TV Week Logie Awards: 10 years ago

All Saints star Georgie Parker was awarded the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 44th annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at Melbourne’s Crown Entertainment Complex on Sunday, 28 April 2002, and televised on the Nine Network.

It was Parker’s second Gold Logie, having also won the publicly-voted award the previous year.  She was presented with the award by Good Morning Australia host and four-time Gold Logie winner Bert Newton.

“This is a great personal thing for me, but it always reflects back to the show,” Parker told TV Week.  “Winning the Gold is exciting and weird at the same time.  I don’t really make myself accessible as a personality, so it’s interesting to get an award for Most Popular Personality.”

Her fellow nominees for the Gold Logie were Rove McManus (Rove Live), Ada Nicodemou (Home And Away), Libby Tanner (All Saints) and John Wood (Blue Heelers).

Comedian Wendy Harmer (pictured) was the host of the evening – the first female to ever host the Logies presentation solo – but as a number of other Logies hosts have found, it is one of the toughest gigs in television.  Reviews of Harmer’s performance were harsh to say the least, but even the host herself later accepted that it was not her finest work, as she told The Age in 2010:

''One of the things that happened to me was that I'd been doing radio in Sydney for so long that when I came down to talk to an audience who are in Melbourne doing TV, they basically said, 'What does she know about what we're doing?' And fair enough, in retrospect.''

''And here's the interesting dilemma. Where do you learn to do something like that? You only learn it in the doing of it.''

''Some of the advice I got from the producers was really bad. The funny part about it is that I think I would now know how to do it.''

As well as Parker’s Gold Logie it was a big year for All Saints, with the show also winning two Silver Logies – one for Most Popular Program and the other for Libby Tanner as Most Popular Actress.

After more than twenty years on television, dating back to classic soaps The Restless Years and Sons And Daughters, actor Peter Phelps from Stingers (Nine) collected the Logie the Most Popular Actor. “This is just fantastic… totally unexpected,” he told TV Week. “The Logie means people respect your work and that’s really the best thing you can possibly have as an actor.”

Network Ten’s drama series The Secret Life Of Us (cast pictured) also scored well with two Logies to its credit – Most Outstanding Drama Series and for Deborah Mailman as Most Outstanding Actress.  And with the Big Brother craze at the height of its popularity, the Network Ten show took out the Logie for Most Popular Reality Program.  As Big Brother conducted its live eviction shows on Sunday nights, the show’s host Gretel Killeen accepted the award via a live cross to the Big Brother set on the Gold Coast.

In accepting Rove Live’s award for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program, host and producer Rove McManus (pictured) dedicated the award to his “partner in life and partner in crime”, actor and TV presenter Belinda Emmett. 

Seven’s current affairs program Today Tonight had finally scored its first Logie for Most Popular Public Affairs Program – a category that its main rival A Current Affair had dominated since the category was launched in 1989, having lost out only once to Today Tonight’s predecessor Real Life.  “It’s testament to the fact that we’ve plugged away for so many years,” host Naomi Robson said.  “All the hard work has paid off.  I want to thank Seven for sticking with us.  There was a point a few years back where people were starting to say, ‘Are they going to make it?’ But here we are.”

Nine Network host Eddie McGuire (pictured) had his two shows, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and the AFL-based The Footy Show, win Most Popular Game Show and Most Popular Sports Program respectively. 

For SBS current affairs program Dateline it was a double celebration, with the show winning two awards for Most Outstanding Special Report In A Current Affairs Program.  Two stories, The Dirty War and See No Evil, were equal winners in the industry-voted category. 

ABC reporter Geoff Thompson was awarded Most Outstanding News Reporter and ABC News won Most Outstanding News Coverage for its reporting of events surrounding the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

Veteran television journalist, producer and presenter Mike Willesee was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.  He was presented the award by his brother, fellow journalist Terry Willesee.

Adding to the glamour of Logies night in 2002 were performances by Colombian pop star Shakira, the legendary Sir Elton John and US trio Destiny’s Child.

Other international guests on the night included The Bold And The Beautiful star Ronn Moss and Frankie Muniz from sitcom Malcolm In The Middle.

Publicly-voted Awards:

Gold Logie – Most Popular Personality On Australian Television: Georgie Parker

Silver Logie – Most Popular Program: All Saints (Seven)
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor: Peter Phelps (Stingers, Nine)
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress: Libby Tanner (All Saints, Seven)

Most Popular New Male Talent: Ditch Davey (Blue Heelers, Seven)
Most Popular New Female Talent: Lisa Chappell (pictured) (McLeod’s Daughters, Nine)
Most Popular Lifestyle Program: Backyard Blitz (Nine)
Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: Rove Live (Ten)
Most Popular Reality Program: Big Brother (Ten)
Most Popular Game Show: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (Nine)
Most Popular Sports Program: The Footy Show – AFL (Nine)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: Today Tonight (Seven)

Industry-voted Awards:

TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame: Mike Willesee (pictured)

Most Outstanding Actor: William McInnes (My Brother Jack, Ten)
Most Outstanding Actress: Deborah Mailman (The Secret Life Of Us, Ten)
Most Outstanding Drama Series: The Secret Life Of Us (Ten)
Most Outstanding Mini-Series/Telemovie: Changi (ABC)
Most Outstanding Children’s Program: Round The Twist (ABC)
Most Outstanding Comedy Program:  The Micallef Pogram (ABC)
Most Outstanding Sports Coverage: Bledisloe Cup (Seven)
Most Outstanding News Reporter: Geoff Thompson (ABC)
Most Outstanding News Coverage: ABC News
Most Outstanding Special Report In A Public Affairs Program: “The Dirty War” (Dateline, SBS) and “See No Evil” (Dateline, SBS).
Most Outstanding Documentary/Series: Australians At War (ABC)

Source: TV Week, 27 April 2002.  TV Week, 11 May 2002. The Age, 1 April 2010.

