Jul 29 2018

Lee Lin Chin signs off from SBS

  • 29 July 2018

The Queen has left the building!

SBS newsreader and fashion icon Lee Lin Chin gave a dignified sign off from her last SBS World News bulletin earlier this evening.

Ending almost 30 years at the SBS news desk, Chin once again impressed with her eccentric fashion that has become her trademark. She also received tributes from co-presenters Craig Foster and Mike Tomalaris and incoming replacement Anton Enus, returning to SBS after a two year absence.

In the video package that followed there were snippets of changing hairstyles, fashions, news sets, her viral self-parodies at The Feed including the all-network “Broadcast Battleground” plus a greeting from English  reporter Dan Rivers, who Chin complemented in a candid off-camera moment that was caught by the microphones.

 
YouTube: Australian TV Fan

Starting her media career in Singapore, Chin came to Australia in 1980 to join the new SBS television network as a subtitler. She then went to ABC radio in Newcastle and Darwin, later returning to SBS in the early 1990s as weekend newsreader.

In the years since she has also hosted her own series, Fashionista, has twice been Australia’s national spokesperson in the Eurovision Song Contest, and in 2016 was the first SBS personality to be nominated for a Gold Logie.

In an interview for Ten Daily, Chin said that there are various reasons for her leaving SBS but did not wish to elaborate further. However she is currently involved in a production company, All The Chin’s Men, with The Feed colleagues Chris Leben and Daniel Hartley-Allen, pitching ideas to networks.

She also said, on brand with her The Feed persona, that “working two days a week didn’t give me enough time to devote to the pub and re-reading the complete works of Shakespeare. So now that I work zero days that issue has been addressed.”

Source: Ten Daily, Wikipedia

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/lee-lin-chin-signs-off-from-sbs.html

Jul 26 2018

Nine / Fairfax deal creates media giant

  • 26 July 2018

A $4.2 billion media giant is set to be created with Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax Media announcing a deal to merge — further consolidating what is already a shrinking media landscape.

In the deal, which is subject to investor and regulatory approval , Nine shareholders will own 51.1% of the combined entity, with Fairfax shareholders owning 48.9%.

The Fairfax name become history after over 170 years, with the merged operation going under the Nine banner, with Nine CEO Hugh Marks in charge and Nine chairman Peter Costello remaining. Three Fairfax directors will go onto the Nine board.

Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood has announced that he will essentially be made redundant.

The new-look Nine will include television assets such as the Nine Network and NBN, newspapers Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Age, radio stations 2GB, 3AW and Macquarie Sports Radio and digital brands Domain, 9Now and Stan. (Stan is already a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax)

The merger is expected to deliver savings of around $50 million per year, mostly to come from support functions. Amid concerns at the combined operation diluting the journalistic independence of the television and print outlets, Marks has said that the newspaper mastheads will operate at arm’s length to Nine’s existing news operation.  Though it has been speculated that Nine News and the print mastheads may collaborate on some joint reporting ventures similar to what has previously occurred between Fairfax and national broadcaster ABC.

Source: The Age, The Age.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/nine-fairfax-deal-creates-media-giant.html

Jul 23 2018

Happy 80th Birthday, Bert

  • 23 July 2018

Happy 80th Birthday to Bert Newton!

One of our first and certainly most enduring TV stars, Newton started in TV at the age of 19 as host of The Late Show at HSV7 from August 1957.

While he has not had a regular place on television for some years (his last contract with the Nine Network lapsed four years ago), his career has spanned every era of Australian television and covered four networks.

He has hosted the TV Week Logie Awards a record 18 times, plus two occasions as co-host, and won four Gold Logies plus the Hall of Fame. He is the only person to have been paid tribute by This Is Your Life three times — the most recent being for his 70th birthday. He reinvigorated morning television, hosting Good Morning Australia for 14 years — at one stage fronting more than twelve hours of live television a week.

Earlier this year he was one of five Australian TV personalities paid tribute on a series of commemorative postage stamps.

There have been many career challenges along the way, such as his highly reported nervous breakdown in the mid 1960s, the intermittent career lulls that are inevitable in the brutal world of television, and some of the ventures that didn’t quite pay off. Even his recent comments at the TV Week Logie Awards, while not deliberately intended to cause offence, were perhaps not considered a high point. But it would be unfair to tarnish a lifetime of 80 years — and more than 60 of those in the spotlight — on some lowlights.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/happy-80th-birthday-bert.html

Jul 18 2018

Michael Ebeid leaving SBS

  • 18 July 2018

SBS chief executive officer and managing director Michael Ebeid has announced his intention to step down from the broadcaster.

