The Seven Network‘s Steve Vizard was awarded the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality On Australian TV at the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards.
The Gold Logie came a year after Vizard, a cast member and producer of sketch comedy series Fast Forward, branched out to produce and host Seven’s late-night talk/variety show Tonight Live. Vizard took out the Gold ahead of fellow nominees Ray Martin, Daryl Somers and Jana Wendt.
Vizard also won the Logie for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Male Personality.
The presentation, held at Melbourne’s World Congress Centre, was hosted by Somers and broadcast on the Nine Network.
The show began with Somers making his entrance to the stage from high up in the ceiling of the World Congress Centre via a flying fox. Somers, hosting the Logies for the second time (the first was in 1988) says he was “very happy” with his job as host. “It was a great team effort all around. It was a real buzz for me. I felt comfortable and relaxed. I really enjoyed it.” As for the high-rise entrance: “It was pretty spectacular, wasn’t it? In rehearsals, I was that harness for 45 minutes and it was so tight around the shoulders, I started to get dizzy. And the other part of the harness… well let’s just say that was a very uplifting experience!”
The opening of the Logies included a performance by Debbie Byrne and the Electric Legs dancers (pictured). Also performing on the night was Mark Williams, best known for his hit song Show No Mercy.
Overseas guests attending the Logies included actress Angie Dickinson and Twin Peaks stars Peggy Lipton and Michael Ontkean. For Lipton, it was a long-awaited arrival to the Logies. She had been invited 20 years earlier as a cast member of the then hit series The Mod Squad, but had the withdraw from attending due to illness. “I finally made it — better late than never,” she told TV Week.
Home And Away star Craig McLachlan won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor for the third year in a row — and 25 years later is nominated for the same award. A Country Practice star Georgie Parker (pictured) won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress, only a year after winning the Logie for Most Popular New Talent. “The Silver is great for A Country Practice,” she said. “It means people are really interested and watching.” It was a double celebration for A Country Practice that night, as series creator and executive producer James Davern had been inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall Of Fame. The award was in recognition of a career that had begun at the ABC in the early 1960s and included working on dramas Bellbird, Rush and Patrol Boat. His concept for a rural drama set around a local hospital was knocked back by Network Ten only to be picked up by Seven in 1981. At the time of this award, A Country Practice had been running for almost ten years and had sold well overseas. (Ironically, Network Ten ended up picking up the series in 1993 after Seven had axed it, but it was not to be a success for Ten)
Fast Forward star Magda Szubanski (pictured with Vizard) won the Logie for Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Female Personality, but was more concerned whether or not she’d make it through the night as she’d been battling a virus for the past month. “I didn’t think I would make it through the show, but I’m okay,” she later told TV Week. Szubanski had also appeared as a guest presenter on the night as her alter ego Pixie Anne Wheatley. “Pixie seems to be a favourite, but I hope this award recognises all my work, not just one character.”
The Seven Network mini-series Jackaroo collected three Logies — Most Popular Telemovie Or Mini-Series as well as Most Popular Actor and Actress In A Telemovie Or Mini-Series, which were won by David McCubbin and Annie Jones (pictured).
Actor Richard Huggett, formerly of E Street before moving onto Neighbours, was awarded Most Popular New Talent.
Veteran actor Michael Craig was awarded Most Outstanding Actor for his work on the ABC series GP, but was unable to attend as only a few days earlier had gone into hospital suffering from osteomylitis. The illness had taken Craig out of production for GP for several weeks and his Logie was accepted by colleague and fellow nominee John McTernan.
Rebecca Gibney (pictured), who played the part of Guinea in the ABC mini-series Come In Spinner, won the Logie for Most Outstanding Actress. “It was one of those roles that every actress in the country was after,” Gibney told TV Week. “I didn’t think I would have a chance.” Gibney had also won an AFI Award for the same role. Come In Spinner, the story of three women working in the Marie Antoinette Beauty Salon in Sydney during World War II, also took out the Logie for Most Outstanding Telemovie Or Mini-Series.
