“No plans to scrap the Logies”
TV Week publisher responds to speculation about the future of the Logies and restores some faith.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
After the sale of ACP Magazines to Bauer Media Group this week there have been some questions over how this will affect the Logie Awards.
The Logies will be wholly owned by Bauer Media subject to the ACP sale approved by the Foreign Investment Board.
Today the Daily Telegraph speculates that the 50+ year event is in doubt. A Bauer spokeswoman told the newspaper last night, the company “could not guarantee the future of anything in our business”. A Nine insider tells the newspaper conceded Bauer “could scrap it” once the sale has been approved.
Nine declined to comment when asked by TV Tonight on Tuesday night, but today the publisher of TV Week magazine, Peter Holder, told Mediaweek: “It truly astounds me that media writers who indulge in the annual ritual of tearing down the TV Week Logies somehow reserve the right to fabricate a story that the awards are to be scrapped before delivering a sense of outrage. The stories that have appeared in regards to the TV Week Logies are categorically false, not to mention wildly inaccurate, and had anyone bothered to check I could have told them that. There are no plans to scrap the TV Week Logies. They will go ahead as planned in 2013 and beyond, and will be presented by the Nine Network.”
Nine is understood to be 1 year into a 10 year contract to broadcast the Logies, and the event has secured a 5 year deal with Crown.
What changes Bauer may consider for the voting, presentation, revenue model and beyond is unclear. Presumably right now there are none.
TV Tonight also sent enquiries to TV Week publishers on Tuesday night.
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41 Responses
@Andrew…just because grandad was prepared to sit and get wet because his outhouse roof leaked for 50 years [because he never chose to fix it], doesn’t mean the roof shouldn’t be fixed now.
I resist settling for ‘best of a bad bunch’ when there isn’t any need to.
There are years I’ve cringed when it’s logies time and there are years I’ve looked forward to them.We just need to lighten up and realise it’s part of our television history and it adds to all that is Australia.It’s entertainment,the Australian way.
To the people who say scrap the Logies I’ve just got a few words:
The Sammys
The Penguin Awards
The People’s Choice Awards
In other words the Logies might be flawed and people might love to hate them but the fact is that nobody else has managed to do anything better in over 50 years of television.
Ahh poor David ! You’re a tad outgunned now that S. Squirrel has arrived on the scene! 😉
Actually I think his idea has merit – the AACTAs (or anything peer-voted) would have more credibility. And they could evolve into something as fun as the Logies. Maybe the Brown Logie could be awarded at the end of the AACTAs for the Worst Supporting Actor in a Bogan Sitcom?
Isn’t this debate good fun! It beats working….
Actually this site must be costing me heaps in lost productivity… damn you, David – stop being so interesting! 🙂
@David… You posted something with a list of descriptions that you view as positive. I made a comment about a couple (only) because I see virtually nothing in your list as positive.
The ‘conversation is enough because it talks about a brand’ is only half the story. However, I do feel today like you are pushing ‘Brand Logies’ and so far I’ve not found your argument convincing.
Yes, this has been a great dialogue and more than anything, we are all sincere about what we think and you wouldn’t want to alter that.
David, I agree with you to a point. I am a sappy sentimentalist in respect of most things. There are certainly bits of the Logies that appeal. Rob Sitch (Working Dog etc) once said that “there’s nothing funnier than Australian TV taking itself seriously” in reference to the Logies. I put it in the same category as the Eurovision Song contest back when Terry Wogan was commentating – have 6 or 10 cocktails and it’s huge fun!
It’s just that in recent years it’s become a pointless Ch9-fest/Crown Casino advert and it makes me a little sick.
@SusanP – I agree re ‘Tall Poppy” syndrome. There’s no such thing. It’s a tool spin doctors use to cover the flagging popularity of their stars.
Love your passion, David but I still think I’m with Steveany and Qubec on this. The Loogies should be scraped off the face of television now that the “Moon-face” of television is no longer allowing them to have even a façade of respectability or credibility.
