Our star for Baku

Television series
Original title	Our star for Baku
Country of production	Germany
year	2012
Production company	Brainpool TV GmbH on behalf of NDR
length	about 150 minutes
Episodes	8th
genre	Casting show
idea	Stefan Raab
production	Stefan Raab , Jörg Grabosch, Adrian Stumpf
Moderation	Sandra Rieß ( Das Erste ) and Steven Gätjen ( ProSieben )
First broadcast	January 12, 2012 on ProSieben

Our star for Baku
Preliminary decision data
country	Germany
place	Studio Cologne-Mülheim
date	February 16, 2012
Time	8:15 pm ( CET )
Duration	about 150 minutes
Number of participants	20th
Preliminary rounds	7th
poll	Televoting (100%)
Pause filler	Frida Gold : What should we dream of
Moderation
Sandra Rieß ( Das Erste ) & Steven Gätjen ( ProSieben )

The German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was organized as a casting show with the title Our Star for Baku ( acronym USfB ). It ran from January 12 to February 16, 2012 in eight live broadcasts on the TV channels ProSieben and Das Erste . The winner of the competition was Roman Lob with the song Standing Still .

prehistory

After the two previous German ESC selection processes , ProSieben and the NDR responsible for the competition decided to let TV viewers decide again in 2012 which interpreter with which song Germany would be represented in the final of the competition in Baku .

On June 15, 2011, another collaboration between ARD and ProSieben was officially announced. Our Star for Baku as a successor format to Unser Song for Germany was based on the same concept as Unser Star for Oslo . Thomas D took over the role of the president of the jury and producer of the ESC song after Stefan Raab had announced that he would not participate in the ESC as much as in the previous two years. Shortly before the first live show, the organizers announced that, in contrast to the castings in 2010 and 2011, there would be a permanent jury. In addition to Thomas D, this included Stefan Raab and Alina Süggeler , the singer of the band Frida Gold .

concept

The participant for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku was determined in eight television programs. In a nationwide casting , candidates were able to apply in a “casting box” at ProSieben and at various radio stations' events. The jury finally selected twenty participants from several thousand applicants for the television shows.

Ten of the candidates appeared in each of the first two elimination shows, five per program advanced. In the two following shows two participants were eliminated, in the fifth show and in the quarter-finals one participant each. In the semifinals, the two finalists were determined from the four remaining candidates. In the final, the audience first chose the song with which the candidate Germany will be represented in Azerbaijan and then from the two remaining candidates the winner.

The decision as to which candidates would advance was made exclusively by the television viewers via televoting . With the constant display of the current voting interim results and the current, percentage voting result, there was a novelty in German casting shows. The intermediate voting after the initial presentation of the candidates decided the order of the appearances, with the candidate with the lowest rating at the time appearing first. The jury assessed the applicants, but had no direct influence on the decision.

broadcasts

All eight shows were broadcast live from the TV studios in Cologne-Mülheim , each beginning at 8:15 p.m. The cooperating broadcasters ProSieben and Das Erste set broadcast dates and channels as follows:

broadcast	Send date	Channel	Candidates
1. Elimination show	January 12, 2012	ProSieben	10
2. Elimination show	January 19, 2012	ProSieben	10
3. Elimination show	January 26, 2012	ProSieben	10
4. Elimination show	0February 2, 2012	ProSieben	08th
5. Elimination show	0February 6, 2012	ProSieben	06th
Quarter final show	0February 9, 2012	The first	05
Semifinal show	February 13, 2012	ProSieben	04th
Final show	February 16, 2012	The first	02

First elimination show

The first of the five elimination shows took place on January 12, 2012. Of the ten participants, the television viewers voted five into the next round.