Obituary: Harold Hopkins

Australian acting veteran Harold Hopkins has died in a Sydney hospital from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

The 67-year-old actor was diagnosed several months ago and is believed to have contracted the cancer from his first job after finishing high school, where he worked with asbestos sheeting as an apprentice carpenter in Queensland in the early 1960s.

Hopkins’ acting career began in the late 1960s on the Seven Network’s daytime drama Motel (a series that also starred a young Jack Thompson). 

Early TV roles also included Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Riptide, Delta and Barrier Reef.  He had an ongoing role in the comedy-drama The Godfathers and its spin-off series The People Next Door.

Other TV credits included Certain Women, Silent Number, Matlock Police, Homicide, Division 4, Rush, The Lost Islands and the lead male role in the 1979 series Twenty Good Years (pictured with co-star Anne Pendlebury).

He went on to appear in mini-series including Sara Dane, The Dirtwater Dynasty, True Believers, The Last Bastion, Winners, Shadows Of The Heart and Brides Of Christ.

More recent appearances have included Grass Roots, State Coroner, Blue Heelers, White Collar Blue, The Secret Life Of Us, Wildside, The Strip, All Saints and Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities.

Film credits have included Don’s Party, The Club, The Picture Show Man, Buddies, Monkey Grip and The Year My Voice Broke.

Harold Hopkins is survived by his twin brother, John, and five other siblings, Naomi, Michael, Gregory, Margaret and Suzanne.

Source: News.com.au, IMDB, The Age, ABC, TV Eye

Play Schooling for 45 years

Forty five years is probably a bit old to be playing horsey, reading storybooks or having fun with cardboard boxes and milk cartons – but ABC’s Play School is proud to be doing so as it reaches its 45th anniversary this week.

The Australian series of Play School launched at 10.05am on Monday, 18 July 1966.  It came after the broadcaster had been screening the English series of the same name for the previous two months and had replaced the long-running afternoon program Kindergarten Playtime.

In December 1967 an afternoon screening of Play School was added to ABC’s schedule.

Among the initial line-up of presenters on Play School were actors including Anne Haddy (pictured, above right) and Patsy King.  Also in the early cast was kindergarten teacher Ann Stroh, a former presenter on the Kindergarten Of The Air radio series as well as Kindergarten Playtime, and actors Peter Drake and Evan Dunstan.

Play School went on to feature many familiar faces in the decades that followed – including Alister Smart, Diane Dorgan, Lorraine Bayly, John Hamblin, Janet Kingsbury, Kerry Francis, Don Spencer, Peter Sumner, Colin Friels, Philip Quast, George Spartels, John Waters, Noni Hazlehurst, Trisha Goddard, Donald McDonald and more recently Deborah Mailman, Jay Laga’aia, Andrew McFarlane, Justine Clarke, Alex Papps, Rhys Muldoon, Brooke Satchwell, Hugh Sheridan, Jolene Anderson, Georgie Parker and Matt Passmore.

And this month two new presenters joined the team – Rachael Coopes (pictured) and Jonny Pasvolsky.

Play School’s longest-serving presenter would have to be Benita Collings, with more than 30 years and 400 episodes to her credit.  In 1996 she told TV Week of some of the challenges that came with the program and, in particular, working with animals:

“I had a baby goat, a kid, on my knee, and it was fine during rehearsal.  But during the second-last shot in the filming, I felt a wet warmth spreading.  I knew that in that last shot I’d be standing so I said, ‘I think he’s a bit frightened.  He’s just wet himself’.  Well, in the next shot I was standing up with a huge wet spot, and the crew were killing themselves laughing.”

There was also the time when an octopus died in its tank just minutes before making its TV debut.  “We had to swish the water around to make it look alive,” she said.

Play School is one of only three programs to have been inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame (Four Corners and Neighbours are the other two).

Play School screens weekdays at 9.30am and 4.30pm on ABC2 and at 3.00pm on ABC1.

Pictured:  Celebrating Play School's 25th anniversary in 1991 – from top left, Janet Kingsbury (with Hamble), Donald McDonald (with Jemima), Benita Collings (with Big Ted), John Waters (with one of the Bananas in Pyjamas) and, in front, Trisha Goddard (with Humpty) and Noni Hazlehurst (with Little Ted).

… and celebrating this week’s 45th anniversary milestone, from top left, Andrew McFarlane, Don Spencer, Benita Collings, (front row) Simon Burke, Lorraine Bayly, Karen Pang, John Hamblin, John Waters and Janet Kingsbury.

Source: TV Times, 20 July 1966.  TV Week, 13 July 1991.  TV Week, 6 July 1996. Wikipedia.

Obituary: Michele Fawdon

Michele Fawdon, actress in film, stage and television, has died today after a battle with cancer.

Born in London in 1947, Fawdon studied in the United Kingdom before coming to Australia early in her professional career.  Following guest roles in Homicide, The Spoiler and Spyforce, Fawdon was cast as Mabel in the pilot for comedy series Snake Gully With Dad And Dave, produced in 1971, but her big break came the following year when she was cast in the original Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

She went on to appear in many television productions in the years that followed, including Ryan, Matlock Police, The Unisexers, Flashez, Loss Of Innocence, Young Ramsay, Winners, The Flying Doctors, GP, A Country Practice, Marshall Law, All Saints, MDA, Fergus McPhail, Bastard Boys and City Homicide. 

