Semi final running orders

Every year we have the umming and ahhhhings about who should go where in the running order. The producers can have a hard time making it 'fair' and sometimes they cannot help but make it blindingly obvious what they want to win!! It's almost become a bit of a custom to have a go at being Christer Björkman for an hour or two by making the running order ourselves, if only on the basis that when the real one comes out we can complain at how our versions are much better!

The songs competing in the semi finals have been placed into a semi but also allocated either a top half or bottom half slot, hence why each semi is separated into 2 in my pictures. I have tried really hard not to allow my own favouritism, or lack thereof, to influence the draw making. Instead I have tried to space out similar entries (so no back-to-back ballads) as well as keeping apart acts of a similar nature e.g. not putting groups next to each other.

What has become very obvious is that even though the semi allocation draw was totally random, and done before most songs had been chosen, it has created some rather noticeable imbalances. Semi one is where the majority of the non-English songs are - even then almost all of those are in the bottom half - whilst semi two is high on ballads - most of those also in the second half. Although this is a useful, if not sometimes frustrating, tool for creating the running orders, it does make you wonder what the balance of songs will be in the final. We could end up with no duets or groups in the final or have almost no non-English songs or have a very ballad heavy final which would help the efforts of the non-ballads.

The only thing that is not taken into account is where the breaks will be taken. There are usually two during each show but not always spaced out evenly over the evening. Obviously if someone has an intricate staging, they might be eyeing up a spot before or after a break, at the start or at the end of the show. As I don't know where these breaks will be I cannot take this into account. However, when the real order comes out,identifying the acts either side of the breaks could give us some insight into staging. However one might say giving extra time for such acts might be deemed favouritism. It is a tricky business!

Anyway, here is my attempt

   BLUE - male soloists   RED - female soloists   GREEN - duets   ORANGE - groups

SEMI 1

SEMI 2

Now, I very much doubt this will be the running order, for example it is very unlikely they will give Sweden, and possibly Netherlands, such a bum draw. Although the draw can help or solidify the favouritism of certain songs, with some entries this year I don't think they need such help, hence why I have put them were they are. One of the issues with a producer led running order is that emotions and hearsay about songs influences you. I mean, if I was able to push some of the acts I really like then Slovenia would be at the end of semi 1 and Azerbaijan would end semi 2. If I can see one major change to show favouritism, there might be a switch around of Croatia and Russia, although the fact we know the Russian staging is quite complex they may need a break slot.