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Love, hate and all things Logies.

TV Week responds to Logie "haters" after diverse nominations gets everybody talking.

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This week’s Logie nominations have created plenty of talkability for the brand, which is good for the magazine, Nine and Bauer -although not all of it is positive.

As we know, the Logie Awards have become an event that enjoys a “love / hate” relationship with viewers. Over the years there’s plenty of gentle mocking at the nominees and winners as we gasp -are these really the most popular people on telly? Who are half of them anyway?

On the big night those of us who still sit down on the couch gawk at the event. Everything from fashion disasters to embarrassing speeches and dud hosts is up for grabs. There aren’t many award events in the world that ply their stars with alcohol before letting them loose on stage to make an acceptance speech. It is quintessentially Australian and must be preserved. Even better when there is a big name US star beside them trying to make sense of it all. Joan Rivers, you are missed….

Say what you like, but the Logies is still the biggest awards night in the country. For better or worse, it is still our “Oscars.” It has the biggest Red Carpet in the country -with both talent and media, and a 58 year history. Take that ARIAs.

But there is always room for improvement.

Why change Most Popular to Best? Why give us an eclectic list of “new talent” names based on a confusing rule? Why triple the number of new talent categories? Why limit the Gold to Actor / Actress and Presenter only (New Talent faces are ineligible)? Why shove the Graham Kennedy Award out of the ceremony itself? And why not induct more women into the Hall of Fame to join a locker room of blokes?

This year the Logies did come to the party on diversity, thanks to the inclusion of Lee Lin Chin and Waleed Aly up for Gold. It did so at a time when the Oscars was roundly criticised for its caucasian bias. It’s clear that Lee Lin Chin (fabulous as she is) was nominated due to an aggressive social media campaign. That’s the same argument many levelled at Hamish Blake / Karl Stefanovic / Scott Cam winning Gold. Frankly it is the modern day version of publicists filling out TV Week coupons all those years ago. In other words, nothing has changed other than the methodology. Good on her for nabbing what is surely the first Gold nod for SBS.

The Project‘s Waleed Aly has also come in the firing line in News Corp (he writes for Fairfax) while the Today show has also dropped unhelpful remarks about skin tone and ethnic backgrounds.

“You’ve been trailblazing long before Waleed and Lee Lin Chin,” Ben Fordham told Karl Stefanovic.

“I might look white on the outside but I’m dark on the inside,” Karl replied.

Make no mistake, Aly is extremely popular with the demographic that largely reads TV Week and checkout mags, even if he is rarely on the cover. Don’t be surprised if he wins –TV Tonight readers already gave Aly and Carrie Bickmore their “Favourite” picks in recent site awards.

Getting the conversation rolling on diversity on TV happens at a time when Screen Australia has initiated research into representation in our Dramas. Discussion is a healthy thing. Language and context are important, in any considered debate….

Meanwhile TV Week has responded to “a few of those haters” with a Q&A on how its nominees are assembled, denying the nominees are rigged.

We open up submissions to:

All major metropolitan free-to-air networks such as SBS, ABC, Nine Network, Channel Seven and Network Ten
Subscription TV networks (Foxtel and the channels they provide to customers)
Subscription streaming services (Netflix, Stan, Presto)

The above then submit programs and personalities for each of the award categories.

It’s great the Gold has become more diverse, if as the result of a rather flawed system.

But then if the Logies were actually perfect, we’d have nothing to mock next day at the watercooler. And we can’t have that…

27 Responses

  2. It’s a joke really who has been nominated for Gold! All of them are pretty pathetic. I could name 100 people much more deserving of the vote. Carrie and Waleed are a joke, he has nothing to offer and she has won it already so move on from her

    1. You might want to talk to Ray Martin, Bert Newton, and quite a few others about being eligible to win the Gold Logie more than once.

      And let us know when you’ve typed up that list of 100 names…

  3. Thanks for the commentary David. Personally I think the diversity of people form different networks should be celebrated. The colour of skin should be a non-issue in multi-cultural Australia and those that are making an issue and being negative are a slur on our society. It is great to acknowledge the diversity, especially in light of the Oscars controversy, but I wish it was just a part of our everyday awards system.