Ebeid’s last day at SBS will be 1 October, almost seven-and-a-half years since taking over as managing director in 2011.

In a statement issued by SBS, Ebeid said:

“My decision to step down has been one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made. Serving as the SBS Managing Director has been a real honour and privilege and I depart feeling confident that this is the right time for a new Managing Director to take the organisation forward.

“SBS is the strongest it has been in over 40 years. We are more relevant than ever and we are ready for the future. Considering the struggle of societies globally to integrate diverse communities harmoniously, SBS today performs a critical role in the Australian community. We are the media organisation audiences can come to, on their preferred platform or device, for distinctive programs and different perspectives that create a better shared understanding within our diverse, multicultural society.

“We have been through a lot of change over the past seven years and our successes have only been achievable with the support of the SBS Board of Directors, our SBS Executive team and of course, our dedicated SBS employees. The SBS team is the most passionate and committed that I’ve worked with in my 30 year career. Our people come to work every day motivated to make an impact and I’ve learned a lot from them during my tenure.

“Importantly, I depart the organisation knowing that we have a very strong and experienced leadership team to help guide SBS forward. The organisation is honoured and humbled that SBS is valued by the communities we were created to serve four decades ago, and whom are at the heart of our organisation and the decisions we make today.”

In the years of Ebeid’s tenure, SBS has increased its television audience, embraced on demand viewing, revamped its radio programming, added NITV to its channel suite, secured long-term contracts with the Tour de France and FIFA World Cup and negotiated Australia’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

SBS has launched two new channels, Food Network and SBS Viceland, both formed in joint commercial ventures with US content providers.

He has fronted senate estimates to defend SBS funding and has been an advocate for SBS at a time when both national broadcasters are facing intense scrutiny of their role in the broadcasting landscape. (Both SBS and ABC are currently under a competitive neutrality review being conducted by the Government)

His announced departure comes just after SBS was gifted broadcast rights to all FIFA World Cup games when Optus, which had picked up part of SBS’ commitment in a sub-licencing deal, failed to adequately deliver its coverage online.

An announcement of Ebeid’s successor at SBS will be made in due course.

Source: SBS

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/michael-ebeid-leaving-sbs.html

Jul 05 2018

Obituary: Harry M Miller

  • 5 July 2018

Harry M Miller, celebrity agent, producer and publicist, has died peacefully at the age of 84.

New Zealand born Miller came to Australia in the early 1960s. He brought acts like Judy Garland, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys to Australia. He also produced the first Australian production of the legendary ’60s musical Hair, introducing a 16-year-old Marcia Hines to Australia and also launching the career of John Waters. He also brought the musical Jesus Christ Superstar to Australia, featuring Hines, Jon English and Trevor White. Twenty years later he revived the same show in an arena setting starring Kate Ceberano, Jon Stevens and John Farnham.

He was the prolific celebrity agent, managing the careers of some of Australia’s highest profile talent including Graham Kennedy, Barry Humphries, Maggie Tabberer and, at the other end of the scale, Big Brother contestants.

Kennedy’s association with Miller came to an abrupt end after 20 years in 1989, with Kennedy famously firing him by fax. Miller took Kennedy to court, and lost.

Miller was married three times and had a long term relationship with model turned TV presenter Deborah Hutton.

Miller retired in 2009 amid failing health and was diagnosed with dementia in 2011.

Harry M Miller is survived by five children and his partner Simmone Logue.

Source: News.com.au, Sydney Morning Herald. King: The Life And Comedy Of Graham Kennedy, Graeme Blundell.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/obituary-harry-m-miller.html

Jul 04 2018

The 60th TV Week Logie Awards

  • 4 July 2018

Network Ten personality Grant Denyer was the winner of the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality On Australian Television at the 60th annual TV Week Logie Awards.

The former Family Feud host, and soon to be host of Ten’s new Game Of Games, ranked ahead of fellow nominees Rodger Corser, Tracy Grimshaw, Amanda Keller, Jessica Marais and Andrew Winter. Denyer, who also won the Logie for Most Popular Presenter, gave an emotional acceptance speech when collecting the Gold, paying tribute to his wife Cheryl and attributing Family Feud for getting him out of low point in his career.