Her last TV role was in the mini-series Killing Time which is yet to be screened in Australia.

Her role in the 1979 movie Cathy’s Child won her Best Actress awards at both the AFI Awards and the Australian Film And Television Awards (The Sammys).

Michele Fawdon is survived by partner Geoff Jenkins and daughter Lulu.

A memorial service is to be held next Monday.

Source: IF, TV Tonight, IMDB, TV Eye

Obituary: Bill Hunter

Bill Hunter, one of Australia’s most recognisable and prolific actors, has passed away in Melbourne at the age of 71.

The actor had been admitted to a Melbourne hospice early last week with inoperable cancer.

Born in Ballarat, Hunter went on to a career spanning 50 years with more than 100 roles in various film, stage and television productions. 

Early television roles included appearances in Hunter, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, The Long Arm, Riptide, Dynasty, Catwalk, The Spoiler, Spyforce and King’s Men as well as appearing on multiple occasions in Division 4, Homicide and Matlock Police.

He later appeared in series including Prisoner, Golden Soak, Young Ramsay, 1915, Scales Of Justice, The Dismissal, Eureka Stockade, The Flying Doctors, A Fortunate Life, Stark, Seachange, All Saints, Pizza, Stingers and Two Twisted.

Hunter had an extensive film resume, including iconic Australian titles Stone, Newsfront, Gallipoli, Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, The Adventures Of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert, Australia and Finding Nemo.  He also starred in films The Shiralee, Ned Kelly, Far East, Street Hero, Crackerjack and Bad Eggs.  He had recently played the role of racing legend Bart Cummings in the to-be-released film The Cup, recreating the 2002 Melbourne Cup.

He also featured in a number of commercial roles, including recent campaigns for ‘Grain Wave’ chips and the AFL.

Source: The Age, ABC, IMDB, Mark Morrissey

Obituary: James Elliott

In last Sunday’s TV Week Logie Awards’ tribute to those that have passed away, there was one name that was brought to our attention.

Actor James Elliott, best known as “whingeing Pom” Alf Sutcliffe in 1970s drama Number 96, died in February from Lewy body dementia.  He was 82.

Born in Scotland, Elliott came to Australia in 1949 after receiving a postcard from his older sister who had been visiting.  He’d only intended to stay a short while but Australia became his home permanently.

He pursued an acting career after scoring a non-speaking role as a pirate in the movie Long John Silver in the mid-1950s.  He went on to feature in ABC radio dramas, and in June 1959 appeared in ABC’s television production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet – the first Shakespeare play ever telecast in Australia.

Elliott starred in many early TV dramas including Consider Your Verdict, Stormy Petrel, Whiplash and Homicide.

He starred in the movie Ned Kelly in 1970 but his most famous role came in 1972 when he was cast as English migrant Alf Sutcliffe in the groundbreaking drama Number 96.  Elliott and Elisabeth Kirkby, who played wife Lucy, were with the show until their characters were written out in 1975.  They both returned for the 1000th episode special They Said It Wouldn’t Last in 1976, and again for the show’s all-star curtain call at the end of the final episode in 1977.

After Number 96, Elliott worked in the theatre but also continued to appear in film and television roles, including TV series Chopper Squad, Case For The Defence, Solo One and Bellamy.

He then quit acting and worked for twelve years as a tipstaff to a judge in the Supreme Court, but in 1995 returned to appear in a commercial with son James followed by guest appearances in Home And Away and All Saints.  He also made a brief appearance in the SBS comedy Life Support.

Last year, Elliott was among the cast members of Number 96 to reunite for the occasion of former colleague Johnny Lockwood’s 90th birthday.

James Elliott is survived by his second wife Elaine, their son James, and sons Greg and Doug from his first marriage.

Source: The Age, IMDB

Victoria Longley

Actress Victoria Longley has died in Sydney at the age of 49 after a battle with breast cancer.

It was her second bout with the illness.

An accomplished actress on stage, film and television, Longley was awarded best actress at the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2006 for her performance in the stage production The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? and last year played the role of Goneril in the South Australian production of Shakespeare’s King Lear and was to appear in the same role in the Bell Shakespeare production of the play this year before falling ill.

Longley also had an extensive career in television, appearing in The Dirtwater Dynasty, GP, Mercury, Murder Call, Seven Deadly Sins, Wildside, Water Rats, Young Lions, Farscape and All Saints.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, IMDB

Remembering Seven’s Epping era

The Sunrise team earlier this week posted a picture via their Twitter feed showing the demolition (“using Gladiator props as wrecking balls?”) of the Seven Network’s former studios in Sydney.

The studios, in the suburb of Epping, were barely completed when the ribbon across the Studio B doors was cut on ATN7’s opening night – 2 December 1956.  And the opening night almost didn’t happen at all as a massive thunderstorm hit Sydney earlier that day, blacking out many suburbs – including Epping.  Power was restored just in time to allow the studio cameras the required 45 minutes to warm up before airtime.  VIPs arrived at the complex in torrential rain and had to make their way across mud tracks to get to the building.

In its early years the Epping complex hosted many Australian television firsts – the first ‘tonight’ show, Sydney Tonight with Keith Walshe, the first breakfast news show, Today with Ray Taylor, the first current affairs show, Seven On 7, and the first soap operas, Autumn Affair and The Story Of Peter Grey.  ATN7 was the first TV station in Australia to install videotape equipment in the late 1950s.  The station also partnered with Melbourne’s GTV9 to complete the first ever transmission between Sydney and Melbourne via a series of microwave links.