Sure, we could try to fix them up by completely changing them into something else, and hoping that the massive bias in the voting demographics somehow addresses itself or, we could get behind the AACTA Awards which have all that we seem to be clamouring for, albeit in nascent form.
I certainly do not see the Logies as “our Oscars” but the AACTAs could be. It will take a lot less work to grow the AACTAs than to completely remodel the Logies which, if we are honest, is less about celebrating Aus TV than it is about selling a few more copies of an increasingly irrelevant publication.
Have no problem agreeing to disagree, and happy to support the peer-voted AACTAs. But just as the Oscars capture America’s imagination as their leading awards night, nothing eclipses the Logies here in doing the same. Sorry AACTAs, AFIs, ARIAs, ASTRAs, Brownlows and the rest, but Logies still holds that mantle.
@David…Tall poppy is becoming an over-used term to explain away just about any critique someone in the industry doesn’t embrace.
But you’re actually talking like it’s a party for insiders that we just shouldn’t attempt to change.
“Yeah…got a logie…but have it on that ebay site thing..who gives a rats” (and the gang go ho ho ho in response)
Fascinating perhaps…but admirable for a major national awards system and evening? Is fascination with a trainwreck the best we can aspire to? Will a totally drunk and spaced out host who can’t read the cue cards be even more charming?
I completely understand the reluctance to let go of history, but let’s scrape the awards down and revamp them. (I liked ‘scraped’) Trust me, people can still have fun at an event they actually seem to respect. Otherwise if this is just some drunken industry party, please hold it behind closed doors and don’t involve the rest of us.
Susan P: you’re only focussing on the negatives I mentioned, I was deliberately showing the paradoxes involved. In any case, the “live” broadcast gives access to many of these aspects, so again it’s not about insiders. The fact we’re all debating the thing shows how much the audience connects with the brand.
@ED75..Bauer have said more than that however I would need to go and locate the articles we discussed here yesterday and quote from them etc etc. Bottom line is that there are no guarantees. Would you at least agree on that? If so, then I once again question why Holder can claim that there is no threat to the awards. That’s really all my post was ED75..cross-comparing.
And when you deny the ‘press’ then you deny Holder within that frame surely. He was reported in ‘the press’ (Mediaweek). You seem to be suggesting that what Holder says in the press had a veracity that what Bauer is reported as having said doesn’t. Not sure how you can claim that.
At this point if we still disagree, let’s see how it plays out. Cheers for the dialogue.
@steveany 2.0.. Placing aside the ending statement (cos I don’t know!)..absolutely agree with your post.
Peter Holder, who launched Confidential for News? Oh yes, he never would have come up with an anti-Logies story. (But I do believe what he’s saying)
I believe @Qubec got it right in his first comment when he thrice called for The Logies to be ‘scraped’ (instead of scrapped)!
If you scraped the Logies clean and started afresh it might be worth watching again.
Currently its just a dog’s breakfast of uncouth unknowns pretending to be classy and talented. Breaches of decorum are de rigueur.
I yearn for the old days when there was a bit of class and people like Bert Newton delivered witty lines to an attentive audience. The odd vulgarity was all the funnier because it was rare, not constant, as it is now.
Sorry to disagree with you David – I can see how it provides fodder for your website, but even you have to admit it’s mostly on the nose.
Stevany: It’s not about providing fodder for my website. Any replacement event would do that anyway. It’s about preserving a television industry event with over 50 years. I get that it’s part of our tall poppy, and I think that’s now become part of its charm. Everybody has an opinion on it. Everybody hears who has won and has an opinion on that too. It’s uniquely Australian in that the industry dresses up only to dress it down, yet secretly want one at the same time, gets boozy, whacks it on the CV, ogles at a visiting international star, bags it, says “who?” when a soapie star wins, puts a trophy as pride of place, sells it on eBay, never works again, clamours for a plus one invite …all of these things in all its glory are the Logies. Don’t ditch them, just fix the voting so it is equitable.