Denyer was not the favourite to win the award. Industry stalwarts Tracy Grimshaw and Amanda Keller were tipped to take out the Gold. Possibly instrumental in Denyer’s win was a last ditch campaign by comedian Tom Gleeson plugging for votes for Denyer in the week leading up to the awards presentation. It is far from the first time that an active campaign has seen a Gold Logie win determined. Karl Stefanovic acknowledged Nine’s heavy campaigning for him to get votes ahead of his win in 2011. Even back in 1976, comedy character Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) campaigned for Gold Logie votes and became the first fictional character, and one of only a few ABC personalities, to win the popular voted award.

The awards were held at The Star Gold Coast in Queensland, the first time that the Logies was hosted outside of Melbourne or Sydney. There was no appointed host of the awards but rather the passing parade of TV personalities as presenters throughout the night. Dave Hughes presented his now-traditional opening monologue. Other presenters to appear on stage through the evening included Hamish Blake, Andy Lee, Dr Chris Brown, Johanna Griggs, Osher Gunsberg, Georgie Parker, Bernard Curry, Deborah Mailman, Rebecca Maddern, Scott Cam, Shaun Micallef, Edwina Bartholomew, Tina Bursill, Abby Earl, Georgie Gardner, Virginia Trioli, Robert Irwin, Marta Dusseldorp, Aaron Jeffery, Rob Collins, Carrie Bickmore, Richard Wilkins, Ryan Johnson and overseas guest, NCIS star Wilmer Valderrama.

Shane Jacobson interviewed the Gold Logie nominees through the night, and Julia Morris, a regular highlight at Logies nights in recent years, performed a musical tribute to the Logies including a take on the “Me Too” movement.


YouTube: Channel 9

Also to perform on the night were Kate Ceberano, Conrad Sewell, UK artists Jess Glynn and Dap Caplen, Kelly Rowlands and The Voice winner Sam Perry.

Comedian Tony Martin was an unusual choice as booth announcer for the night, a definite departure from more straight voice over deliveries in the past. Some of the gags worked well, others perhaps less so. But it was a welcome change to a presentation that has differed little over the years.

Logies legend Bert Newton took to the stage to present the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent. Despite Newton’s usually flawless Logies appearances, this one was perhaps not his greatest. Making some casual gags about his late former colleagues Kennedy and Don Lane implying some untoward behaviour with young performers behind closed doors under the guise of “mentoring” was deemed too offensive for some and cringeworthy to others in light of the current “Me Too” era, of which Australian TV has not been immune. Newton also used a derogatory gay term to mock himself that he had done many times over in years gone by, but in 2018 perhaps the time for that sort of reference has passed. Given Newton’s over 60 years in the industry and almost as many associated with the Logie Awards themselves, it would be unfair to tarnish Newton’s enduring contribution based on a couple of off-colour gags but this appearance would not be regarded as a highlight.

Jana Wendt took to the stage, making her first television appearance in years, to induct 60 Minutes into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame. This year marks the program’s 40th year on air. On stage to accept the award were reporters past and present and the show’s founding executive producer, Gerald Stone. 60 Minutes is the fifth program, and the first from Nine, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame since the award was inaugurated in 1984.

Foxtel drama Wentworth was a hit on the night, collecting three Logies — the most of any program on the night. The series won Most Popular Drama and Most Outstanding Drama as well as Pamela Rabe winning Most Outstanding Actress for her performance as prison governor turned inmate Joan “The Freak” Ferguson.

Foxtel also won with Gogglebox Australia collecting the award for Most Popular Entertainment Program.

Streaming website Stan picked up two Logies — Romper Stomper for Most Outstanding Telemovie Or Mini-Series, and series star Jacqueline McKenzie for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress.

It was a night of slim pickings for the two top-rating networks, Seven and Nine. Nine collected three Logies, and one of them was technically shared with Network Ten. Jessica Marais, from Nine’s Love Child and Ten’s The Wrong Girl, won Most Popular Actress. Nine also won with The Block for Most Popular Reality Program, and 60 Minutes for the Hall of Fame.

The Seven Network came away with just one award for the night, Home And Away‘s Ray Meagher for Most Popular Actor. Meagher dedicated his Logie to his former on-screen colleague Cornelia Frances, who passed away earlier this year.

ABC collected awards for Four Corners and War On Waste, with actor Hugo Weaving winning Most Outstanding Supporting Actor for Seven Types Of Ambiguity. The Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular Talent went to Dilruk Jayasinha, who appeared on ABC’s Utopia and also Ten’s CRAM!

As well as Grant Denyer’s two Logies, Network Ten also won Logies for The Living Room and Have You Been Paying Attention? and its coverage of the Bathurst 1000.

Children’s animated feature Little J & Big Cuz won for SBS’s indigenous channel NITV, while SBS drama series Safe Harbour also won an award for Hazem Shammas for Most Outstanding Supporting Actor.