Other shows to have emanated from Epping include Revue ‘61, Startime, Sing Sing Sing (The Johnny O’Keefe Show), Beauty And The Beast, Captain Fortune, Pick-A-Box, The Mavis Bramston Show (pictured), My Name’s McGooley What’s Yours?, Great Temptation, Sydney Today, Eleven AM, The Naked Vicar Show, Kingswood Country, Romper Room, Sounds, Cartoon Connection, Saturday Morning Live, Sportsworld, Terry Willesee Tonight, Wheel Of Fortune, Hey Dad!, Real Life, Sunrise and The Main Event.

Some of TVs most famous names have also spent time at Epping.  Roger Climpson was ATN7’s principal newsreader for many years and also hosted This Is Your Life and Australia’s Most Wanted.  Mike Willesee, Graham Kennedy, Clive Robertson, Rex Mossop, Paul Hogan (pictured), Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald), Peter Luck, Bill Collins, Maggie Tabberer, Jana Wendt and Andrew Denton have also worked at the Epping studios.  And of course the many actors and actresses that passed through the various dramas to have come from Epping – series including Jonah, Motel, Catwalk, Class Of ‘74, Glenview High, A Country Practice, Sons And Daughters, Rafferty’s Rules, Home And Away, All Saints and Packed To The Rafters.

ATN7 has now moved to new facilities at the Australian Technology Park (pictured) in the Sydney suburb of Redfern – while news production facilities, including Sunrise, Seven News, Today Tonight and The Morning Show, are based at Martin Place in the Sydney CBD.

Source: Sunrise, Sydney Architecture, Forty Years Of Television: The Story Of ATN7.

TV Week Logie Award nominees announced

TV Week has announced its list of nominees for this year’s TV Week Logie Awards, to be held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino on 2 May.

On the short list for the Gold Logie are last year’s winner Rebecca Gibney, three-time Gold Logie winner Rove McManus, Home And Away stalwart Ray Meagher, ABC hosts Adam Hills and Wil Anderson, Ten’s Shaun Micallef and Paul McDermott and Home And Away’s Esther Anderson.

Then the categories for Most Popular Actor and Most Popular Actress are basically a two-way battle between Home And Away and Packed To The Rafters, while nominations for Most Popular Drama are Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, Neighbours, Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities and All Saints (RIP).

Ten’s 2009 hit Masterchef Australia (pictured) received three nominations – one for Most Popular Reality Program and two for judge Matt Preston, both in New Talent categories.  Ten’s other hit of 2009, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, also scored five nominations, including Micallef’s Gold nomination.

Hey Hey It’s Saturday – The Reunion has scored a nomination in the Most Popular Light Entertainment Program category.  Sunrise curiously also got a nomination for Most Popular Light Entertainment program, not doing it’s news credibility any favours, while co-host Melissa Doyle is nominated for Most Popular Presenter – up against Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Rove McManus, Shaun Micallef and Paul McDermott.

Among the industry-voted categories, three networks – ABC, Seven and Ten – were nominated for Most Outstanding News Coverage for their reporting of the Victorian Bushfires.

TV Week is yet to announce this year’s inductee into the Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.

Full list of nominations, including both public and industry-voted categories:

GOLD LOGIE*
Most Popular Personality on TV
Esther Anderson, Home & Away (Seven)
Wil Anderson, The Gruen Transfer (ABC)
Rebecca Gibney, Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Adam Hills, Spicks and Specks (ABC)
Paul McDermott, Good News Week (Ten)
Rove McManus, Rove (Ten)
Ray Meagher, Home & Away (Seven)
Shaun Micallef, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (Ten)
* Voting for the Gold Logie from the list of nominations is now open to the public up until the day of the event.  Voting for other categories is now closed.

SILVER LOGIES
Outstanding Actor
Roy Billing, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Nine)
Don Hany, East West 101 (SBS)
Garry McDonald, A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne (Ten)
Ben Mendelsohn, Tangle (Showcase)
Aaron Pedersen, The Circuit (SBS)

Outstanding Actress
Justine Clarke, Tangle (Showcase)
Claudia Karvan, Saved (SBS)
Asher Keddie, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Nine)
Susie Porter, East West 101 (SBS)
Kat Stewart, Tangle (Showcase)

Outstanding Drama Series, Mini-series or Tele-movie
A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne, (Ten)
East West 101 (SBS)
Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Tangle (Showcase)
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Nine)

Most Popular Actor
Luke Jacobz, Home and Away (Seven)
Todd Lasance, Home and Away (Seven)
Ray Meagher, Home and Away (Seven)
Hugh Sheridan, Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Erik Thomson, Packed to the Rafters (Seven)

Most Popular Actress
Esther Anderson, Home and Away (Seven)
Rebecca Breeds, Home and Away (Seven)
Rebecca Gibney, Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Jessica Marais, Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Jessica Tovey, Home and Away (Seven)

Most Popular Presenter
Natalie Bassingthwaighte, So You Think You Can Dance Australia (Ten)
Melissa Doyle, Sunrise (Seven)
Adam Hills, Spicks & Specks (ABC)
Rove McManus, Rove (Ten)
Shaun Micallef, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (Ten)

LOGIE AWARDS
Outstanding News Coverage
Bushfire Disaster (Ten)
Godwin Grech (ABC)
Samoan Tsunami (Nine)
Victorian Bushfires (Seven)
Victorian Bushfires (ABC)

Outstanding Public Affairs Report
Code of Silence, Four Corners (ABC)
Liberal Leadership Meltdown (Sky News)
Matthew Johns Interview, A Current Affair (Nine)
Proof of Life, Australian Story (ABC)
Rising from the Ashes, 60 Minutes (Nine)

