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TV Tonight Awards: Underbelly wins Best Drama

The votes are in! Kat Stewart and Gyton Grantley thank readers of TV Tonight for choosing Underbelly as the year's top drama. All the winners are here...

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TV Tonight readers have voted Underbelly the Best Australian Drama of 2008.

Channel Nine’s gangland mini-series polled ahead of Seven’s Packed to the Rafters and City Homicide. TEN’s Rush came in fourth place.

Kat Stewart and Gyton Grantley, who played the role of Roberta Williams and Carl Williams, both thanked readers for the win.

“Thank you TV Tonight readers, for voting Underbelly as Best Drama for 2008!” said Kat Stewart.

“Being based on real events that were still unfolding around us, the stakes felt pretty high. You dream of getting a job where cracker scripts are taken even further with inspired direction, camera, performances, editing and sound.

“I’m personally really proud and eternally grateful to be part of it. It’s given me my best screen opportunity so far, and the opportunity to exchange abuse with strangers in a warm and affectionate way! ” she said.

Gyton Grantley said: “This was a special production because it told a true Australian story. One that was born and bred in the streets of Melbourne. The audience reaction was astounding and I’m sure it was this close relationship to the happenings of the gangland war that made it so watchable.

“Thanks again to TV Tonight readers for your support.”

2008 was a year that surely put Kat Stewart on the map. She also ranked highly in the Favourite Female category. In addition to shooting Tangle for pay television last year, she flexxed her comedic skills in SBS’ Newstopia –which also polled well in the Comedy category.

“Thanks also to TV Tonight readers for supporting Newstopia which we hope will be back some time in 2009,” she added.

Here are the winners of the TV Tonight Awards 2008:

Best Drama : Underbelly
Packed to the Rafters, City Homicide, Rush.

Best Drama (Int): Dexter
Lost, NCIS, House.

Best Comedy: The Hollowmen
Newstopia, Bogan Pride, Spicks and Specks.

Best Comedy (Int): 30 Rock
Two & a Half Men, The Office, How I Met Your Mother.

Best Light Entertainment: Rove
Spicks and Specks, Good News Week, The Gruen Transfer.

Best Morning Show: Sunrise
Today, 9am with David & Kim, The Morning Show.

Best Game Show: Deal or No Deal
Temptation, The Rich List, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

Best Reality: So You Think You Can Dance
Big Brother, Australian Idol, The Biggest Loser

Best Reality (Int): The Amazing Race
Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance (US), American Idol.

Best Lifestyle: Better Homes & Gardens
Domestic Blitz, Getaway, What’s Good For You.

Best Factual or Documentary: Border Security
The Howard Years, Bondi Rescue, Find my Family / RPA.

Best News or Public Affairs: Seven News
7:30 Report, 60 Minutes, Today Tonight.

Best Talk Show: Enough Rope with Andrew Denton
Rove, Q&A, Talking Heads.

Best Kids Show: Hi-5
H20 Just Add Water, Blue Water High, Play School.

Best Sports Show: The Footy Show
Beijing Olympics, Before the Game, Sports Tonight.

Best New Show: Packed to the Rafters
Underbelly, Rush, The Gruen Transfer.

Favourite Male: Rove McManus
Hamish Blake, Daniel McPherson, Shaun Micallef.

Favourite Female: Rebecca Gibney
Kat Stewart, Kate Ritchie, Julia Zemiro.

Worst Male: Kyle Sandilands
Andrew O’Keefe, David Koch, Rove McManus.

Worst Female: Melissa Doyle
Jackie O, Anna Coren, Sonia Kruger.

Worst Show: Big Brother
Monster House, The Strip, Today Tonight.

Worst Show (Int): Kath & Kim (US)
Two and a Half Men, The Moment of Truth, 90210.

Show Most in Need of Retirement / Axing: Australian Idol
Neighbours, Dancing with the Stars, All Saints.

