The Logies: “Networks More Interested In Nominations Than Making Good TV!”

The Logies – the top award for Aussie TV – is copping a fair swag of criticism following the announcement of the 2017 nominees (see bottom of the article) over the weekend.

The initial kerfuffle started when only one of the six nominees for the prestigious Gold Logie – Love Child’s Jessica Marais – was a woman. And this from an industry so heavily scrutinised about its gender equality.

The event is run by Bauer’s TV Week magazine and voted on by its readers. This year’s awards will be announced on 23rd April and televised on the Nine Network.

And now a new brouhaha has erupted over the award show’s apparent fondness for Ten’s “news lite” program The Project.

The early evening current affair program regularly picks up Logies wins, including hosts Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore wining the 2016 and 2015 gold Logie respectively. And this despite the fact that the program regularly does poorly in viewer audience numbers.

Hosts of The Project, Peter Helliar and Waleed Aly, are once again nominated for a Gold Logie for this year’s awards.

However, that’s not sat well with some of The Project’s detractors who claim a bias (sour grapes?) towards the program considering its lacklustre viewer numbers. (It pulled 614,000 viewers and was the 14th most watched show last night according to OzTam figures.)

News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph is today quoting an “industry source” who was not amused by an apparent favouritism the show receives from Logies’ judges.

“They’re a bit of an embarrassment,” the source told The Tele.

“The Project is one of the worst rating shows on TV, it is tanking badly and the only time they get any interest is when Waleed does his publicity-grabbing editorialising that lost its zing about a year ago.

“For a night and a program that has always really failed to get a high level of interest and respect, serving up this once again shows once again how out of touch they are.”

While Helliar’s nomination has got stuck in the craw of another who noted the Melbourne comic doesn’t even host the program and, in his words, is a mere “sidekick”.

“What it shows is Channel Ten’s publicity department is more interested in getting people nominated for Logies than putting good shows to air,” the source said in a catty attack.

And The Tele claims a rival network has backed its claim suggesting Logies are now handed out to people “who campaign or whinge” the most and are no longer based on talent or high viewer ratings.

The Logies were becoming irrelevant and “getting worse every year,” the spokesperson suggested.

The Logies will be televised from Melbourne’s Crown Casino on Sunday 23rd April. The event will reportedly be hosted by Dannii Minogue and feature performances by singers James Blunt and Casey Donovan.

This year’s full list of Logie nominees include:

BEST ACTOR
• Craig McLachlan (Deep Water/The Doctor Blake Mysteries/The Wrong Girl) (SBS/ABC/Network Ten)
• Erik Thomson (800 Words) (Channel Seven)
• Richard Roxburgh (Rake) (ABC)
• Rodger Corser (Doctor Doctor/The Doctor Blake Mysteries) (Nine Network/ABC)
• Samuel Johnson (Molly) (Channel Seven)

BEST ACTRESS
• Asher Keddie (Offspring) (Network Ten)
• Deborah Mailman (Cleverman/Jack Irish/Offspring/Wolf Creek) (ABC/Network Ten/Stan)
• Jessica Marais (Love Child/The Wrong Girl) (Nine Network/Network Ten)
• Jessica Mauboy (The Secret Daughter) (Channel Seven)
• Marta Dusseldorp (A Place To Call Home/Jack Irish/Janet King) (Foxtel – Showcase/ABC)

BEST PRESENTER
• Amanda Keller (The Living Room) (Network Ten)
• Carrie Bickmore (The Project) (Network Ten)
• Grant Denyer (All Star Family Feud/Family Feud/The Great Australian Spelling Bee) (Network Ten)
• Sarah Harris (Shark Tank/Studio 10) (Network Ten)
• Waleed Aly (The Project) (Network Ten)

TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE – Best Personality On Australian TV
• Grant Denyer (All Star Family Feud/Family Feud/The Great Australian Spelling Bee) (Network Ten)
• Jessica Marais (Love Child/The Wrong Girl) (Nine Network/Network Ten)
• Peter Helliar (The Project) (Network Ten)
• Rodger Corser (Doctor Doctor/The Doctor Blake Mysteries) (Nine Network/ABC)
• Samuel Johnson (Molly) (Channel Seven)
• Waleed Aly (The Project) (Network Ten)

BEST NEW TALENT
• Hayley Magnus (The Wrong Girl) (Network Ten)
• Penny McNamee (Home And Away) (Channel Seven)
• Rob Collins (Cleverman/The Wrong Girl) (ABC/Network Ten)
• Shalom Brune-Franklin (Doctor Doctor) (Nine Network)
• Tiarnie Coupland (Love Child) (Nine Network)

BEST DRAMA PROGRAM
• 800 Words (Channel Seven)
• Doctor Doctor (Nine Network)
• Home And Away (Channel Seven)
• Molly (Channel Seven)
• Offspring (Network Ten)
• Wentworth (Foxtel – Showcase)

BEST ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
• Anh’s Brush With Fame (ABC)
• Family Feud (Network Ten)
• Have You Been Paying Attention? (Network Ten)
• The Voice Australia (Nine Network)
• Upper Middle Bogan (ABC)

BEST NEWS PANEL OR CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM
• Four Corners (ABC)
• Studio 10 (Network Ten)
• Sunrise (Channel Seven)
• The Project (Network Ten)
• Today (Nine Network)

BEST REALITY PROGRAM
• Australian Survivor (Network Ten)
• I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! (Network Ten)
• MasterChef Australia (Network Ten)
• My Kitchen Rules (Channel Seven)
• The Block (Nine Network)

BEST SPORTS PROGRAM
• In Rio Today (Channel Seven)
• Monday Night With Matty Johns (Foxtel – FOX SPORTS)
• The AFL Footy Show (Nine Network)
• The NRL Footy Show (Nine Network)
• Wide World Of Sports (Nine Network)

BEST LIFESTYLE PROGRAM
• Better Homes And Gardens (Channel Seven)
• Gardening Australia (ABC)
• Luke Warm Sex (ABC)
• Selling Houses Australia (Foxtel – LifeStyle)
• The Living Room (Network Ten)

BEST FACTUAL PROGRAM
• Australian Story (ABC)
• Bondi Rescue (Network Ten)
• Bondi Vet (Network Ten)
• Gogglebox Australia (Foxtel – LifeStyle/Network Ten)
• Todd Sampson’s Body Hack (Network Ten)

Most Outstanding Drama Series
• A Place To Call Home (Foxtel – Showcase)
• Cleverman (ABC)
• Rake (ABC)
• The Code (ABC)
• Wentworth (Foxtel – Showcase)

Most Outstanding Miniseries or Telemovie
• Barracuda (ABC)
• Deep Water (SBS)
• Molly (Channel Seven)
• Secret City (Foxtel – Showcase)
• The Kettering Incident (Foxtel – Showcase)

Most Outstanding Actor
• Henry Nixon (Fergus McFadden, The Kettering Incident, Foxtel – Showcase)
• Noah Taylor (Nick Manning, Deep Water, SBS)
• Richard Roxburgh (Cleaver Greene, Rake, ABC)
• Rodger Corser (Hugh Knight, Doctor Doctor, Nine Network)
• Samuel Johnson (Ian “Molly” Meldrum, Molly, Channel Seven)