Outstanding Factual Program
Bombora: The Story of Australian Surfing (ABC)
Bondi Rescue (Ten)
Darwin's Brave New World (ABC)
Last Chance Saloon (SBS)
Law and Disorder (SBS)

Outstanding Light Entertainment
Chandon Pictures (Movie Network)
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (Ten)
Thank God You're Here (Seven)
The Chaser's War on Everything (ABC)
Wilfred (SBS)

Outstanding Sports Coverage
Golf: Women's Australian Open 2009 (ABC)
Horse Racing: Emirates Melbourne Cup Carnival (Seven)
League: 2009 NRL Grand Final (Nine)
2009 AFL Grand Final: St Kilda vs Geelong (Ten)
V8 Supercars: Supercheap Auto Bathurst (Seven)

Outstanding Children's Program
Camp Orange: The Final Frontier (Nickelodeon)
Dirtgirlworld (ABC)
Hi-5 (Nine)
My Place (ABC)
The Elephant Princess (Ten)

Most Popular Drama
All Saints (Seven)
Home and Away (Seven)
Neighbours (Ten)
Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Nine)

Most Popular Reality Program
Dancing with the Stars (Seven)
MasterChef Australia (Ten)
So You Think You Can Dance Australia (Ten)
The Biggest Loser Australia (Ten)
The Farmer Wants a Wife (Nine)

Most Popular Lifestyle Program
Better Homes and Gardens (Seven)
Domestic Blitz (Seven)
Getaway (Nine)
Ready Steady Cook (Ten)
Top Gear Australia (SBS)

Most Popular Light Entertainment
Deal or No Deal (Seven)
Hey Hey The Reunion (Nine)
Spicks and Specks (ABC)
Sunrise (Seven)
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (Ten)

Most Popular Sports Program
Before the Game (Ten)
Sports Tonight (Ten)
The Footy Show AFL (Nine)
The Footy Show NRL (Nine)
Wide World of Sports (Nine)

Most Popular Factual Program
Bondi Rescue (Ten)
Border Security (Seven)
Find My Family (Seven)
RPA (Nine)
RSPCA Animal Rescue (Seven)

Most Popular New Male Talent
Luke Mitchell, Home and Away (Seven)
Charlie Pickering, The 7pm Project (Ten)
Matt Preston, MasterChef Australia (Ten)
James Stewart, Packed to the Rafters (Seven)
Josh Thomas, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (Ten)

Most Popular New Female Talent
Kate Bell, Home and Away (Seven)
Carrie Bickmore, The 7pm Project (Ten)
Ashleigh Brewer, Neighbours (Ten)
Mirrah Foulkes, All Saints (Seven)
Katherine Hicks, Rescue Special Ops (Nine)

Graham Kennedy Award for Outstanding New Talent
Anastasia Feneri, My Place (ABC)
Anna Hutchison, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities (Nine)
Camille Keenan, Satisfaction (Showcase)
Eva Lazzaro, Tangle (Showcase)
Matt Preston, MasterChef Australia (Ten)

Bert Newton will host the TV Week Logie Awards on 2 May, telecast on the Nine Network.

Who you can’t vote for in the Logies…

It is that time of year when TV Week asks its readers, and the wider TV viewing population, to vote for their favourite personalities and programs for the annual TV Week Logie Awards.

This year’s presentation, to be held on 2 May, marks the 52nd annual presentation of the awards first named by Graham Kennedy, who decided that the middle name of TV pioneer John Logie Baird sounded like a good name for an award and, in naming the award after him, it would forever be a tribute to his achievement.  (It was remarked in later years that had Kennedy known just what an impact the Logies would have had on Australian TV culture, he would named them after his own middle name – Cyril)

These days, viewers can vote for the awards without having to buy a copy of TV Week.  In the past, votes could only be made via coupons printed in the magazine or by using a unique PIN printed inside the magazine when voting online.

However, despite the voting being conducted online for a few years now, the online interface used to collect the votes is essentially just a basic web poll.  None of the glamour or excitement of TV’s night of nights here.  No colour.  No pictures, or even video clips of the people we are being asked to nominate (and this can be handy when trying to identify some of today’s TV starlets who aren’t easily recognised by name alone). In fact, voting for your favourite TV stars and programs now looks to be as clinical and enjoyable as filling in your average tax return, especially now as the stars and shows are reduced to mere numbers or tick boxes. 

Also curious are the omissions from TV Week’s list of voting ‘suggestions’ (although they are our only options, there is no “other” allowed here).  Just a few that this author noticed missing from the categories:

Most Popular Actor: Tom Oliver (Neighbours), Alan Fletcher (Neighbours), Andrew Supanz (All Saints), Kip Gamblin (All Saints), John Waters (All Saints)

Most Popular Actress: Janet Andrewartha (Neighbours)

Most Popular Presenter: Larry Emdur (The Morning Show), Kylie Gillies (The Morning Show), David Reyne (9AM With David And Kim), Kim Watkins (9AM With David And Kim), Sandra Sully (Ten News), Dave Hughes (The 7PM Project), Peter Everett (Ready Steady Cook), Sam Pang (ADbc), Grant Bowler (Border Security), Ed Kavalee (TV Burp), Daryl Somers (Hey Hey It’s Saturday – The Reunion), Jonathon Holmes (Media Watch), Magda Szubanski (The Spearman Experiment).

