Tonight SVT celebrated it's 50 year anniversary and just a few minutes ago the two hour long show on SVT 1 finished. SVT is one of the broadcasters in Europe that takes the Eurovision Song Contest very seriously and puts a lot of time, money and effort into it's national selection competition, Melodifestivalen.

During the show we got to see a lot of new and old faces from SVT. One of the first speakers was Kattis Ahlström who allEurovision Song Contestfans will remember, she was one of the hosts at the competition in 2000 as well co-hosting Melodifestivalen back in 1994. Kattis spoke about the 15 years she had been with SVT. She spoke of SVT as a mature man that she has had a 15 year long relationship with and asked "SVT" to forgive her for her little flirt with TV3 as she had a couple of years ago.

Of course there were a lot of performances as well. Björn Skifs sang a pop song with a 60's touch to it, Björn represented Sweden at theEurovision Song Contestin 1978 and 1981. Björn has also been host of several tv-shows at SVTduringthe years. Janne "Loffe" Carlsson got a big hand when entering the stage, he was a very popular tv-host in the 1980's and was also the host of Melodifestivalen in 1981.

Charlotte Perrelli or, Nilsson as she was known when she won the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem, entered the stage in a very strange hairdo that will be famous for a long time. She sang a song called Television written and composed by Harpo. Of course the hostess of Melodifestivalen 2006 and Swedish representative at the Eurovision Song Contest2004 Lena Philipsson entered the stage after being introduced by Jacob Dahlinthrough some editing ofsome old clips from his shows. Jacob Dahlin was the comentator for SVT in Lausanne 1989, he sadly passed away with AIDS a couple of years later, but his show Jacobs Stege is one the most memorable that SVT has made.

Carola was in the audience but could not perform tonight due to her ongoing throat problems. She was keen tocheer on the other artists on stage. Lill-Babs entered the stage singing a song about the world famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. Lill-babs participated for Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 with the song April April. At the beginning of the show Kristin Kaspersen made some comments on what memories she had from SVT, she told that she most remembers the coffee room where she spent many hours as a child when her mother Lill-Babs was at SVT for various shows. Kristin was the co-host of Melodifestivalen in 2002.

Tommy Körberg was another of the invited guesst at this extravaganza singing a song in Swedish where he showed off his great voiceto make his offer to participate in next yearsMelodisfestivalen even stronger. Tommy Körberg sang for Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contestin 1969 and 1988.

En sexig, kaxig bitchig man (A sexy, cocky, bitchy man) was the song performed by Magnus Carlsson with a whole bunch of dancers behind him. Magnus will sing the song Live forever in Melodifestivalen 2007, he also qualified for the final earlier this year with the song Lev Livet and has performed in the Melodifestivalen finals as part of both Alcazar and Barbados. Lena Philipsson was next on stage once again, to perform a song about childrens programme that has been running on SVT. Lenagave usa little sex shock when she sang about her breasts and called them Humle & Dumle which was the title of a childrens programme in the 1960's. "I think that many people with me got a lot of flashbacks during thatperformance"

At the end of the show Charlotte Perrelli and Magnus Carlsson made a wonderful duet together with all the other artists and guests. The whole showcan now be seen on the SVT website. Click here and then on the option 'Välkommen på 50-årsfest – stjärnspäckad show' to watch the 50year extravaganza.

At Expressen and Aftonbladets webpolls many people felt that it was a bad show. In Expressen 54% of the voters gave the show the lowest mark. You can join in a chat about the show and SVT on both Aftonbladet and Expressen.