Well, yes and no.

In the past week, I have been here for three of Europe's premier events: the Cannes Film festival, the European Champions' League final, and the Eurovision Song of Europe contest. I must say, I am a little disappointed. Of course, I was not at any of the events. But that s what television is for, and so I tuned in via the true opiate of the masses.

Cannes

Which brings me to my first complaint. The Cannes Film Festival is a week of directors, actors, and distributors partying, schmoozing, and making deals in the South of France. All I got was five minute dispatches (or less) on CNN and BBC. France's TV Cinque had a little more coverage, but not much. What is up with that?

The Oscars get huge preview shows in Europe, not to mention the States - why not devote a couple of hours to Cannes? They do have awards there, although you might not know it. Everyone knows Oscar (by silhouette, even). I can barely spell Palm d'Or. These people need to learn a thing or two about hype.

Broadcast the award show. Give some flavor-of-the-month young actress a hand held camcorder, and let her make a video diary of her week at Cannes. Something, anything, for the movie loving public.

Champions League

Speaking of hype, is there anything remotely as inflated as the Superbowl? The game is usually terrible, it is a sport played pretty much exclusively within the United States, and yet it may be the biggest annual media event in the world. Television crews (albeit American crews) camp two weeks in advance for the event.

In contrast, the Champions League final is the annual crowning event for professional soccer, the single most popular game in the world. This year's final, played in scenic Barcelona, was an absolute heartbreaker as Manchester United scored twice in the dying minutes, through late substitute players, to shock Bayern Munich and win 2-1.

There was media attention, but not what you might expect. Let me just say no one is spending a million dollars for 30 seconds of advertising. The problem of course is that there are no commercial breaks. But that is so easy to fix.

The sponsor's names are already on the uniforms and the sidelines. Just take a step further. How about the Doritos Corner Kick? The Citibank Visa Yellow Card?

Eurovision

Lastly, tonight I saw the Eurovision Song of Europe contest. 23 nations hold their own Eurovision contest to select a song, then the winners travel to the host nation (last year's winner) to compete. After all 23 songs, citizens throughout Eurovision Land call in to vote for a nominal fee (and you can't vote for your own country).

This actually has just the right amount of build up and hype. The problem is so many of the damn songs suck. There is no need for American hype here. Instead, I can only suggest one thing, and it is very European in nature.

Relegation. That's right. If your country's song sucks, you get relegated to Juniorvision for next year, and you have to claw back up to the big leagues. Besides, I think 18 songs is about all my brain can stand.

Last Updated: 31 May 1999
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