In ratings terms, the four-hour TV Week Logie Awards telecast was watched by an average of 852,000 (5 cities, OzTAM) in overnight preliminary numbers. It was a decline from last year’s 972,000. The Red Carpet Arrivals as the awards prelude was watched by 840,000.

The Nine Network won the night with a share of 34.3%, followed by Seven (29.8%), Ten (15.8%), ABC (13.4%) and SBS (6.7%). Nine’s primary channel was the highest rated individual channel on 26.6%, almost seven points clear of runner up Seven (19.7%)

Public-voted awards:

TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE – MOST POPULAR PERSONALITY ON AUSTRALIAN TV
Grant Denyer (Family Feud/All Star Family Feud, Network Ten)

MOST POPULAR ACTOR
Ray Meagher (Home And Away, Channel Seven)

MOST POPULAR ACTRESS
Jessica Marais (Love Child, Nine Network; The Wrong Girl, Network Ten)

MOST POPULAR PRESENTER
Grant Denyer (Family Feud/All Star Family Feud, Network Ten)

GRAHAM KENNEDY AWARD FOR MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT
Dilruk Jayasinha (CRAM!, Network Ten; Utopia, ABC)

MOST POPULAR DRAMA PROGRAM
Wentworth (Foxtel – Showcase)

MOST POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Gogglebox Australia (Foxtel/Network Ten)

MOST POPULAR COMEDY PROGRAM
Have You Been Paying Attention? (Network Ten)

MOST POPULAR REALITY PROGRAM
The Block (Nine Network)

MOST POPULAR LIFESTYLE PROGRAM
The Living Room (Network Ten)

Industry-voted awards:

GOLD LOGIE — HALL OF FAME
60 Minutes

MOST OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Wentworth (Foxtel – Showcase)

MOST OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR TELEMOVIE
Romper Stomper (Stan)

MOST OUTSTANDING ACTOR
Hugo Weaving (Alex Klima, Seven Types Of Ambiguity, ABC)

MOST OUTSTANDING ACTRESS
Pamela Rabe (Joan Ferguson, Wentworth, Foxtel – Showcase)

MOST OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
Hazem Shammas (Ismail Al-Bayati, Safe Harbour, SBS)

MOST OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacqueline McKenzie (Gabe Jordan, Romper Stomper, Stan)

MOST OUTSTANDING CHILDREN’S PROGRAM
Little J & Big Cuz (NITV)

MOST OUTSTANDING SPORTS COVERAGE
Bathurst 1000 (Network Ten)

MOST OUTSTANDING NEWS COVERAGE OR PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT
“The Siege” (Four Corners, ABC)

MOST OUTSTANDING FACTUAL OR DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM
War On Waste (ABC)

Source: TV Week

Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2018. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM.

Program performance and ranking information subject to change when not based on final program logs.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/the-60th-tv-week-logie-awards.html

Jul 01 2018

TV Week Logie Awards: 10 years ago

  • 1 July 2018

Former Home And Away star Kate Ritchie won her second TV Week Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality On Australian TV at the 50th annual TV Week Logie Awards.

The awards were held on 4 May 2008 at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium and telecast on the Nine Network.

The 50th annual awards marked some significant changes from tradition. For the first time voting did not necessitate the purchase of TV Week magazine. Magazine readers could still, however, opt to vote the old-fashioned way by filling in a two-page voting form and posting it in to TV Week.

As in previous years, viewers also had a further chance to vote for the Gold Logie winner in the weeks leading up to the awards, being able to choose from the eight short-listed nominees: Natalie Blair (Neighbours), Andrew Denton (Enough Rope), Adam Hills (Spicks And Specks), John Howard (All Saints), Chris Lilley (Summer Heights High), Lisa McCune (Sea Patrol), Rove McManus (Rove) and Ritchie.

As well as winning Gold, Ritchie also won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress.  The double win marked a fairytale end to her 20 years as Sally Fletcher in the long-running soap. “I almost feel guilty about how perfect it is,” she told TV Week at the time. “If it was in a script, everyone would go: ‘Oh, that’s so lovely and that’s exactly how it was meant to be’.” Since leaving Home And Away, Ritchie had started a new career in radio, at Sydney’s Nova.

Home And Away also won the Logie for Most Popular Australian Drama, while series actor Lincoln Lewis (pictured) won the Logie for Most Popular New Male Talent.