  4. That Today segment reeked of jealousy. I refuse to accept that Karl won on merit (give me a break), but Waleed only got nominated cos he’s brown. Waleed is arguably more deserving than Karl (in terms of both popularity and achievement/quality of work) so I’d be careful about throwing stones if I were Karl. Karl may have done that feminist stunt with the suit, but turns out racism is A-Okay by him.

  5. Did anyone actually watch the Today segment? I did & I thought it was just Karl, Lisa & Ben having a bit of fun at Karl’s expense over his ‘Central Europe surname’ as Karl put it.
    I think the biggest scandal is Grant Denyer getting a nomination for the Gold Logie. Ten’s social media department must have been working overtime to make that happen.

  6. Ah breakfast show haters. Whether you agree with him or not, Waleed presents well-explained intelligent arguments as opposed to some other “celebrities”. Congrats to all nominees.

  7. Wonder if Charlie Pickering is feeling slighted? 5 years wasn’t it on The Project. Not even sure if he got a Presenter nomination during his run. At least he got a peer voted nomination this year for his show, but why isn’t he on the popular lists too? Waleed is certainly on a roll – Quills award, Walkley winner.

      1. Charlie talked about the Logies on The Weekly tonight. He actually appeared quite gracious and supportive of Waleed’s (and Carrie’s) nominations 🙂

  8. I’m sure some of the older regular commenters here will recall the days of Ernie Sigley and Don Lane and some of the shenanigans that Bert Newton and others used to get up to – and when it was really live!!!!! No delay. And those international guests that had no clue where they were or what they were introducing. For those working in the industry it is still seen as a prized possession to win a Logie. But it clearly doesn’t rate what it once did and the poisoned challis of hosting is now legendary. There’s always a few categories and wins that vindicate its presence still.

  9. Great editorial David and it’s always good to read your take on this Aussie cultural tall poppy. I appreciate that you rely on a lot of good grace and will from all platforms of media (and they, you!) to bring us this amazing site, but i do enjoy when you give a review or analysis of something like this. The Logies can always be better, but I sense they do like to court controversy as well. When Lisa McCune or Ray Martin used to win year after year it was as boring as batshit, so i guess the somewhat odd inclusions and social media campaigns of recent years have brought a frisson that was much needed. Nothing would surprise me on the night as to who wins. I’m just happy when a Deb Mailman or Foxtel show wins and some great recognition is bestowed where not always expected. The good with the not so good 🙂

    2. Run a campaign to get enough people to vote for her. Simple as that. Good luck to her. It’s within the rules, everyone knows them. A lot of other industry awards run the same way. The company I worked for sent around emails asking for people to vote for one of our products as ‘best’. It won. It wasn’t the ‘best’ but had the most votes.

  14. I’m quite disappointed by the comments made by Karl and Lisa, insinuating that the only reason Aly was Lee Lin were nominated is because of the colour of their skin. Kumi Taguchi’s said it nicely on her Facebook page.
    Interestingly, I don’t recall Carrie receiving the same criticism as Aly when she was first nominated. Or to the same extent anyway.

    1. In this instance from the media nor is Grant Denyer being lambasted, his show rates around the same as The Project, however that’s over 3 networks, yes there was Spelling Bee as well but based on the criteria they used, he should be included in the why.

      They have to remember that Waleed Aly’s ISIL is weak got a great reaction here and worldwide, not that the world matters for Logies, however it is also likely why The Project was mentioned in an episode of Castle (though The Project is well liked by visiting overseas stars as well).

  16. We shouldn’t be too surprised by the backlash from rightwing conservatives like Stefanovic and Fordham or the rightwing Murdoch rags.

    I am sure if Steve Price or Andrew Bolt were nominated the Waleed haters would be singing the praises of the Logies.

    BTW – the Waleed haters are claiming Waleed doesn’t deserve the nomination because the Project is not a very popular show. They go so far as saying the morning breakfast shows like Today and Sunrise rate much better than The Project.

    Could anyone please tell me how much Today and Sunrise rates? If they are rating more than The Project I will happily apologise to Karl, Ben, the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun.

  17. Great article David! I still watch the Logies and actually thought last year’s ceremony was the best in years. Personally I would be scrapping pretty much all of the Best/Most popular awards and just have the peer nominated Outstanding awards like most of the awards ceremonies do (Oscars, Emmys etc). However, I would keep the public voted Gold Logie as the pinnacle of the night due to it’s history and still allowing the public a say in the night.

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