Four Corners won the Logie for Most Outstanding Achievement In Public Affairs for Paul Barry‘s report on Independent Resources Ltd, which lost $200 million of shareholders’ funds and, at the time of the Four Corners report, was “still in business”. The report Other People’s Money, produced by Debbie Whitmont, had Barry travelling across Australia, to the Manila Stock Exchange, a Philippines gold mine, the US oil fields, the City of London and London’s stockbroker belt.
Ray Martin won the Logie for Most Outstanding Single Documentary Or Documentary Series for The Chelmsford Scream. Martin, whose original 60 Minutes report in 1981 on the controversial Chelmsford hospital in Sydney exposed some of the horrific treatment subjected to patients, had returned to 60 Minutes to lead the team covering the Royal Commission into the hospital. The resulting 60 Minutes documentary was named after the screams of patients who received a bolt of electricity to the head after heavy doses or barbiturates.
ABC journalist John Lombard won the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Achievement In News for his reports from the Soviet Union during 1990. It was a time of significant change for the Soviet Union and Lombard was the only Australian journalist based there since the ABC had established a bureau in Moscow in 1988.
Ray Martin and Daryl Somers may have missed out on the Gold Logie but both were successful in winning Logies for Most Popular Personality in their respective states, New South Wales and Victoria. Soapies Home And Away and Neighbours won Most Popular Program for NSW and Victoria respectively.
Seven’s Brisbane-based Family Feud won the Logie for Most Popular Program In Queensland, with its host Rob Brough (now a newsreader for the Seven Network in regional Queensland) winning the award for Most Popular Personality In Queensland.
Seven’s other afternoon game show, the Adelaide-based Wheel Of Fortune, collected the Logie for Most Popular Program In South Australia. And it was yet another Logie Award for longtime Adelaide favourite Anne Wills for Most Popular Personality In South Australia.
In Western Australia, viewers voted Seven Nightly News and newsreader Rick Ardon as the most popular from their state. In Tasmania their state-based awards were won by Tasmania Today and its co-host Robyn Martin.
The Logie Award for Most Outstanding Achievement By Regional Television was won by No Fixed Address, a documentary from WIN Television in Wollongong. Presented by Mary Franks, No Fixed Address examined the issue of youth homelessness, with the Wollongong and Illawarra area used as an example. The public response from the program included offers of support, accommodation and jobs to many homeless children.
TV Week Logie Winners 1991: Publicly-voted categories
Gold Logie – Most Popular Personality On Australian TV: Steve Vizard
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor On Australian TV: Craig McLachlan
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress On Australian TV: Georgie Parker
Most Popular Series: Home And Away
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: Fast Forward
Most Popular Lifestyle Information Program: Burke’s Backyard
Most Popular Telemovie or Mini-Series: Jackaroo
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Male Personality: Steve Vizard
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Female Personality:Magda Szubanski
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Cricket
Most Popular Actor in a Telemovie or Mini-Series: David McCubbin
Most Popular Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-Series: Annie Jones
Most Popular Children’s Program: Agro’s Cartoon Connection
Most Popular Music Video: Chain Reaction (John Farnham)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair
Most Popular New Talent: Richard Huggett
TV Week Logie Winners 1991: Industry-voted categories
Gold Logie – Hall Of Fame: James Davern (pictured with Lorrae Desmond and Penny Cook)
Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actor: Michael Craig
Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actress: Rebecca Gibney
Most Outstanding Single Drama or Mini-Series: Come In Spinner
Most Outstanding Achievement in Public Affairs: Other People’s Money (Four Corners, ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement in News: John Lombard (ABC)
Most Outstanding Single Documentary or Series: The Chelmsford Scream
Most Outstanding Achievement by Regional Television: No Fixed Address (WIN)
TV Week Logie Winners 1991: State-based categories (Most Popular Personality, Most Popular Program):
New South Wales: Ray Martin, Home And Away.
Victoria: Daryl Somers, Neighbours
Queensland: Rob Brough, Family Feud
South Australia: Anne Wills, Wheel Of Fortune
Western Australia: Rick Ardon, Seven Nightly News
Tasmania: Robyn Martin, Tasmania Today
The 58th annual TV Week Logie Awards. Sunday 8 May, 7.30pm (Red Carpet 7pm), Nine Network.
Source: TV Week, 16 March 1991. TV Week, 23 March 1991.