1st elimination show on January 12, 2012
space	Start number	candidate	song	Original interpreter	Televoting
01.	06th	Shelly Phillips	Valerie	The Zutons	015.5%
02.	10	Roman praise	After tonight	Justin Nozuka	014.9%
03.	08th	Celine Huber	Beautiful disaster	Kelly Clarkson	014.7%
04th	03	Leonie Burgmer	Stronger Than Me	Amy Winehouse	014.7%
05.	01	Katja Petri	Marry you	Bruno Mars	014.7%
06th	05	Kai Nötting	More	Usher	014.5%
07th	09	Jil skirt	Moves Like Jagger	Maroon 5 (feat. Christina Aguilera )	005.9%
08th.	04th	Yasmin Gueroui	Not fair	Lily Allen	002.4%
09.	07th	Salih Ozcan	Señorita	Justin Timberlake	001.7%
10.	02	Jan Verweij	Closer to the edge	30 Seconds to Mars	001.0%

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Second elimination show

The second of the five elimination shows took place on January 19, 2012. Of the ten participants, the television viewers voted five again for the next round.

2nd elimination show on January 19, 2012
space	Start number	candidate	song	Original interpreter	Televoting
01.	06th	Rachel Scharnberg	My baby left me	Rox	013.3%
02.	09	Yana Gercke	Price tag	Jessie J (feat. BoB )	013.0%
03.	03	Sebastian Dey	This love	Maroon 5	012.7%
04th	08th	Umut Anil	Straight up	Paula Abdul	012.5%
05.	05	Ornella de Santis	Slow motion	Karina Pasian	012.3%
06th	10	Vera Reissmüller	Fooled Me Again	Lady Gaga	012.3%
07th	01	Andrew Fischer	Tears in Heaven	Eric Clapton	009.4%
08th.	07th	Tina Sander	Geronimo	Aura Dione	007.1%
09.	04th	Jörg Müller-Lornsen	Maybe Tomorrow	Stereophonics	004.0%
10.	02	Polly Zeiler	Grenade	Bruno Mars	003.4%

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Third elimination show

The third of the five elimination shows took place on January 26, 2012. The remaining ten candidates from the first and second show competed against each other. The television viewers voted eight participants into the next round.

3rd elimination show on January 26th, 2012
space	Start number	candidate	song	Original interpreter	Televoting
01.	10	Roman praise	Easy	The Commodores	011.4%
02.	06th	Celine Huber	How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore	Prince	010.3%
03.	07th	Ornella de Santis	I want you back	Jackson Five	010.1%
04th	09	Yana Gercke	Roxanne	The Police	010.1%
05.	03	Sebastian Dey	Amnesia (original composition)	The expedition team	009.9%
06th	08th	Shelly Phillips	Fuck you!	Cee-Lo Green	009.8%
07th	05	Umut Anil	Move on	Tim bendzko	009.8%
08th.	04th	Katja Petri	Lego House	Ed Sheeran	009.6%
09.	02	Leonie Burgmer	I love your smile	Charlie Winston	009.6%
10.	01	Rachel Scharnberg	Like a star	Corinne Bailey Rae	009.4%

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Fourth elimination show

The fourth of the five elimination shows took place on February 2, 2012. The remaining eight candidates from the third show competed against each other. This time the television viewers voted six participants into the next round using a televoting countdown . As before, a single countdown of 60 seconds was not triggered for the end of the voting, but a separate one for each position leading to advancement, so that after a short break, positions one to six were determined one after the other. The number of calls to candidates who had already been placed was frozen and their line closed. The voting shares therefore no longer necessarily decrease with each rank and add up to more than 100 percent.

4th elimination show on February 2nd, 2012
rank	Start number	candidate	title	Original interpreter	Televoting countdown
1.	8th	Roman praise	Drops of Jupiter	Train	017.0%
2.	7th	Yana Gercke	Titanium	David Guetta (feat. Sia )	017.2%
3.	6th	Ornella de Santis	Try	Nelly Furtado	012.8%
4th	5	Shelly Phillips	Waterfalls	TLC	013.6%
5.	3	Celine Huber	Right to Be Wrong	Joss Stone	013.8%
6th	2	Katja Petri	The '59 sound	The Gaslight Anthem	017.5%
7th	4th	Umut Anil	Someone Like You	Adele	016.1%
8th.	1	Sebastian Dey	Hey, Hey, Hey (original composition)	The expedition team	006.0%

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Best result after the first televoting countdown

Best result after the second televoting countdown

Best result after the third televoting countdown

Best result after the fourth televoting countdown

Best result after the fifth televoting countdown

Results after the sixth televoting countdown

Fifth elimination show

The last of the five elimination shows took place on February 6, 2012. The remaining six candidates from the fourth show competed against each other. This time, the television viewers voted five participants into the next round using a televoting countdown .