Chris Lilley missed out on the Gold Logie but he did win the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor for his starring role(s) in the ABC series Summer Heights High. Lilley not only created and wrote the comedy series, but he also starred as the show’s three principal characters — over-confident exchange student Ja’ime King, the high school’s over-ambitious drama teacher Mr G and rebellious student Jonah Takalua. Summer Heights High, a follow up project from We Can Be Heroes, was also awarded Most Outstanding Comedy Program.

Rove McManus won the TV Week Silver Logie for Most Popular Presenter. The win came after a year where he took an extended break from TV following the death of his wife Belinda Emmett late in 2006. His return to TV in 2007 was marked with Rove moving to Sunday nights and later in the year he began as host of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader. 

The Seven Network’s Dancing With The Stars won the Logie for Most Popular Reality Program, an award won in previous years by Australian Idol. Despite the win, Daryl Somers said that he did not regret leaving the show as he did at the end of the previous series. “I’m still happy with my decision,” he told TV Week. “Gut-feel got me into the show and gut-feel got me out, but it’s a nice way to end it all.”

The year marked the launch of a new category — Most Popular Factual Program. Network Ten’s Bondi Rescue won the award ahead of Border Security, Choir Of Hard Knocks, RPA and RSPCA Animal Rescue. However, Choir Of Hard Knocks did collect the Logie for Most Outstanding Factual Series.

Kath And Kim, which made the switch to the Seven Network from ABC in 2007, won the Logie for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program.

The Gold Logie for the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame was awarded to comedian, writer and actor John Clarke.  New Zealand-born Clarke came to fame in Australia in the 1970s but his most famous role was in his mock television interviews performed with Bryan Dawe, initially on A Current Affair but later moved to The 7.30 Report before becoming a separate program, Clarke And Dawe, for ABC. “I feel very honoured,” Clarke told TV Week at the time. “It’s always a bit of an honour when someone thinks you’ve done something worthwhile.”

Stephen Curry won the Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for his portrayal of Graham Kennedy in the Foxtel/TV1 telemovie The King. The Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actress went to Alison Whyte of the Foxtel/Showcase drama Satisfaction.

The Australian Story episode Some Meaning In This Life: Belinda Emmett won Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report.

The ABC documentary Constructing Australia: The Bridge won the Logie for Most Outstanding Documentary. The one-hour documentary traced the history of Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge to coincide with the landmark’s 75th anniversary.

Winner of the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent was actress Tammy Clarkson from SBS series The Circuit.

In a break with tradition, the 50th annual TV Week Logie Awards had no single or even group of hosts but rather relied on presenters over the course of the show — representing five decades of the Logies — including Daryl Somers, Rebecca Gibney, Eddie McGuire, Helen Kapalos, Rose Byrne, Vince Colosimo, Rodger Corser, John Blackman, William McInnes, Dannii Minogue, Adam Hills, Denise Drysdale, Kate Ritchie, Patti Newton, Richard Wilkins, Johanna Griggs, Garry McDonald, Georgie Parker, Rove McManus, Shaun Micallef, Sonia Kruger, Peter Helliar and, to present the Gold Logie, Bert Newton.

Jules Lund, Shelley Craft and Livinia Nixon hosted the Logies red carpet arrivals, while Hamish Blake and Andy Lee hosted the backstage interviews.

Irish boy band Westlife were the special overseas guests, to perform their new single Something Right. Also performing on the night were the top 10 contestants from So You Think You Can Dance.


YouTube: NineIn08

Publicly-voted Awards:

Gold Logie — Most Popular Personality: Kate Ritchie

Silver Logie — Most Popular Actor: Chris Lilley
Silver Logie — Most Popular Actress: Kate Ritchie
Silver Logie — Most Popular Presenter: Rove McManus

Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: Kath And Kim
Most Popular Sports Program: The Footy Show (AFL)
Most Popular New Male Talent: Lincoln Lewis
Most Popular New Female Talent: Bindi Irwin (pictured)
Most Popular Reality Program: Dancing With The Stars
Most Popular Factual Program: Bondi Rescue
Most Popular Lifestyle Program: Better Homes And Gardens
Most Popular Australian Drama: Home And Away

Industry-voted awards:

Gold Logie — Hall Of Fame: John Clarke

Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actor: Stephen Curry
Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actress: Alison Whyte (pictured)
Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Drama Series, Mini-Series Or Telemovie: Curtin

Most Outstanding News Coverage: “Garuda Plane Crash”, Seven News
Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report: “Some Meaning In This Life: Belinda Emmett”, Australian Story
Most Outstanding Documentary: Constructing Australia: The Bridge
Most Outstanding Factual Series: Choir Of Hard Knocks
Most Outstanding Comedy Program: Summer Heights High
Most Outstanding Sports Program: Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
Most Outstanding Children’s Program: Lockie Leonard

