0/5

Logie revamp drops categories

Network campaigns pay off big time and TV Week slims down for its Gold Coast event.

Nine, TEN and ABC were big winners in yesterday’s Logie Awards nominations, and Foxtel has its very first Gold nominee.

But Seven had a modest showing despite winning the 2017 ratings year.

Nine: 22
TEN: 21
ABC: 20
Foxtel: 17
Seven: 12
SBS: 6
Stan: 5

Sunday’s nominations proved again to be a win for network campaigns, with Nine and TEN going hard on the campaign trail.

When Lisa Wilkinson jumped ship from Nine to TEN the network went hard with a promotional campaign for Tracy Grimshaw. It paid off, whilst arguably costing Wilkinson a nomination (still, what’s ultimately more important?).

Grant Denyer has his third Gold nomination, despite Family Feud being axed, a testament to his popularity. Rodger Corser & Jessica Marais both have their second Gold nod whilst it’s a first for the quiet achiever Amanda Keller.

Regular names like Carrie Bickmore, Karl Stefanovic, Asher Keddie and Scott Cam all missed out on Gold contention. In fact all of the The Project hosts missed out on a Gold nomination -a first since 2011. Carrie Bickmore is nominated for a Silver and the show is in the running for Most Popular Entertainment.

The change to the voting period has doubtless aided shows that were on earlier this year.

There were other changes this year behind the scenes.

TV Week has abandoned Most Outstanding Comedy in favour of just Most Popular Comedy, dominated by ABC. Most Popular Sport has been dumped in favour of Most Outstanding Sport. The Most Outstanding News & Most Outstanding Public Affairs categories have been merged.

But it is very disappointing that The Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent is now The Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent. Kennedy’s legacy could be aligned to the likes of Sam Frost and Matty Johnson, both of whom are Reality TV graduates.

Four categories less should at least help trim the night’s length by 20-30 minutes.

Other notable absences include MasterChef Australia, Survivor Australia, Gruen, The Bachelorette, Big Bash League, and Sunshine.

The Most Outstanding Actor category strikes me as the toughest of all:

Damon Herriman (Lance Gowland, Riot, ABC)
Ewen Leslie (Ryan Gallagher, Safe Harbour, SBS)
Hugo Weaving (Alex Klima, Seven Types Of Ambiguity, ABC)
Lachy Hulme (Blake Farron, Romper Stomper, Stan)
Rodger Corser (Hugh Knight, Doctor Doctor, Nine Network)

The biggest success stories of 2017 Australian Ninja Warrior and Sophie Monk were absent. Monk’s name was never in contention given she was a reality star, and too experienced as new talent.

And can we please confine Comedy to scripted comedy? Why are Have You Been Paying Attention? and Hughesy We Have a Problem not in the Entertainment category?

David Anderson, ABC Director of Entertainment & Specialist, said of ABC wins, “Congratulations to all our Logie nominees for their hard work and dedication towards producing content that is distinctive, engaging and uniquely Australian. The diversity of our nominations shows the rich breadth and depth of our programs that inform, educate and entertain Australians.

“Across drama, comedy, factual, news and current affairs, children’s, music, arts and entertainment, the ABC is the nation’s leading source eof Australian conversations, culture and stories. We back Australian content and creativity, helping to drive the independent sector and reminding audiences every day of the stories that reflect our culture and community, across the country.”

Foxtel Executive Director of Television Brian Walsh said: “What a momentous occasion for Foxtel. I’d like to congratulate Andrew on this incredible achievement, along with all our nominees who have been recognised today.

“These 17 nominations re-enforce Foxtel’s commitment to producing a broad range of Australian content for our customers, and cement the resonance our shows have amongst our viewers and their ever-growing fan bases,” he said.

7 Responses

  1. OMG the Logies used to be a must see every single year. Then it seemed like Channel Nein and Crown owned them and paid for Nein personalities to get up. Magazine readership for TV Week plummeted as people now watch Netflix; and the whole award thing is now just a pile of rubbish. I haven’t watched for two years, despite tuning in for two decades prior…

  2. I really don’t understand the Gold Logie category. How can people appearing as themselves in whatever show, be equated with actors portraying someone else? As popular as someone like Roger Corser and Jessica Marais may be as actors, we’ve little idea about them personally, specially as they’ve portrayed many characters over the years. It just doesn’t equate.

  3. The short lived Outstanding Entertainment Program award has been axed too.
    I noticed that there is an “Outstanding Factual Documentary Program” award too, but am not sure if the two were ever seperated in the industry awards before.

  4. It could be argued that HYBPA and HWHAP are scripted comedies, in that the questions/problems have already been read by the panels and answers already formulated. Loosely scripted at least

  5. Congratulations to all Nominees! I’d most like to see Grant, Amanda or Tracey win the Gold. Andrew Winter and all the children’s programs nominated are new to me. The acceptance speeches for either Gogglebox or Hard Quiz would be interesting. Where’s the Voice?

  6. Agree re the Graham Kennedy Award – such a shame. Happy with the Gold noms this year – tho I don’t like the way networks promote one star – sounds hypocritical I know!!] would prefer it was left up to the viewers entirely. Apart from that, I really hope its Amanda’s year – she’s be so good for so long.

  7. Some of the changes are really good like Most Popular Comedy brought back and Most Popular Sport being dumped in favour of Most Outstanding Sport. I agree that Most Outstanding Comedy shouldn’t have been abandoned.
    Also agree that it is very disappointing that The Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent is now The Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent. That needs to be reinstated.

Leave a Reply