There also seems to be some inconsistency in what qualifies as “presenter” – Masterchef’s three judges are listed as potential nominations for the category, but the show’s (then) host, Sarah Wilson, is not.  The Biggest Loser’s fitness coaches, Shannan Ponton and Michelle Bridges, are listed in the “presenter” category, but the show’s (former) host, Ajay Rochester, is not.  The Seven Network’s talent quest, Australia’s Got Talent, gets a guernsey, with host Grant Denyer and judge Dannii Minogue qualified for a mention, but no mention of Minogue’s colleagues, Red Symons and Tom Burlinson.  For rival show Australian Idol, Andrew Günsberg is listed as host, but no mention of any of the show’s three judges, Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson, Marcia Hines, Jay Dee Springbett and ousted judge Kyle Sandilands (who did appear in the preliminary stages of the show in 2009).  SBS newsreader Anton Enus qualifies for a vote, but his weekend counterpart, Lee Lin Chin, does not.

Australia’s Got Talent qualifies in the category of “most popular light entertainment program”, but a rival show of essentially a similar format, Australian Idol, is categorised under “reality”.

Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: TV Burp, Hungry Beast, Double Take, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, Hot Seat, The Einstein Factor and The New Inventors are all missing from the nominations list.  The one-off special Rove Presents Hamish And Andy’s American Caravan Of Courage is allowed to be voted, but another one-off special from the same network, Shaun Micallef’s New Year Rave, is not.

These are just the omissions noticed by this one author.  There may be plenty more that TV Week and the networks have failed to acknowledge as being worthy of a vote – and yet the Logie Awards are intended to be the ‘people’s choice’ awards covering all the various genres of television and allowing all on-air talent – with the only eligibility being that they appeared in a credited role during the 2009 television year – an equal opportunity of being voted for.

It is surprising that, after 52 years, TV Week and the publicity agents from all the networks can not get together and muster up a complete list of eligible personalities and programs and be consistent in what, or who, qualifies for a particular category.  The gaps in these voting categories only serve to add ammunition to growing public sentiment that the Logie Awards are no longer a credible recognition of the achievements of our television industry.

TV Week’s Logie Awards site (with the link to vote online) is at tvweek.com.au.

Gordon Boyd

Gordon Boyd, TV host of the 1960s and 1970s, has died in Sydney at the age of 86.

A familiar name in the United Kingdom, Boyd first came to Australia in the 1960s to star in a stage musical, Wildcat, that folded after eight weeks but by then Boyd and his wife Joan had already developed a taste for Australian sunshine and planned to stay.

A series of guest appearances on ABC’s The Magic Of Music led to Boyd hosting his own show, The Gordon Boyd Show, in 1964.

In 1965, Boyd started five years as host of the weekly talent quest Showcase, one of the first ‘national’ variety shows to come out of the 0-10 Network when it was formed in the mid-‘60s.  The show won a TV Week Logie in 1966 for outstanding contribution to development of talent.

He returned to host the show when it was revived by the Nine Network in 1974.

Boyd also hosted 1960s daytime shows Gordon And The Girls and The Marriage Game.  He also made guest appearances in A Country Practice in the ‘80s and All Saints in 2003.

Source: Daily Telegraph, IMDB, Australian Television Information Archive, Ozgames, TV Times 24 June 1964, TV Times 25 May 1974

Ray Barrett

Veteran Australian film and television actor Ray Barrett has died in a Queensland hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage.  He was 82.

Starting his career in Brisbane radio at 16, Barrett moved to Sydney in his early 20s and then took his career abroad.  A ten-month stint in the early British TV series Emergency Ward 10 led to other roles in series including The Troubleshooters, The Avengers, Doctor Who, Z Cars, The Saint and even as a voice artist on The Thunderbirds and Stingray.

Returning to Australia in the 1970s, Barrett became a familiar face with appearances in films including Don’s Party, The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, Goodbye Paradise, Hotel Sorrento and the 1995 remake of Dad And Dave: On Our Selection.

Television appearances included Golden Soak, The Timeless Land, Sporting Chance, Five Mile Creek, Waterfront, The Flying Doctors, GP, Medivac, All Saints, White Collar Blue and mini-series After The Deluge.

Barrett also had an ongoing role in the ABC drama series Something In The Air.

His last acting credit was in the film Australia.

Source: The Age, IMDB

Seven to check out from All Saints

The Australian is reporting that, while the Seven Network has not made any official statement, the long-running series All Saints will not be renewed for 2010.

The medical drama, launched in February 1998 as a starring vehicle for Georgie Parker, still commands strong audience figures but is a costly production taking into account the location shoots and medical rescue themes.

The series’ ratings are also pale in comparison to Seven’s newer ratings hit Packed To The Rafters.

The series has given work to some of Australia’s most well-known actors and writers over the years. But only one cast member, Judith McGrath (pictured, with co-star John Howard), has survived the show’s entire 12-year run as Yvonne ‘Von’ Ryan.

• UPDATE @ 9.7.2009: The Seven Network has confirmed that All Saints will cease production next month.  By that time, the series will have clocked up 493 episodes – making it one of the longest-running weekly dramas in Australian television, behind Homicide and Blue Heelers which are both equal on 510 episodes each.

Source: The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald

Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell

Australia has lost one of the legends of the showbusiness world with the passing of actor Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell at the age of 86 after complications with prostate cancer.

Born in Sydney, Tingwell’s first job was as an announcer at radio station 2CH.  In 1941 he joined the Royal Australian Air Force and served in World War II.  Upon returning to Australia he married girlfriend Audrey Wilson and ventured into an acting career that would continue for the rest of his life – taking in film, radio and stage productions and later television.

After seventeen years working in the United Kingdom – where he starred in many TV and film roles but not least being a voice artist for the ‘Supermarionation’ sci-fi series The Thunderbirds – Tingwell and his family returned to Australia in 1973 when producer Hector Crawford signed him up for a leading role in the long-running series Homicide.