Show We Need to See on air: Pushing Daisies
True Blood, Chuck, Reaper.

Story of the Year: Scheduling hits a new low
The end of Big Brother, The Underbelly ban, Nine axes Sunday and its News brand diminishes

Best Subscription Channel: FOX8
Arena, FOX Sports, Showcase.

Best Free to Air Channel: Seven
ABC, TEN, Nine.

A few trends in voting this year indicated some readers voted for 2007 shows that were actually in re-run last year (ie Summer Heights High, The Chaser) despite survey guidelines to focus on first-run shows. This meant those votes were ousted from those categories. In Comedy some chose to add Light Entertainment shows (there were no restrictions on scripted or non-scripted).  Packed to the Rafters even logged quite a few votes in the Comedy category!

In sport there were votes for “The Footy Show, Footy Show (AFL) and Footy Show (NRL).” Whilst the AFL votes more than dominated NRL, The Footy Show brand was clearly a first choice.

Some shows ranked highly in both popular and worst categories, no doubt dividing viewers.

The Ellen de Generes Show polled well in the Talk Show category, but this section was preceded by a guideline to vote for Aussie shows.

A significant number of votes also chose “Foxtel” as Best Subscription Channel. Go figure.

In “Show We Need to See on air” there were some votes for show already on Pay TV. Whilst it would be nice to see them on FTA, sadly they didn’t qualify in this category.

One voter got very creative and tried to stack votes for their favourite shows by logging identical votes on multiple computers. But when there are some 30 questions and all your votes are for Anthony Callea, Catriona Rowntree, Sandra Sully, Worst Week of my Life, Jamie at Home, Dicko, and X Factor UK it’s just a dead give away. Sorry, those votes were all logged as 1 in each category.

And whose star is on the way up? New names on the “Favourite Male / Female” list, ranking just outside top placings were: Gyton Grantley, Todd Lasance, Callan Mulvey, Rodger Corser, Hugh Sheridan, Madeleine West, Lisa Wilkinson and Jolene Anderson.

To compare results with 2007 go here.

And that wraps up 2008! Thanks for voting, guys!

44 Responses

  1. Good on ya Ben! exactly what I was thinking! office, scrubs and arrested all have a different sense of humor that i guess the australian public dont like. seinfeld and friends are great shows but the humor is very different! 2.5 men is even okay on its day

  2. Glad to see Underbelly and 30 Rock win their categories.

    Ben, you forget Australian produced comedy series like Frontline and Kath and Kim which were without a laugh track long before Arrested Development, Scrubs etc. I love those shows too, but let’s not make sweeping generalisations.

  3. knoxoverstreet, you did not just say that. believe it or not some people vote for shows because they like them, not just because of the network, we’re not all like you.

    these awards show how much people don’t like 9. i thought it would have atleast beat 10. and their news wasn’t even in there. <how else do the fanboys want it spelled out to them.

    IMO Rafters is the best show of our time, gibney deserves this years gold logie.

    i voted for daniel mcpherson but didn’t expect him to be up there. i guess people appreciate it when a guy on tv is not “looks at me and how much personality i have”

    i thought ladette to lady was going to be up there for best International reality, i quite liked it, more that amazing race.

  4. What ever happed to Reaper? I though Seven we supposed to show it this summer. I am about to start downloading season 2 when it premiers very soon.

  6. It’s a pretty good results overall. I’m happy that Enough Rope won an award. I’m also happy that Today Tonight and A Current Affair weren’t nominated for best public affairs program.

