Russia

Russia have sent the Grannies! Amazing. We needed some novelty and now we have it. It's like Verka has returned.

"It's like Verka has returned"

My thoughts exactly! I'm not a fan of joke entries, so I'm not a fan of the grannies. They are sweet old grannies, but I just dont like these entries, although for some reason they seem to do rather well. But I dont see this having even close to the same following Verka had. first of all it was Ukraine, who always gets LOTS of diaspora votes. Granted, so does Russia, but I have a feeling Ukraine is even bigger diaspora whore.. But in 2007 there was no jury, and I find it hard to believe any self respecting jury will vote this too high. I think jury kills this song, and basically no chance to win.

The face of the fella @1.53 is priceless. I think he doesn't like it or else he is in shock. And how dare ye compare it to verka, ye should be shot, shot i tell ya.

Now calm down Dec. No one loves Verka's song as much as I. This is closest thing we've had to Verka since 2007 though.

you just forfeited all your brekkies and dinners for the forseeable future slick

100% Slick. This competition never fails to amaze me. Always something new every year - not something we can say about all the other tosh like X-factor et al.

you know they always look better on the Russian Brides website - must be the air brushing?

this could get a protest vote from places like the uk who don't take eurovision seriously - hell i don't know with this sort of stuff you never know which way the public will jump, but i'll stick my neck out and say there won't be enough interested parties for this to even qualify.

Rob, this has gone viral. Like GLOBAL VIRAL! It's qualifying! It's 2nd favourite. I know that means nothing that this stage, but there will be a steady stream of points for it because of the grannies and their back story.

Qualifying is likely yeah, but I doubt the following is strong enough to get it to top4. top10 is close I guess. But if I had to bet (I have actually) I'd bet no top10 for russia this year.

mmm, from a quick count of the various posts on youtube, it looks like it has a couple of million hits... it doesn't seem a particularly powerful viral? i'm not sure in this instance, but I expect the organisers will want to keep some credibility as a singing contest and advise the jury's to mark it down... there are far more deserving 'musical' entries. but then again the weight is with the public vote? i hate this sort of thing because it makes the win market more unpredictable... perhaps the place market and top ten market become the only viable options when faced with this sort of wild card?

I checked the names of the UK jury for 2011 and despite there being only five members which is surely not enough they all look eminently sensible people qualified to be thereDavid Arnold,Paul Edwards,Niamh Perry,Celeste Richardson and Kevin Hughes. It's a pity they have to vote on the Friday night's rehearsal and not the live Saturday performance,but I'm sure they try to be as impartial as possible. It's also a misnomer to think that older people will vote for the grannies-my dad in his later years avoided elderly people and had no time for them,and I know just what he would have thought of the Russian entry this year..

Unpredictability raises variance, but it also raises the chance to make more money. If you can figure out how europe will see this entry, you can make correct adjustments and bet accordingly. I've been thinking this entry a lot, and it is mixing it up a lot. The win market is so strange with grannies as second favourites. I cant see them winning, nor making a particularly strong finish. I'm putting my money where my mouth is with this one, and if I'm wrong then so bet it. It's only a small portion of my bets so dont really care. Russia wont make me lose money on eurovision even if they win

I believe it hit most major news channels across Europe and even further afield. Those 1m+ hits were achieved within a few days of it being released.

sort of suggests that it might of reached the limit of it's penetration. those 'and finally' stories have limited appeal as news filler. it will depend on how it is spun on the night in the individual countries as to what impact it will have. my early thoughts are that if this goes early or mid table it will be out of most peoples mind by the end of the contest.

Well qualification will not be an issue. what you have to remember is the utter surprise and disbelief of the watching audience... it's a guilt-trip... how could you not vote for the grannies. I'm expecting a very high televote score as they'll cross normal political voting barriers. the jury score will be low, but looking at last year's table, top-5 isn't out of the question.

I have no problem not voting the grannies 8) They are adorable, but I dont think they belong on eurovision stage. But it's just me.

I think they epitomise what Eurovision is about. Fun. There's novelty that grates at every nerve in your body, like Portugal 2011 and Czech 2009. There's also novelty that leaves a smile on your face, like Verka did and Inculto with Eastern European Funk.

If there were loads of these entries it would rightly damage the credibility of the show, but one 'great' novelty song every few years maintains Eurovision's reputation for fun.

Well said Rob44,I wish I'd said earlier this is just an insult to the contest,and whatever the rights and wrongs of Russia's attitude to Eurovision they deserve some reprobation for sending this drivel of a song. Should it not qualify in the first semi-final this could make way for Greece,Moldova or Finland.