The concert trended worldwide on Twitter. And devotees stood outside of Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi for up to one week hoping to snag the first seats. There’s clearly passion for the series even now.

Operación Triunfo is expected to last three months if it’s successful. That gives viewers time to get to know the participants, which has the potential to keep audiences tuning in week after week. And that’s important given that this year’s Eurovision selection pretty much tanked.

The show will happen, but RTVE hasn’t decided whether it will send the winner to Eurovision.

Some will view it as a risky move, but hey: After Manel’s last-place finish this year, the only way is up.

What do you think of Operación Triunfo? Should RTVE choose their representative through the show in the end? And if they do could Spain possibly avoid last place in 2018? Let us know below!

*GET THE COLOURED SHIRT

*GET THE WHITE SHIRT

27 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
esc1234
esc1234
6 years ago

Spain has lost it. Its all about the song, not WHO sings the sing. Find a descent song and then choose the artist

Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago

It will be interesting for them to give this format another try with English song entries in mind for ESC. I think the last time they had one was for Lucia Perez in 2011, who did a great cover of Lulu’s Boom Bang Bang and became a favorite to win but was chosen the wrong song by the viewers in the grand finals so there was huge backlash in Spain leading up to the contest(much like what Manel endured this year).

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago

I followed very closely the first two editions of OT. It’s true that Spain got top 10 places, but the songs were very avarage. But this shows two things: a lack of ambition and a misunderstanding of the current trend of Eurovision. Today the uniqueness of the song and performance makes the trick. If you apply an OT formula the chances is that is not going to work again.

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

Operacion is so old what’s the point of bringing it back? Nostalgia yes but will it work in 2017″? Not sure.

I believe they will select the candidate from that show if the ratings are big but what about the song?

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Alex

A significant amount of time has passed that rebooting OT for today’s Spanish TV landscape would make sense as they’d be attracting a new younger audience who were previously unfamiliar with the show before. As a national final, Operacion was utilized for Eurovision for only 3 out of its eight seasons so how’d TVE would approach this will be interesting to see.

😀

Héctor
Héctor
6 years ago

Bringing back OT as the National Selection could work, I would give it a try. The performances will be much better than the ones produced by TVE in OE. Spain would win in the process quality, for sure. But there are some things, they have to take care about. Newbie artists could get too nervous at the Grand Final, they also have to be psychologically strong to stand the pressure and the Spanish talifans. The song is another important element. If OT serves as the NF, the songs woudn’t have anything to do with the artists because they aren’t writen… Read more »

Crystal
6 years ago

As much as I enjoy formats like the Idols or X Factor formats, I think the usefulness of those formats (and national final formats mimicking these shows) is no longer viable. Of this year’s selection processes, the ones that used a reality show-style selection process (Germany, Israel, and Armenia) all had very underwhelming finishes. Germany, especially, has had more bad finishes than good ones since beginning the Unser Song format in 2010. After starting off that format with a win for Lena, the Unser Song format has failed to produce a song finishing in the Top 15 every year since… Read more »

Eurovision Potato
Eurovision Potato
6 years ago
Reply to  Crystal

You may have a point, however I don’t think your examples from this year are really representative of what you’re trying to prove. Israel did place badly this year, but they came third in their Semi Final, which was an amazing result. Israel got more points than they did in 2015 with Golden Boy. In the Final, their bad result can be attributed to a combination of two things. One is that many people believe Imri’s vocals were weaker in the Grand Final performance. The other, which I believe affected Armenia’s result too, is the running order. You’ll remember that… Read more »

Fatima
Fatima
6 years ago

I’m afraid I have the feeling that whatever they send, Spain will be in place 22-26 next year too. And I quite liked “Do It For Your Lover”, while “Tu Volveras” is probably my favourite Eurovision song of all time.

4li3n
4li3n
6 years ago

Russian Red for Spain?

