ROLL out the red carpet, flash that toothy smile and please put your mobile phone away sir, you’re not allowed to Tweet in here. That’s right folks, Australian television’s night of nights, the TV Week Logie Awards, is upon us.
When I was a kid, the Logies seemed like the pinnacle of entertainment. The A-grade likes of Ray Martin, Steve Vizard and Bert Newton would take home gold; you’d be hard-pressed to think of an Australian celebrity not in attendance, and the newspapers the next day would have saturation coverage.
But the Logies lost its way. Was it when former Friends star Matt LeBlanc made the most unenthusiastic guest appearance of all time? Wendy Harmer’s unmemorable hosting in 2002? Bec and Lleyton Hewitt bringing baby Mia up on stage, as if the audience cared (what were they doing there in the first place)?.
Dwindling ratings (the ceremony was beaten by MasterChef last year) have grabbed more headlines than the winners in recent years; but Crown Towers will be filled with the who’s who of TV on Sunday as they give it another go.
Much of this year’s ceremony is under wraps, but the obligatory international guests are singer Seal, in a Nine cross-promotion for The Voice, US rapper Flo Rida and British boy band One Direction. Delta Goodrem will perform her new single. Shaun Micallef, Dave Hughes and Julia Morris are among the presenters, but you wouldn’t bank on Chris Lilley making an appearance after ABC forgot to submit his Angry Boys in its shows viewers can vote for.
The ‘‘most popular’’ awards, voted for by TV Week readers, always offer up a few head-scratching moments. Personal trainer Tiffiny Hall and chef Peter Kuruvita are up for best new talent awards; four Packed to the Rafters actors are up for most popular gongs, and Hamish Blake is nominated for the gold sans sidekick Andy Lee.
Away from the high-rating dramas and soapie stars, the industry-voted ‘‘most outstanding’’ awards offer a better reflection of the last year in Australian TV. Excellent ABC dramas The Slap and Paper Giants have been recognised, as has Gruen Planet (which despite its popularity isn’t nominated in any most popular fields) and SBS’ brilliant Go Back To Where You Came From docu-series. But it won’t be these winners that make the paper. It will be who embarrassed themselves at the after-party, who showed the most flesh and who won the Gold Logie. I’d like to see Adam Hills or Asher Keddie take it home, but expect Nine’s Karl Stefanovic to win his second consecutive gong.
Sunday, Nine, 7.30pm.