After Homicide, Tingwell stayed with Crawford Productions as a director for other series including The Box, The Sullivans, Cop Shop, Skyways, Holiday Island, Carson’s Law and the mini-series The Flying Doctors.   He featured in just about every other major drama series on Australian TV – Prisoner, Neighbours, Zoo Family, A Country Practice, GP, The Flying Doctors, Bellbird, Blue Heelers, All Saints, Round The Twist, Changi, Something In The Air and The Secret Life Of Us, just to name a few.

Movie roles included Breaker Morant, Puberty Blues, Innocence, The Dish, Evil Angels and Jindabyne.

As well as drama, Tingwell’s career also had a lighter side, appearing as “Gramps” in the “Charlie The Wonderdog” series of comedy sketches for ABC’s The Late Show, as a judge in Mother And Son and as a lawyer in the modern-day suburban classic The Castle.

In 1994, Tingwell was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame and in 1999 received an Order of Australia medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

One of his last TV roles was as British prime minister Winston Churchill in the ABC telemovie Menzies And Churchill At War.

Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell is survived by son Christopher and daughter Virginia.  Wife Audrey passed away in 1996.

Source: IMDB, Herald Sun, Bud’s Blog

Mark Priestley

Actor Mark Priestley, from long-running series All Saints, has been found dead in Sydney.

The 32-year-old Perth-born actor is believed to have suffered from depression and may have taken his own life.

Graduating from NIDA in 1999, Priestley worked in the theatre with the Bell Shakespeare Company and the Sydney Theatre Company, before guest roles in TV series including Water Rats, Blue Heelers and The Secret Life Of Us as well as mini-series Changi and telemovie Loot. He joined the cast of Seven's All Saints as Dan Goldman in 2004.

Priestley's death comes just days after his character was wed to hospital colleague Erica Templeton (Jolene Anderson) on an episode of All Saints, watched by over 1.2 million viewers.

In a statement on Seven's website, program and production director Tim Worner paid tribute to Priestley:

"Mark was such a brilliant artist. His work on stage and screen was admired by everybody who knew him. His death is such a sad loss. We at Channel Seven will miss his energy and smile.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark's family and friends."

Source: The Age
Picture: TV Week, 16 August 2008

Anyone suffering depression or personal problems can contact Beyond Blue or Lifeline

The Year That Was... #8: Reality check

The lights may have faded a bit on reality TV's ratings this year but the genre still has some life left in it.

Network Ten's big name franchises The Biggest Loser, Big Brother and Australian Idol all came back for more this year.

The Biggest Loser largely followed the formula of last year but this year added the twist of introducing two "intruders" half-way through the series - with one of the intruders, Chris Garling, going on to win the series. The series final also scored an audience of over 2 million, not an easy feat in this era of declining free-to-air audiences.

Big Brother (pictured) returned for its seventh series but in the wake of intense criticism last year over the "turkey slap" incident, this year's series was shown to be a lot more restrained. Gone was the adults-only Big Brother Uncut program, and despite producer's claims that the incoming housemates were all more "worldly" than their predecessors, the group of housemates appeared to be a fairly pedestrian slice of white Australia. Despite the apparent lack of diversity among the housemates there were some exceptions - such as Turkish belly dancer Demet, fiery Brazilian Daniela and Melbourne corset maker Zach Douglas.

There were some new twists in this year's Big Brother; the concept of the "white room", where potential housemates were kept in a sensory-deprived environment, was met with criticism, while other twists such as housemate couple Andrew and Hayley whose relationship was initially kept secret, and was also tested when producers introduced Billy, a former boyfriend of Hayley's, into the house.

The producer's also copped criticism and headlines when housemate Kate Gladman was forced to confront the trauma of a miscarriage when the housemates were given the task of looking after baby dolls. More headlines followed when the father of housemate Emma Cornell had passed away while she was in the house but producer's decided against advising her of his death, in accordance with the wishes of Cornell's family and of the dying wishes of her father.

Producers also copped a serve from none other than the Mexican Government when one of its Friday Night Live games had contestants hurling goo-filled balloons at an upside-down Mexican flag.

Then after one of the longest Big Brother finales on record, due to a close vote between Cobram hairdresser Aleisha Cowcher and self-confessed 'drama queen' Zach Douglas, 21-year-old Cowcher won the series with a prize-money of $450,000.

But Big Brother's biggest twists came after the finale, with announcements that host Gretel Killeen (pictured) is to be replaced next year by Sydney radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O, the adults-only "uncut" series will be back, and that Big Brother Up-Late with Mike Goldman won't return in '08.

Ten's Australian Idol returned for a fifth series, though the spotlight - or at least the headlines - seemed to be on the judges rather than the contestants. With ratings down in comparison to earlier series, it was probably no coincidence that a lot of the reported 'tensions' between judges appeared in the Sunday newspapers, giving the show ample media exposure leading up to the regular Sunday night show.

The series final of Australian Idol, which saw Melbourne's Natalie Gauci win the title, appeared to be dogged by technical hitches which wouldn't have helped its ratings - scoring only 1.4 million viewers compared to last year's finale watched by 2.1 million.

Over at Seven, they continued to mix the reality genre with variety with two more series of Dancing With The Stars (hosts Daryl Somers and Sonia Kruger pictured), another series of the singing contest It Takes Two, and the new Australia's Got Talent.

Coupled with US import Ugly Betty, Australia's Got Talent spearheaded Seven's Sunday night schedule early in the year. While the program is actually an adaptation of an overseas format, viewers could have confused it as a one-hour version of the Red Faces segment from Hey Hey It's Saturday - also as one of the show's judges was Red Faces icon Red Symons. The series was to be won by 12-year-old singer Bonnie Anderson.