Geo
Geo
6 years ago

That’s a silly idea. They should internally select Mirela and hire the best producers for her song. That woman was robbed this year by the corrupted Spanish jury. Both Pastora Soler and Ruth Lorenzo had great songs and they end up in the top 10 in the grand final. It’s all about the song, for the love of God…

WTF
WTF
6 years ago
Reply to  Geo

It didn’t really matter since she wouldn’t have done much better in the end, anyway. You eurofans need to stop deluding yourselves over this one (and in general, also).

PP
PP
6 years ago
Reply to  Geo

She is not good singer like Pastora, Ruth. Best choice for Spain rhis year was Le Klein. Mirela finished second 2 rimes in 2007 and 2017, like Coral Segovia in 2008 and 2010. She lost because juries that time don vote for foreigner composers, same hsppened in 2011 when juries vote for one song and singer and televote want other song

Héctor
Héctor
6 years ago
Reply to  Geo

Stop that Mirela thing… She isn’t known here in Spain, moreover she has never had any good songs. There are much better Spanish artists, Pastora and Ruth are far better! Anyway, if Spain had to send a “defeated” diva, I would prefer Brequette or Leklein 100 times over Mirela.

EurofansLGTBI
EurofansLGTBI
6 years ago
Reply to  Héctor

MIRELA SHOULD GO AND YOU SHOULD SHUT UP!

Mirela was robbed and we will restore justice by destroying Manel’s artistic career.

If they think they can rob us of the festival THEY DON’T. Stop straight boys with no talent making use of his heterosexual power. They don’t represent us in a LGTBI festival.

Mathew
Mathew
6 years ago
Reply to  EurofansLGTBI

Eurofans LGBTI – Eurovision is not an LGBTI festival, although it’s inclusive and respects and honours its LGBT fans. It goes against all aims of the contest (and gay rights) to discriminate against Manel because he’s straight.

Music is the key
Music is the key
6 years ago
Reply to  EurofansLGTBI

seriously come on! Stop that silly gay chauvenism!! ESC is NOT a gay festival, or lesbian!! Its for everyone….who cares if people ae homophonic or whatever….they have all rights to take part. This gay bias among somefans is REPULSIVE and sick!!!!! arrogant prats!!!!!!!

Music is the key
Music is the key
6 years ago
Reply to  Geo

Mirella / Ruth / Apstora all had very bad, clicheed and generic songs

Marcus (Day One)
Marcus (Day One)
6 years ago

As long as RTVE’s corrupt jury and underhand dealings with Sony music are not involved then this could work.

They should allow international song writers to submit songs and arrange for international juries to pick a shortlist of songs.
And then allow the singers to each pick one song out of the selected.

Pablo
Pablo
6 years ago

It would be good to see a new about ‘Al fin pienso en mi’, the new Rosa’s single. It topped iTunes last week.

PP
PP
6 years ago

Spain result at Eurovision when they sent singer from that riality tv show in Eurovision. 2002 7 place ( 3 rd favorite for win after Germany and Sweden) 2003 8 place (one of favorite for win after Russia) 2004 10 place.
I think they would have better result in 2002 with Corazon Latino sang by David Bisbal and better song than Rosa song is song sang by David Bustamante.

mel
mel
6 years ago

The logo of Operation Triunfo : ”Boys are losing their time if they try this”

Lola
Lola
6 years ago

That’s the selection for the singer but what about the song ? If you have a great singer but a so la la song it won’t take you much further. I hope Spain starts asking great spanish songwriters…

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Lola

From what I recall, the top 3 finalists are each given a song written for Eurovision and will battle it out until a song and an eventually winner for that season has been selected.

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

“After Manel’s last-place finish this year, the only way is up.” Germany said that in 2015.
I think it’s time to call a internal selection until having better ideas. Maybe this “Operación Triunfo” will find a good entry. Who knows?!
Then people can decide if they prefer the internal selected act or the winner from this show…
Idk, just an idea…
Good Luck anyway.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

Anything is better than what they did this year.