Graham Kennedy Award For Most Outstanding New Talent: Tammy Clarkson

Source: TV Week, 17 May 2008

The 60th annual TV Week Logie Awards. Tonight, Sunday 1 July, 7.30pm (Red Carpet 7pm), Nine Network.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/07/tv-week-logie-awards-10-years-ago-7.html

Jun 30 2018

TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago

  • 30 June 2018

The Nine Network‘s Midday host Ray Martin won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 35th annual TV Week Logie Awards.

The awards were held at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt Hotel on 19 March 1993 and telecast on Network Ten.

For Martin (pictured on TV Week‘s front cover with Silver Logie winners Gary Sweet and Georgie Parker), the Gold follows his recent foray into prime-time specials which have been ratings winners. “The Logies and the Gold Logie — it’s the biggest game in town,” he told TV Week. “I remember (producer) Peter Faiman saying to someone once, ‘Don’t take it seriously, it’s only an award to sell magazines’. But it’s more than that. The public see it as a sign of the times, and yeah, I deserve it, but so do those other three people (Gold nominees Georgie Parker, Daryl Somers and Bruce Samazan) tonight.” The win is Martin’s second Gold Logie, having won the popular-voted award once before in 1987.

Police Rescue star Gary Sweet managed to achieve a Logies first — collecting awards for both Most Popular Actor and Most Outstanding Actor on Australian TV. It was the first time that an actor had collected both public and peer Silver Logies in the one year.

“What’s fulfilling and satisfying is that people out there are voting for, and watching, Police Rescue and the ABC. It’s true. I wish everyone in the cast and crew could have won a Logie. I respect everyone I work with so much,” he said on the night.

Former A Country Practice star Georgie Parker won her third Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress on Australian TV. Although she was no longer being seen on the popular Seven Network series, Parker was far from being idle. Since leaving the show she had been appearing on All Together Now, GP and Acropolis Now.

Not even taking a tumble on stage could stop Rhonda Burchmore from finishing her dance routine with David Atkins and the Tap Boys. “I certainly woke a few people up,” she joked. But after the fall on stage she leapt to her feet and finished the number to receive a huge ovation from the crowd. Also performing on the night were John Farnham and Tom Jones, singing the AC/DC classic It’s A Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock n’ Roll, and the Logies’ opening number featuring Hey Dad! stars Rachael Beck and Julie McGregor, dancer Todd McKenney, E Street star Kelley Abbey and child guitarist Nathan Cavaleri. And the crowd also had a standing ovation for host Bert Newton as he entered the stage to begin hosting his 18th Logies. “I love hosting the Logies and when you genuinely feel that way, I think it makes a difference,” he told TV Week. It was his first Logies hosting since 1989.

It was a night of mixed emotions for E Street star Simon Denny. The 23-year-old actor had won the Logie for Most Popular New Talent but despite the celebration he was also contemplating unemployment. Network Ten had axed E Street just the day before. “What concerns me about all this is almost 200 people are going to be out of work and that is pretty daunting,” he told TV Week. “The axing is also disturbing from a personal point of view. One minute I’m winning this award and being placed into a star category, but in 10 weeks’ time I’m going to be unemployed.” After subsequent roles in GP, Home And Away, Naked, Heartbreak High and Sweat, Denny would become a hit in Hollywood in the film LA Confidential. He later became Simon Baker and a successful actor on US television with lead roles in The Guardian and The Mentalist.

The Seven Network’s Tracks Of Glory won Most Popular Telemovie Or Mini-Series, while series star Cameron Daddo won the Logie for Most Popular Actor In A Telemovie Or Mini-Series. Josephine Byrnes, of Ten’s The Other Side Of Paradise, won Most Popular Actress In A Telemovie Or Mini-Series.

It was a double Logie win for Hey Hey It’s Saturday, with the program winning Most Popular Light Entertainment Program and host Daryl Somers (pictured with wife Julie da Costa) winning Most Popular Light Entertainment Personality.

Meanwhile, Seven’s Fast Forward won Most Popular Comedy Program, while Acropolis Now star Mary Coustas received the Logie for Most Popular Comedy Personality.

Leading the industry-voted awards, veteran TV producer Reg Grundy, the man behind popular Australian shows including Prisoner, The Restless Years, The Young Doctors, Sons And Daughters, Sale Of The Century, Neighbours and Wheel Of Fortune, became the 10th inductee into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame.

