After managing to get away from having a commentator or two on the 2019 and 2021 editions of Eurovision, we aren’t getting as lucky this year.
Amidst pressure from the European Broadcast Union, who insist on having local country commentators on their coverage, NBC has announced that figure skater Johnny Weir will be your host for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on Peacock.
Weir IS a huge fan of the contest, so that’s something – as my wife put it, they could have thrown some macho sports guy on the mic and they could have made a hash of it. But US television doesn’t really need commentary, and I don’t see why we have to have it for ESC either. It’s just gone way past the point where it’s necessary – you should just let the songs speak for themselves.
And at least it’s JUST Weir and not he and Tara Lipinsky, who mucked up Kentucky Derby coverage for several years with their goofy antics…
The 66th annual Eurovision Song Contest airs live on the Peacock streaming network on Tuesday (semi final one), Thursday (semi final two), and Saturday (grand finals) at 3 PM ET/12 Noon PT. And don’t forget, immediately after each broadcast, I will be going LIVE on YouTube at TKR VideoCentral with my analysis and comments on each show and how it went – and my wife, and my Subject:CINEMA co-host Kim Brown will be joining me with the live show on Saturday after the Grand Finals – please come by!