Andrew Denton: Logies are living in the past
Former Logies host Andrew Denton has called for Australian TV awards to stop living in the past.
In an interview with Mumbrella, the former Enough Rope presenter said: “With due respect to the late and the living Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton, “I’m sick to fucking death of hearing them eulogised every Logies. They were 30 years ago. They were great. We’ve said they were great every year for 30 years. We’ve had so much fantastic talent since then. When are we going to pass the torch?”
Denton hosted the Logies in 1999 and 2000 and has been nominated for Logies himself on several occasions. He no longer appears on screen but is one of the driving forces at Zapruder’s Other Films, the company behind The Gruen Transfer, 30 Seconds, Hungry Beast and the forthcoming AFP.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Well said..
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well said
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Love your work Denton!
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Andrew Denton is spot on. Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton, excellent in their day as entertainer… but the trouble is that is all. 20 to 1 just continues the tradition of dumbing the population down with trivia sold as entertainment. It makes the media impotent.
What about celebrating the contribution of the people (such as Andrew Denton) who provide programming with depth that build the social and intellectual capital of Australia through the media?
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Couldn’t agree more. How many times do we have to see those tired old clips?
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People actually watch the Logies?
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I’ve never liked the self indulgent pat on the back logies and probably never will. It’s just tacky.
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If someone could come up with a celebration and acknowledgement of the talent we have on TV – and there is much of it, I would watch and applaud. But those tired old Logies embarrass themselves – eek, corny jokes, weepy acceptances and most of the presenters and award winners are half pissed or out of it.
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Newton looks embalmed so close enough to dead. TV Week itself is terribly dull and parochial which alas reflects the state of Australian telly.
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While the Logies are owned and run by a magazine publisher who’s primary objective is to boost circulation and increase ad revenue, it will be impossible for the Logies to truly celebrate the successes of the television industry it is supposed to represent. Surely no one is surprised by that….
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C – spot on. TV Week and Ch.9 will never allow it to rise above mediocrity. The sad truth.
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What are the Logies?
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Andrew,
Austraila so needs you. Totally agree.
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Graham Kennedy was the reason I watched late night TV in the 1970’s.
Bert Newton is one of the main reasons I haven’t watched Channel 9 for over 20 years!!!!
Are’nt the Logies just a vested commercial interest attached mainly to the commercial channels? I don’t watch the Logies mainly because of that ugly moonface!?*%$#@)}” Sorry Bert, but get a life….
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Home page SMH, well done Tim thats a scoop.
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Andrew’s credability took a HUGE hit when he interviewed that English guy who said that if you can’t prove it with science, then it is not true.
Denton’s stupid replies/comments/questions
absolutely proved to me and many others that he is full of BS
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With due respect to Denton, who is well qualified to pass judgement on the Logies, maybe he should give his mate Wil Anderson a nudge to step up and host the Logies instead of gutlessly bagging them under the table via his Twitter account. If some of the Gen X comedians had the balls to step out of the warm bubble of FM radio and pre-recorded, heavily edited panel shows and onto the much tougher Logies stage, then maybe the Logies wouldn’t have to refer to the past as much. It’s hypocritical of the talent out there to publicly bag a show that they aren’t willing to themselves improve.
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Nice work Tim, I’m sure you’ve already seen this story picked up by Fairfax http://www.theage.com.au/enter.....150i7.html
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“I suspect by the end of this year, truth will be that the most watched thing on Australian television won’t be MasterChef, it will be from Hungry Beast and it will be the spoof we did on Avatar.” – Andrew Denton
So Hungry Beast has a crack at the “recut trailer” concept which has already been an established YouTube staple for several years. Except the Hungry Beast version has all the wit and freshness of “Scary Movie 5” or a rerun of The Naked Gun.
Denton’s well within his rights to defend freshness on Australian TV – especially fresh comedy, but he’s brave to hold Hungry Beast up as an example.
To me at least, Hungry Beast is an example of what happens when a 50 year old man with near total control over an entire broadcasting network is given free reign to create a show with no clear brief of objective – in the end we get a sort of ham-fisted version of A Current Affair mixed with odd bits of reheated Chaser.
Is that fresh?
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I agree with Rick in saying Denton’s can’t talk about fossils.
He used to be edgy 20 years ago. But his schmucky sentiment and intellectual shallowness is scary when he attempts to interview anyone who isn’t beholden to him.
Richard Dawkins was seething at Dent’s stupidity and almost stopped the interview three times.
His wife is worse.
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