Typically, ABC scored well in the industry-voted Most Outstanding categories. Apart from Reg Grundy’s Hall of Fame and regional television network Prime taking out the regional category, it was pretty much a clean sweep by ABC — including The Leaving Of Liverpool for Most Outstanding Telemovie Or Mini-Series, Mother And Son‘s Ruth Cracknell for Most Outstanding Actress, and ABC News for its coverage of the Bangkok riots.

Teenage actress Tracie Sammut (pictured) was awarded a Special Achievement Logie for her work in the ABC series GP. At the time Sammut was one of just two actors in the world with Down’s syndrome who have regular roles in a television series (the other is Christopher Burke in US series Life Goes On). In her acceptance speech she had a special message for her father Louis, who was ill in a Sydney hospital, and thanked the ABC “for putting up with me”.

Apart from Tom Jones, overseas guests included John Spencer (LA Law) and Vanessa Williams (Melrose Place).

TV Week Logie Winners 1993: Public Voting Categories:

Gold Logie — Most Popular Personality On Australian TV: Ray Martin

Silver Logie — Most Popular Actor: Gary Sweet (Police Rescue)
Silver Logie — Most Popular Actress: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice, Acropolis Now)

Most Popular Series: Home And Away (Seven)
Most Popular Telemovie or Mini-Series: Tracks Of Glory (Seven)
Most Popular Actor in a Telemovie or Mini-Series: Cameron Daddo (Tracks Of Glory)
Most Popular Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-Series: Josephine Byrnes (The Other Side Of Paradise)
Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine)
Most Popular Light Entertainment Personality: Daryl Somers (Hey Hey It’s Saturday)
Most Popular Comedy Program: Fast Forward (Seven)
Most Popular Comedy Personality: Mary Coustas (Acropolis Now)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair (Nine)
Most Popular Lifestyle Information Program: Burke’s Backyard (Nine)
Most Popular Music Video: Everything’s Alright (Kate Ceberano, John Farnham, Jon Stevens)
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Olympic Games (Seven)
Most Popular New Talent: Simon Denny (E Street)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Agro’s Cartoon Connection (Seven)

TV Week Logie Winners 1993: Industry Voting Categories:

Gold Logie –TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame: Reg Grundy

Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actor: Gary Sweet (Police Rescue)
Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actress: Ruth Cracknell (Mother And Son)

Most Outstanding Telemovie or Mini-Series: The Leaving Of Liverpool (ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement in News: “Bangkok Riots”, ABC
Most Outstanding Series: Phoenix (ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement in Public Affairs: The Investigators (ABC)
Most Outstanding Single Documentary or Series: Cop It Sweet (ABC), Faces In The Mob (ABC).

Special Achievement Award: Tracie Sammut (GP)

Most Outstanding Achievement By Regional Television: Stranded (Prime)

Source: TV Week, 27 March 1993

The 60th annual TV Week Logie Awards. Sunday 1 July, 7.30pm (Red Carpet 7pm), Nine Network.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/06/tv-week-logie-awards-25-years-ago-8.html

Jun 29 2018

TV Week Logie Awards: 50 years ago

  • 29 June 2018

Bandstand host and TCN9 Sydney newsreader Brian Henderson won the Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian television for 1967 at the 10th annual TV Week Logie Awards.

The awards were held at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Hotel on Friday 22 March 1968 and telecast on the Nine Network. The awards were hosted by Bert Newton for the second time running.

Henderson’s versatility — ranging from presenting commercials to reading the news to hosting the country’s most successful pop music program — had made him popular with viewers and TV Week readers of all ages. At the time he was reported to be halfway through a contract with Nine that saw him paid $160,000 over five years.

Although the Logies had awarded Gold awards to both male and female personalities the previous year, TV Week had made the decision not to award a Gold to a female in 1968. Logies organisers had decided that there was no female star to dominate or appear nationally on TV through 1967.

Patricia Amphlett — “Little Pattie” — at the age of 19 one of the star performers on Bandstand, won the Logie for Best Teenage Personality. The award came after she had completed a tour of South East Asia.

Bobby Limb‘s Sound Of Music, by this stage in its fifth year on air, won the Logie for Best Australian Show. The win represented a highlight for the show after host Limb had taken time off for cancer surgery.

Bob Dyer, host of the long-running Pick A Box and a TV Week Gold Logie winner in 1961, was awarded TV Quizmaster of the Decade. He and wife Dolly had taken Pick A Box from a radio show to becoming a TV hit, making it Australia’s most successful quiz show in over ten years of television.