5th elimination show on February 6, 2012
space	Start number	candidate	song	Original interpreter	Televoting countdown
1.	6th	Roman praise	Drive	Incubus	020.3%
2.	4th	Shelly Phillips	I try	Macy Gray	020.3%
3.	5	Yana Gercke	We found love	Rihanna	020.1%
4th	1	Katja Petri	Certain Someone (original composition)	On a Sunday	016.3%
5.	2	Ornella de Santis	You Are the Sunshine of My Life	Stevie Wonder	018.8%
6th	3	Celine Huber	Russian roulette	Rihanna	018.5%

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Best result after the first televoting countdown

Best result after the second televoting countdown

Best result after the third televoting countdown

Best result after the fourth televoting countdown

Results after the fifth televoting countdown

Quarter final show

The quarter-finals took place on February 9, 2012 and was the first show to be broadcast on Erste . The remaining five candidates sang two titles in two rounds. The television viewers voted four participants into the next round using a televoting countdown .

Quarter-final show on February 9, 2012
space	Start number	candidate	song	Original interpreter	Televoting countdown
1.	5	Roman praise	You give me something	James Morrison	020.7%
			Day by Day (own composition)	Rooftop Kingdom
2.	4th	Yana Gercke	Who Knew	pink	020.5%
			Talking to the moon	Bruno Mars
3.	2	Ornella de Santis	I'll be there	Jackson Five	021.9%
			Love the Way You Lie (Part II)	Rihanna
4th	3	Shelly Phillips	Can't Take My Eyes Off of You	Frankie Valli	025.3%
			Have it all	Jeremy Kay
5.	1	Katja Petri	All you wanted	Michelle Branch	025.3%
			Stay	Hurts

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Best result after the first televoting countdown

Best result after the second televoting countdown

Best result after the third televoting countdown

Results after the fourth televoting countdown

Semifinal show

The semifinals took place on February 13, 2012 and was broadcast again on ProSieben . Each of the remaining four candidates sang a title in the first round. After a televoting countdown, the last placed was eliminated. The other three candidates sang a second song, after which the television viewers determined the two finalists in a further vote.

Semi-final show on February 13, 2012
space	Start number	candidate	song	Original interpreter	Televoting countdown after the first song	Televoting countdown after the second song
1.	4th	Roman praise	Bad day	Daniel Powter	026.2%	035.7%
			Use somebody	Kings of Leon
2.	2	Ornella de Santis	Eu Vou Ser Mais Eu (original composition)	Ornella de Santis	028.9%	036.4%
			If I Ain't Got You	Alicia Keys
3.	3	Yana Gercke	Rolling in the deep	Adele	026.2%	036.1%
			Skyscraper	Demi Lovato
4th	1	Shelly Phillips	Astronaut song (own composition)	Shelly Phillips	028.7%

 Candidate has qualified for the next round.

Best result after the first televoting countdown

Best result after the second televoting countdown after the first song and results after the second televoting countdown after the second song

Results after the third televoting countdown

Final show

The winner of the German preliminary decision: Roman Lob

The final took place on February 16, 2012 and was broadcast on the first . First, both candidates sang three specially composed songs. This was followed by a vote by the audience as to which of the three songs the respective candidate should perform in Baku. The two finalists presented this title again before the “Star for Baku” was chosen by telephone voting. Roman Lob won and represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku with the title Standing Still by Steve Robson, Jamie Cullum and Wayne Hector.