We live in hope.
@SusanP All Bauer said was that no
part of their business could be guaranteed, which at this early stage would be their answer in regards to maintaining staff, the Logies or the crossword page. To take this, as many have, that the Logies are under threat more than any other part of the business is nothing more than gossip. Needless to say, that if and when there is credible news of change you will probably see it here first.
My point is simply that Peter Holder’s view is far more credible than that of a lay person or the press at large.
I’m with David on this one.Regardless of what some might say about the logies,it’s ours,it’s uniquely Australian and love them or hate them,it’s a fun and joyous celebration of the Australian television industry.
@Ed75 .. If you re-read my comment I said “How can Peter Holder make this kind of assertion?”
I then clearly ran that against what Bauer has come out and said to the press.
It’s problematic if you try and suggest that press reports of Bauer are incorrect but the one about Holder is spot on.
I suggest you re-read my post. I don’t say anywhere he is ‘wrong’ btw, I simply raised questions against Bauer. If you have further insider information, be our guest and please provide that.
@SusanP how can Peter Holder make an assertion?? With all due respect as publisher of the magazine I think he might have a slighter clearer picture of the ramifications of the sale on the Logies than some of those making comments here or the press, who have been spouting all sorts of wild and purely speculative ideas of what will happen.
Gotta try and keep the Logies, so we can all whinge and complain about how the hell xxxx won or deserved the Gold Logie and also drunken celebs and scantily clad hot babes…
Can’t get any worse than Hamish winning Gold.
Fair enough…I was being light-hearted and some of us haven’t read you for 5 years.
I don’t think it should be scrapped. The actors and all the people who work in tv should get some recognition.
@David- SusanP has articulated what I’m thinking perfectly. I’ve said it many times in the past but I equate the Logies with the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards in terms of prestige of the award itself. They’re voted for by niche demographics (housewives, teen girls) and network publicists. They lack any real credibility.
That all being said, I would hate to see the event disappear completely. I agree, we have no other red carpet like it and we can’t get rid of that. Just let’s make it a credible award ceremony voted by an academy of experts (like nearly every other major televised award show). And yes, let’s keep the booze if only for the cringe value of a drunken celebrity…
Quebec: KCAs is actually the best staged awards show in the country, including the Logies. Many could learn a lot from its production.
Sorry David…please put your tux back into the wardrobe. I am for scrapping…But..coming back bigger and better under a new system. And I think that will happen. If what we have now is our Oscars…scrap it!! I’ve never been there of course as I’m sure you have. Perhaps give us an insider view on being at the Logies if you want it to hang in?
I’ve written about Logies for 5 years here, including insider views. But I don’t push for it to be kept for insiders. I concur we seek an improved voting format, but I don’t call for it to be scrapped.
Please be scraped, please be scraped, please be scraped….
Nooooooo we can’t scrap the Logies! Yes we have a love / hate relationship with them, but they are quintessentially Australian. Boozed up celebs with fame rushing to their heads, count me in! More seriously, no other red carpet night in the country tops this. It’s our Oscars.
How can Peter Holder make this kind of assertion? Surely it’s as bad as the one he is denying. And frankly, weighing in with admittance that the media generally doesn’t respect the awards isn’t a selling comment. Impression only but that entire comment sounded reactive and angry…which may simply be fear of course..which I can well understand.
There indeed may be no “current plans to scrap” but he cannot guarantee their continuance given the statements from Bauer. It would seem that, at the moment, the future of the Logies is in a mid-ground but clearly most posting on TV Tonight wouldn’t be upset to see them go.
The coverage deal is nothing and considering how cheaply the stable was bought I doubt paying out a 5 year deal with Crown would be too bothersome if they decide to cancel the awards.
Its early days and with any takeover, the changes will take place gradually over a period of time. Too many folk jumped the gun on this one. Wait and see, but anything is possible, regardless of what current execs say….