NAKED CITY: LOGIES, BOGIES OR NOGIES?

It’s a couple of weeks since the Australian TV industry descended on Melbourne for that overweening night of gong giving, celebrity worship known as the Logies. The event has always attracted groans of discontent from those with any interest in quality or creative TV and this year was no exception with mediocrity again the biggest winner.

Voting wise the Logies have always been dogged with controversy ever since the event was first presented back in 1959 as part of Graham Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight. Up until a few years ago votes could only be cast by buying a copy of TV Week and filling in the appropriate form. It was no surprise then when thousands of copies of the mag were found in  the backroom of one particular network. These days voting is also facilitated on the internet which makes it even more open to abuse and the result probably has as much validity as the recent Russian elections.

Since the early 1960s Channel 9 has had virtually a monopoly on the event as the host presenter and you would expect nothing less than endless cross promotions of its flagship revenue raisers like The Block and The Voice. We certainly got that last Sunday week and needless to say Nine won a swag of Logies to crow about in the weeks to come. Despite poor ratings and a panning from critics Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year took off the gong for best light entertainment and Hamish Blake, described in one tabloid as the, “new Norman Gunston” was the less than surprise winner of the Gold Logie after a concerted promo campaign on the Nine nwetwork.

Whilst the Logies do acknowledge some of the better quality programs on SBS and the ABC, the winners always look strangely out of place, stacked up against the soap opera slop and reality show ad nauseam of Nine, Ten and Seven. Maybe somebody needs to do a Marlon Brando, who refused to appear at the 1973 Academy Awards, and tell them just where to stick their precious Logie.

Personally we would like to see a breakaway awards ceremony that spurned the major commercial networks and embraced only SBS, the ABC and TVS. Call them the NOGIES if you like, with the awards night stripped of any of the opulence and boozy after party frivolity associated with Crown Casino. Winners would be decided by a totally impartial panel of average citizens with no ties to any media organization or commercial TV advertiser. TVS would make a great host presenter and the girls from Drags Aloud would be ideal hosts. Somewhere like the Marrickville Bowlo would be an ideal venue with the gongs supplied by Reverse Garbage. It’s probably all a Utopian dream and the best way to thumb your nose at the commercial networks is simply to switch right off.