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Gold Logie loses sparkle as stars fade

The West Australian

4 April 2006

Nominations for top television gong spark the question, is this the best that Australia can do?

Apparently they are TV's most popular personalities: two actresses who quit the small screen last year, an old stalwart whose show was axed, faded legend Bert Newton, who hosts a struggling game show, owner of falling ratings Rove McManus and three soapie girls, at least one of whom can sing.

Cynics say this year's list proves there is something wrong with either the Logies or Australian TV.

The Packer-owned TV Week magazine, which runs the Logie Awards, has expanded nominees for this year's Gold Logie to eight.

The magazine admits it wants fresh-faced competition for triple-Gold winner Rove (who is on a rival network to Packer's Nine). It has also countered criticism of Gold Logie voting by accepting SMS or phone votes for the first time - which could net the publication hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.

If McManus bucks the odds, he will match the record Gold four consecutive Logies of Ray Martin and Lisa McCune but he is up against his mentor Bert Newton, who already has four Golds, though not in a row.

"Be kind, I might not be here next year," Newton joked after the nominees were announced yesterday.

For 47 years, the Gold Logie has blurred the line between talent and a flash-in-the-pan with winners ranging from Graham Kennedy and Norman Gunston to Craig McLachlan and Jeanne Little.

Media commentator Robert Fidgeon says an SMS vote could further hit the award's credibility because it would skew results towards younger viewers and nominees.

He pointed to last year's Logies when the SMS-voted most popular overseas program was The O.C.

"Week in, week out it gets belted in~ its timeslot," Fidgeon wrote. "So why did The O.C. get over the line? The loyal - but small - teenage-viewer fan base spent a lot of money voting time and again for their favourite show."

TV Week editor Emma Nolan said SMS voting would "take the Logies to the next level, opening up the voting to everyone who loves TV".

"I have no idea how much money we'll make," she said. She refused to reveal how many people voted in previous Logies.

Nolan denied the magazine was reacting to criticism that the results were skewed when only TV Week buyers could vote.

Last year's Roy Morgan readership survey shows TV Week has just under 1.2 million readers - 60 per cent women. More than half these women have no full or part-time job and a quarter are older than 50 with a fairly even spread among other age groups - though it is least popular with the 18 to 34s.

With Logies voting, this proves statistics to be funny things because 18-34 is Network Ten's target demographic and Ten's Rove has won the last three Golds.

In 2003, the satirical Chaser team tried to rig the Gold Logie nominations. Chaser Chris Taylor wrote that the Logies are "always tarnished by suggestions of rigged voting. The theory goes that ... network publicists bulk buy TV Week to fill out multiple voting forms".

Their attempt to get SBS newsreader Anton Enus nominated failed but they claim a TV Week insider told them he came reasonably close.

In an online FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), TV Week admits the system is open to abuse.

"The Logies cannot be rigged but there's nothing to stop someone from voting multiple times, provided, of course, they're prepared to purchase multiple copies of the magazine or vote multiple times online," the website says.

Despite criticism, the Logies as a TV event have never been more popular with much of their ratings success put down to the current fascination with celebrities and red carpet fashion.

The awards on SUnday, May 7.

THE NOMINEES

ROVE McMANUS

Despite three consecutive Gold Logies, the 32~-year-old Rove Live host saw his figures slip last year and they're still low.

JOHN WOOD

Nominated for the 10th time as trusty Sgt Tom Croydon. He's never won. Blue Heelers was axed last year.

BERT NEWTON

Arrived at Nine wreathed in glory as the network's "saviour" in the Seven-dominated 5.30 spot. Is still smiling as Family Feud sinks.

NATALIE BASSINGTHWAIGHTE

Neighbours' popular bad girl "Izzy" is top of the pops. So is the Voodoo Child is a shoo-in for gold? Tell that to Delta.

BRIDIE CARTER

Left the chicks' horses soap McLeod's Daughters last year after long stint as Tess. McLeod's is still rating OK but fading.

KATE RITCHIE

Popular Home and Away actress. The soap is on a huge high at the moment, blitzing the ratings.

ADA NICODEMOU

Ditto, except Nicodemou also won Dancing With the Stars last year - which either means she's terrifically popular, or everyone's sick of her.

BEC HEWITT

Best known these days for being too busy being famous and motherly to do any TV but can boost any gossip mag just by appearing on the cover.

18-year Logies wait for Kate

Daily Telegraph

4 April 2006

SHE hasn't even been the bridesmaid, let alone the bride -- after 18 years playing Sally on Home And Away, Kate Ritchie finally has her first Logie nomination.

Ritchie is one of eight actors in an expanded race jockeying for the Gold Logie at the TV Week Logie Awards held in Melbourne on May 7.

"It's a funny thing to get my head around because I've been going to the Logies since 1991 and I've never had to entertain the idea of being nominated or what that means," said Ritchie, who, with Bec Hewitt and Ada Nicodemou, is one of three Home and Away actors vying for 2006 gold.

Other short-listed contenders include triple winner Rove McManus, ten-time Gold Logie nominee John Wood and Bert Newton, who won his last gold 22 years ago.

"I'm pleased to see Rove nominated again because if he wins this one he equals four gold and I won four gold," Newton said.

"Yes, but I don't want to wait 22 years for my next nomination," McManus replied.

Voting has concluded for all public-judged "popular" and peer-judged "outstanding" categories, but still the public can vote for their favourite star up until the awards ceremony via SMS or phone.

Which means that McManus or a Home and Away star are front-runners in a race likely to be decided by younger viewers.

The popular categories are dominated by the 11 nominations for Home and Away.

The nominations also reflected poorly on Nine, which failed to score in the Most Popular Light Entertainment, Most Outstanding News Coverage or Sports Coverage categories -- areas in which the network once prided itself as being industry leader.

Nevertheless, Nine had a confidence-boost on the weekend. After a miserable start to the year, Nine won its third ratings week in a row on Saturday night, with the top two shows of last week being the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony (2.736 million) and Sunday's National Nine News (2.006 million).

Latest Odds from Centrebet

Gold Logie winner

$3.50 John Wood

$4.00 Rove McManus

$4.50 Bert Newton

$6.50 Ada Nicodemou

$7.50 Bec Hewitt

$13.00 Natalie Bassingthwaite

$17.00 Kate Ritchie

$21.00 Bridie Carter

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