    Strange to see Sunrise win best morning show, with Melissa Doyle winning worst female and Kochie being nominated for worst male! lol

  7. Thats so true Ben never realised that till now. Only exception really is My name is earl and malcolm in the middle – which i think really launched the laugh track free sitcom in the 21st century

  8. Wow, how does The Office get beaten by 2.5 Men? The Office is the best comedy since Arrested Development! I’ve noticed that all the prime time favourite comedy shows in Australia all have laugh tracks – 2.5 Men, Big Bang, Seinfeld, Friends, Raymond, Old Christine (some of these have passed now obviously), yet brilliantly funny shows like Arrested Development, The Office, Scrubs, Curb your enthusiasm, sunny in Philadelphia all don’t have a laugh track and they get shafted to 12.00 time slots… it seems to me the Australian public need simplified comedy that revolves around lame jokes and swearing.. they need a laugh track to tell them when to laugh.. lets hope for change!

  9. Glad to see that I wasn’t the only one that voted for Reaper in the Show We Need to See on air category. Thank god for the internet or we wouldn’t even know about these shows let alone get to watch them.

  10. o i have been waiting for the results for ages, thanx david.

    good to see some underated material get some love like 30 rock, hugh sheridan and rebecca gibney (i forgot to vote for her but i’m glad others remembered).
    interesting that Underbelly won best drama but rafters won best new show.
    surprised (not dissapointed) that 9 news, ACA, and KAK weren’t recognised in their categories
    i am upset that 2.5 men didn’t get worst show, i mean K&K-US was bad but it was only on for an hour collectively in primetime.
    i thought that the TGYH swap was the biggest story, i must be alone.

    and david are the runners ups in order? did 9 come 4th in networks? o well they beat SBS.

  11. I agree Alex City Homicide is pretty ordinary but the majority of the people who voted were likely biased towards a particular channel.

    Good to see 2.5 Men poll well it’s one of the best of decade,certainly the most popular.

    And yay to Underbelly best oz show in ages & well deserved!

  13. Great poll David!
    Interesting results – some things do surprise me though.

    I don’t get how City Homicide even got a mention in the drama category – its laughably bad.
    Seven News beat ABC News!?? as best news? Seven News is just as bad or good as Nine News. I think ABC or SBS News deserved that category.

    Funny how Sunrise won best morning show while Mel won worst female and Kochie was high up there in worst male.

    And Seven got best network??! Well, I guess that’s understandable seeing as they’re number one.

  14. Great work David…very interesting results. Can’t wait to see what the Logies nominations are…and if anyone is reading this from the Logies, seeing as comedy is so big in Australia, can’t we have an award for Best Comedic Actor and Best Comedic Actress. That way at least some awards couldn’t go to H&A or neighbours actors!

  15. Pleased to see Rebecca Gibney win favourite female category. lol at 2.5 Men getting runner up best comedy, and runner up worst international show. Which is it people!!!

  17. The great thing about these surveys is that they show that even the most popular entertainers, such as Rove (according to this survey in any event :P), still polarise public opinion. He was voted best male and best light entertainment, but also getting a runner up as worst male. Oh well can’t please everyone I guess.

    And great to see Dexter voted in as well!

  18. lol to the voter who went on multiple computers. At least they’re passionate. A lot of channel 7 shows overall, good that this reflects its yearly win in ratings as well

  20. Poor Melissa Doyle, I used to reallyu like her but the whole “motherly mel” routine to Kochies “daggy father” has gotten really, really old..very well deserved wins for Underbelly and its cast, it was a brilliant series

  22. Interesting results David…. especially Two and A Half Men appearing as a runner up in best international comedey. Considering how many people bag it out in the comments on here, I’m surprised it tallied so well.

  24. At least I got ‘scheduling hits all time low” right. Along with Amazing Race.
    How could anyone put Two & a Half Men as best comedy.
    Glad Denton & Gruen got Kudos.
    I did not vote for Underbelly as in Victoria I still have only seen 4 or 5 part eps…
    Would be interesting to see what summer shows have been hits with TV tonight viewers . Mine are Party Animals,The Unit, Army Wives, Rex in Rome and my biggest must watch was In Plain Sight.
    P.S. David, how many votes all up (bar the cheater/multi stacker)

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