Dancing With The Stars scored controversy from within its own network when Today Tonight ran a report questioning that funds raised by the show's SMS voting were being properly funneled to their respective charitable causes. Despite the stories, Dancing scored very well in the ratings, though did not match the numbers of previous series. Celebrity winners were Kate Ceberano in series six, and actor Bridie Carter in series seven later in the year.

Following the end of series seven of Dancing, host Somers decided it was time to move on. There were media reports that Somers had left after being refused some pressing demands on Seven and the show's producer Granada International. Other reports suggested that there was still some unease at Somers working for Seven chief David Leckie, the same executive that axed Somers' long-running Hey Hey It's Saturday at Nine in 1999. A replacement host has yet to be found for Dancing, though rumours suggest that former Home And Away actor Tim Campbell (also a former Dancing contestant, and host of National Bingo Night), Deal Or No Deal host Andrew O'Keefe or even Somers' former sidekick Sonia Kruger could take the coveted role.

In between Dancing With The Stars' two series this year was another series of It Takes Two which ran very successfully last year on Sunday nights, and continued to score well for Seven this year. The singing competition, hosted by former Sunrise weatherman Grant Denyer and Gold Logie winner Kate Ritchie, was won by All Saints actor Jolene Anderson (pictured).

The Year That Was... #6: Drama makes a comeback

The year 2006 brought on all sorts of doom and gloom about TV drama production; ABC didn't have money to make any, Seven had axed Blue Heelers after 12 years of loyal service, Ten had some luck with telemovies but Tripping Over didn't fare so well, and their only ongoing production was the veteran soap Neighbours, and Nine had only McLeod's Daughters as the main project on its drama slate.

However, the corner was turned this year as a number of new projects came to fruition and one old-timer got a new coat of paint.

The big newcomers this year were City Homicide (pictured, above) and Sea Patrol - with these shows headlining the crucial battle between arch rivals Seven and Nine, both shows were given huge budgets, lots of live action, and both also promised familiar faces - Shane Bourne, Noni Hazelhurst, Nadine Garner, Aaron Pedersen and Damien Richardson on City Homicide, and Lisa McCune, Ian Stenlake, Josh Lawson, Kristian Schmid and Jay Ryan on Sea Patrol.

Both programs earned strong ratings figures, though City Homicide was perhaps more consistent than its Nine rival however both series have been renewed for 2008.

ABC did manage to get some dramas to air during this year; the rural/farming drama Rain Shadow, the 1998 waterfront crisis in Bastard Boys and the historical Curtin starring William McInnes.

The year also saw an increased drama presence on SBS with a number of productions aired this year - all of which put new emphasis onto familiar themes. The Circuit put an outback and indigenous perspective onto legal drama but its 9.30 Sunday timeslot probably meant most viewers stayed oblivious to it.

Saturday evenings saw the much lighter drama of Kick (pictured, left) an eight-part series based in Melbourne's multicultural suburb of Brunswick and featuring a diverse range of characters and cultures, though little is made of either. Hard to believe that Kick came from the same city that gives us the mono-cultural and sanitised Neighbours.

A late entry to SBS' schedule this year was the Sydney-based East West 101, from the producers of ABC's former series Wildside. Like with Kick, East West 101 was based in an area with a strong multicultural mix and covers the tensions that can come with that sort of diversity whether it be in the community or in the police force that is entrusted to protect it.

While all these new projects were seeing the light of day, one old-stager Neighbours was also in the spotlight. Ratings for the suburban soap have dropped in recent years in the wake of the high-profile battle between current affairs shows Today Tonight and A Current Affair in the same timeslot. With a healthy injection of funds to flow on from the show's shift in the UK from BBC to Channel 5 - in a deal worth around $A700m over ten years - the show's producers decided this year was the time to give the series a much-needed revamp to boost its profile in its home country.

A two-month teaser campaign on Ten promised 'a change is coming' and when the red-letter day, 23 July, arrived there were certainly changes but probably not as significant as the publicity had perhaps indicated. Sure there was a new family moving into Ramsay Street, there were some new sets and some more location filming, and the signature tune was re-worked, as was the iconic Neighbours logo, but apart from these rather superficial changes, there was little else to notice. Producers have been at pains to point out, however, that the revival of Neighbours is a work in progress and now with a new executive producer (Susan Bower) in charge, the changes are set to continue. Neighbours' ratings did take a spike when 23 July came and went, but soon settled back to familiar territory around the 600-700k mark - not a desirable position for a prime-time Aussie-made production but it still rates well in its desired demographic and gives Ten valuable drama content points.

Ten this year also gave us Murder In The Outback - The Joanne Lees Story which traced the mystery surrounding the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio, told from the perspective of his partner Joanne Lees.

Meanwhile at Seven, their drama content was well kept up by Home And Away and All Saints. Both series earning great results this year which considering the age of both programs (Home And Away is now up to its twentieth anniversary, and All Saints is up to ten years) is an amazing effort.

The Nine Network's long-running McLeod's Daughters limped through 2007 as producers may have struggled to find a way to keep finding long-lost 'daughters' to replace outgoing cast members. The series suffered a ratings drop this year, and Nine has already announced that the 2008 series will be its last.

The drama on our screens wasn't just on the free-to-air networks either. This year Foxtel came up with more of Love My Way starring Claudia Karvan, new series Dangerous, the adults-only drama Satisfaction and the award winning telemovie The King: The Graham Kennedy Story (pictured) starring Stephen Curry.