Talang 2007

Popularity

The show became an instant success and was consistently one of the top three television shows in Sweden each week.

Selection and elimination process

During the first four audition rounds (episodes 1-4), only the jury could decide who would continue to the semi-finals. At any time during a performance, each member of the jury could push on one of two buttons: a green check mark of approval or a red X for disapproval. When a member of the jury pressed one of the buttons, a loud sound effect let the contestant know that a member of the jury had made a decision and what the decision was. If a contestant received three red X's before the end of their performance, that contestant was eliminated and their performance was abruptly stopped. Sometimes, however, an eliminated contestant could convince the jury to allow them to complete their performance. To continue to the semi-finals, a contestant needed to gain at least two green check marks from the jury. If more than 6 contestants were given 2 or more green check marks in a single program, the jury would decide at the end of the program which 6 contestants would continue to the semi-finals. Those who continued to the semi-finals were not necessarily the ones that had received three check marks. Sometimes, the jury chose contestants with only two check marks over contestants that had been given three check marks.

During the three semi-finals (episodes 5-7), two finalists were chosen from each program, one by the jury and another by public vote. The public voted for a contestant by phoning a specific telephone number, which was published before the show aired and shown during and after each performance. Public voting started when the program aired on Friday and ended at midnight Sunday. Unlike the American TV series, where the public voted for free by calling a toll free number, the Swedish audience paid 5.70 Swedish kronor (June 2007, approximately US$0.82) for each call they made.

After the second semi-final aired, TV4 surprised the contestants by announcing that two wild card finalists would be chosen from the eliminated semi-finalists. One wild card finalist was chosen by the jury whilst the other was chosen by public vote. With only two days to prepare for the final competition, the wild card finalists had little chance of winning.

For the final program (episode 8), the winner was chosen only by public vote. Despite that, the jury still voted and commented on each performance. Voting started when the program started at 8 pm and concluded at some undisclosed time during the 1.5 hr long program. The voting procedure potentially gave an unfair advantage to contestants who performed early in the show. Indeed, the winner of Talang 2007 performed first. Furthermore, all of the phone numbers for each contestant were published before the show, allowing the public to vote for their favorite contestant before they had given their final performance.

Results by episode

Where known, votes by the jury (Blom, Hedlund and Karlsson, respectively) are shown below.

Winner

Zillah & Totte

Totte is Zillah's three-year-old (stuffed animal) chimpanzee. The duo talk, sing, and perform magic tricks together for their comical performances. For the winning performance, Zillah & Totte sang Herreys "Diggi-loo diggi-ley" on a stage with large letters that spelled TOTTE. In the middle of the song, Zillah fell backwards over the letters and Totte blamed her for destroying their chance to win. "Now you owe me a million!" said Totte to Zillah before first demanding the audience to vote for him and then sweetly asking for their vote. The strategy worked as they not only won the jury's votes but also votes of the public.

Voting styles

Of the three jury members, Karlsson was often the first to hit the red X button, claiming that he needed no more than 10 seconds to decide. In contrast, Hedlund was often the last jury member to vote. On a couple of occasions, Blom pushed Hedlund's red X button, ending an act before she was ready to do so. She did not challenge the decision made by Blom but did allow at least one act, the Coffee Beans choir, to complete their performance despite being eliminated early.

Hedlund preferred singers and theatrical performances, as well as strange and bizarre acts. Karlsson was most interested in acts that were commercially viable, such as pop singers and bands. His favorite comment was, "Rent kommersiellt vet jag inte om det är speciellt gångbart" (From a purely commercial standpoint, I don't know if it is viable). Thus, he typically did not vote for dancers or circus acts. Blom, being a magician, was more critical than the other jury members of the magicians on the show. For example, when Simon Trollkarlen made mistakes in his semi-final performance, Blom was the only jury member who gave Simon a red X.

The Swedish public tended to vote for younger contestants. For example, of the four finalists decided by public vote – Baby Bang, Skånske Elias, Mimmi Sandén, and Slowmotion Phax – only one (Slowmotion Phax) was not the youngest in his group. Baby Bang (12 year old) was the youngest contestant in the first semi-finals (episode 5), Skånske Elias (8 years old) was the youngest contestant in the second semi-finals (episode 6), and Mimmi Sandén (12 years old) was the youngest contestant in the last semi-finals (episode 7).

During the semi-finals the jury intentionally chose adult contestants as finalists to prevent the final show from only having children as finalists.

Contestants

Many of the contestants in Talang 2007 are professional entertainers, have family ties in the entertainment business, had previously won talent competitions, or were completing an education specializing in their art form. Participating on the show gave them free publicity for their business and/or art form. A couple of contestants were requested by TV4 or a jury member to participate in the show.

Controversy and criticism

In order to make the show appeal to a wide audience, the producers attempted to change the jury's decision during the filming of episode 3. TV4 wanted a mix of males and females to continue from the auditions whereas Karlsson felt that quality should determine whether a contestant continued or not.

During the semi-finals, the jury intentionally only selected adult competitors to continue to the finals since they thought the public would only vote for children and the final program would become a children's show. Debates in the TV4 Talang 2007 forum about the public's tendency to vote for child acts and whether adults and children should compete in the same show were ongoing throughout the entire season. The host, Peppe Eng, had to rush the jury through their comments for each contestant to keep the show on schedule. Furthermore, TV4 sabotaged the show's climax by showing the name of the winner to the TV audience before the winner was announced; when the card containing the winner's name was removed from the envelope, the winner's name faced the camera.