Final show on February 16, 2012
space	candidate	song	composer	Televoting song	Televoting candidate
1.	Roman praise	Conflicted	Martin Mulholland	006.5%	050.7%
		Alone	Gary Go , Emanuel Kiriakou	016.7%
		Standing still	Wayne Hector, Steve Robson, Jamie Cullum	076.8%
2.	Ornella de Santis	Quietly	Alex Geringas , Liz Vida, Guy Roche	070.0%	049.3%
		Alone	Gary Go, Emanuel Kiriakou	017.6%
		Standing still	Wayne Hector, Steve Robson, Jamie Cullum	012.4%

Winner of the televoting and the song selected by the televoting

Song of the defeated finalist selected by televoting

Odds

No. (total)	Channel	date	spectator		Market share
			total	14 to 49 years	total	14 to 49 years
000001	ProSieben	Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012	2.44 million	1.86 million	8.2%	15.6%
000002	ProSieben	Thu, Jan. 19, 2012	1.71 million	1.26 million	5.4%	10.1%
000003	ProSieben	Thu, Jan. 26, 2012	1.73 million	1.29 million	5.6%	10.6%
000004th	ProSieben	Thu, Feb. 2, 2012 0	1.62 million	1.09 million	5.3%	09.2%
000005	ProSieben	Mon, Feb 6, 2012 0	1.13 million	0.82 million	3.5%	06.5%
000006th	The first	Thu, Feb 9, 2012 0	1.99 million	0.98 million	6.3%	07.7%
000007th	ProSieben	Mon, Feb 13, 2012	1.22 million	0.93 million	3.8%	07.1%
000008th	The first	Thu, Feb 16, 2012	2.19 million	1.13 million	6.9%	08.9%

criticism

It was often criticized that the elimination would be dragged out too long, which is also reflected in comparatively poor odds. The “lightning table” was also criticized in some cases as distorting competition.

Web links

• NDR website for the Eurovision Song Contest

Individual evidence

1. ↑ brainpool.de: Production of the program Unser Star for Baku
2. ^ Daserste.de: Our star for Baku ( memento from January 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 9, 2012.
3. ↑ "Our star for Baku": Thomas D becomes jury president ( Memento from December 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ ^{a b} Alexander Krei: Stefan Raab: "You better call ARD". DWDL, January 9, 2012, accessed on January 9, 2012 . 
5. ^ Daserste.de: Our star for Baku ( memento from January 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 9, 2012.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e} From the fourth elimination show , a single countdown of 60 seconds was not triggered for the end of the voting, as was previously the case, but a separate one for each placement leading to advancement, so that after a short break, places one to six were determined one after the other . The number of calls to candidates who had already been placed was frozen and their line closed. The voting shares therefore no longer necessarily decrease with each rank and add up to more than 100 percent.
7. ↑ Manuel Weis: Primetime check: Thursday, January 12, 2012. In: quotenmeter.de. January 13, 2012, accessed January 14, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Manuel Weis: Primetime check: Thursday, January 19, 2012. In: quotenmeter.de. January 20, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Jan Schlüter: "Our star for Baku" is increasing minimally. In: quotenmeter.de. January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 27, 2012 . 
10. ^ Jan Schlueter: «Baku» is losing viewers again. In: quotenmeter.de. February 3, 2012, accessed February 3, 2012 . 
11. ↑ Manuel Weis: On Monday: Raab casting totally collapses. In: quotenmeter.de. February 7, 2012, accessed February 7, 2012 . 
12. ↑ Uwe Mantel: Change of broadcasting slot breaks the neck of “Star für Baku”. In: dwdl.de. February 7, 2012, accessed February 7, 2012 . 
13. ↑ Jan Schlueter : "Baku" casting continues a quota flop. In: quotenmeter.de. February 10, 2012, accessed February 10, 2012 . 
14. ↑ Mario Bratfisch: "Primetime check: Monday, February 13, 2012". In: quotenmeter.de. February 14, 2012, accessed February 14, 2012 . 
15. ↑ David Grzeschik: "Primetime check: Thursday, February 16, 2012". In: quotenmeter.de. February 17, 2012, accessed February 17, 2012 . 
16. ↑ Frank Bayer: Our little bear for Baku. February 17, 2012, accessed February 17, 2012 . 
17. ↑ Jan Feddersen: Charisma is elsewhere. January 20, 2012, accessed February 17, 2012 . 
18. ↑ Ingmar Kreienbrink: Flash table outdoes the candidates. January 20, 2012, accessed February 17, 2012 .