Best New Show of 1967 was won by ABC‘s This Day Tonight, the first program to gain widespread interest in nightly current affairs.

The Seven Network sitcom My Name’s McGooley What’s Yours won the Logie for Best Australian Comedy for the second year running. The series, starring John Meillon, Gordon Chater (pictured) and Judi Farr, was into its third series.

Drama series Homicide, top of the ratings in Melbourne and Australia’s most popular locally made program, won the Logie for Best Drama for the fourth year running. Producer Hector Crawford summed up Homicide‘s success. “The reasons for its wonderful success are really quite simple,” he told TV Week. “The first is that Australians know best how to entertain Australians. The second is that Homicide has only barely a quarter the budget of similar American shows. Because of this everybody connected with Homicide has developed a sort of genius for finding ways of doing things better and faster.”

Homicide

Nine Network‘s documentary series Project 67 won the Logie for Outstanding Australian Television Contribution of 1967 for Days Of Destiny, reporting on the Israeli war.

Melbourne-based sports commentator Ron Casey, host of HSV7‘s World Of Sport, won the Logie for TV Sportscaster of the Year. Casey gained national fame for his coverage of Lionel Rose‘s world title fight in Tokyo. As well as commentating Australian Rules football he had also covered boxing, racing, wrestling, tennis and Olympic athletics.

The Logie Award for Best Commercial was won by Alka-Seltzer.

British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, a surprise hit for ABC, won the award for Best Overseas Show.

State-based award categories were dominated by variety and game shows and personalities.

International guests at the awards presentation were Peter Breck (Big Valley), Chris George (Rat Patrol), Cheryl Miller (Daktari) and Violet Carson (Coronation Street). Carson’s tour of Australia saw the Coronation Street star mobbed and cheered by crowds wherever she went.

National awards:

Gold Logie — Best Male Personality: Brian Henderson
Gold Logie — Best Female Personality: (Not awarded)

Best Teenage Personality: Patricia Amphlett

Patricia Amphlett (“Little Pattie”) accepting her Logie Award from Violet Carson and Bert Newton

TV Quizmaster Of The Decade: Bob Dyer

TV Sportscaster Of The Year: Ron Casey 

Best Australian Show: Sound Of Music
Best Drama Series: Homicide
Best Australian Comedy: My Name’s McGooley What’s Yours
Best New Show: This Day Tonight

Best Overseas Show: Till Death Us Do Part

Outstanding Australian Television Contribution: “Days Of Destiny” (Project ’67)

Best Commercial: Alka-Seltzer

State-based awards (Best Male Personality, Best Female Personality, Best Show):

NSW: Don Lane, Dita Cobb, Tonight
VIC: Graham Kennedy, Rosie Sturgess, In Melbourne Tonight
QLD: Ron Cadee, Jill McCann, I’ve Got A Secret
SA: Ernie Sigley, Anne Wills, Adelaide Tonight
TAS: Lindsay Edwards, Caroline Schmit, Line-Up

Source: TV Week, 30 March 1968, 25 December 1968.

The 60th annual TV Week Logie Awards. Sunday 1 July, 7.30pm (Red Carpet 7pm), Nine Network.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/06/tv-week-logie-awards-50-years-ago-8.html

Jun 29 2018

Obituary: Liz Jackson

  • 29 June 2018

Former ABC journalist and presenter Liz Jackson has died at the age of 67.

The award-winning journalist was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2014. She later documented her battle with the illness in A Sense Of Self, which aired on ABC in November 2016 and earned her a Walkley Award last year.

She was with her husband Martin Butler on holiday in Greece when she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Jackson joined ABC radio in 1986 and moved to television in 1993 to Four Corners, including a stint as host. She also hosted Media Watch in 2005. As well as nine Walkley Awards, including a Gold Walkley in 2006, she also won three TV Week Logie Awards for outstanding journalism.

Jackson resigned from ABC in 2013, intending “to getting fit and healthy in my new stress-free existence. But it wasn’t to be.” The Parkinson’s diagnosis followed eighteen months later.

ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie paid tribute to Jackson: “Liz Jackson was one of the greats of the ABC, an incredible journalist who inspired all around her and who Australians turned to with complete trust. Her work has informed and shaped this country. Her enormous talent, fearless integrity and unflinching courage will serve as a beacon for many generations of journalists and storytellers to come.”

Liz Jackson is survived by her husband and two children.

Source: ABC, ABC, Sydney Morning Herald, Wikipedia

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/06/obituary-liz-jackson.html