Meet the Real Helen Kapalos
It looks to Dr Mumbo like Today Tonight host Helen Kapalos not only has bad days at the same time as Julia Gillard, but gets PR advice from the same person too.
Days after Kapalos’ disastrous failure to fill two minutes of dead air on spill night, she started recording video blogs and uploading them to Facebook. Presumably so we can meet the Real Helen.
It all started off mildly enough, with Kapalos telling viewers she loved them…
But since then we’ve had a wink:
Helen chatting with the team…
And Helen high-fiving a member of the crew. Because that’s what people do in TV land.
Dr Mumbo can’t wait to see what Helen does next…
Geez guys get your knives out of the poor girl’s back! She’s at least has more personality then all of the other Australian news/current affairs people put together.
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And I think these videos are great!
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Seven brought back The Mole – are they bringing back Frontline too?
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Who cares – she’s hot.
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Wow. They are pretty bad. I can’t connect with her at all.
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Two words spring immediately to mind, “cringe” and “worthy”
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David Brent look out!
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… now to a Muslim radical.
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I love how she’s so busy she can’t sit down for the duration of her 30 second pieces to camera.
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That high five is PRICELESS!!!!!!! How ‘natural’.
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So she probably lost about 3 days sleep over what happened – is trying to let people know she is human – and you still want to bring her down? How unfortunate that we have forgotten that we are all “human” and that to “err” is human…if only we could forgive as well – because as the saying goes – to err is human, to forgive is devine!
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“Hi I’m Helen Kapalos, or Naomi Robson in the making”
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Her head is all wobbly, like a nodding dog.
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I’m sure those that love the show, will love this, winks an all.
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I’m with James she is hot and good at reading from an autocue… I’m pretty sure they are the only criteria to be host of TT
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Sam, it could be a case unrequited love?
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haha – I love these – even though they are hugely cringeworthy. They now make me want to watch TT, for the same reason why we fell in love with Naomi Robson. Cheesy GOLD, but brilliant. High five back atcha.
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PLEASE bring back Frontline!
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As Frontline’s Mike Moore would have said, “Hmmm, I think there’s something in that for everyone…”
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I want to defend her and I do think the attacks on her are pretty harsh but these are awful videos. Very forced. She is clearly not comfortable.
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She look pretty comfortable to me.. I think you guys need to lighten up. Great to see some personality at last!
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I think you need to take these videos in the spirit in which they were intended… a bit self deprecating.. and humorous… at least someone has the guts to do it and ignore all the naysayers…. who clearly have been wrong about the rumours you’ve spread so far… note: Mel Doyle etc… mmm. Looks like you are targetting her BIG time…. #personalvendetta ps. do you know she anchored every single outside broadcast for Ten WITHOUT an autocue.
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That High 5 is straight out of Frontline. Maybe she’s auditioning for its return
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Wholey shit. The freaky thing is these seem just like a parody of someone trying to be casual and approachable. They are awful and make this poor lady seem like a self serving robot. What’s happening to our world? It’s sad.
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You can see her head into a cringe herself at the end of a couple of these. Painful. That goes for the camerawork too. And whoever’s brilliant idea this was. Yikes.
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At least she is brave enough to put her own face and name to her work and not hide behind an alias cringeworthy like “Dr Mumbo”. Have you all forgotten that the people we see on our screens are actually real people, with real feelings and this type of gutless backlash is known as “bullying”.
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Just makes things worse
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Joe, brave enough to put a face to her work? That’s her job! We are reacting to what is meant to be a professional broadcaster putting out amateurish efforts. Where’s the quality control, the determination to get it right before airing? If its just about having a ‘go’ now matter how bad, then lets just open it up to anyone. Tv like this has no integrity, and why should we respect it when it treats us like idiots? Bring back integrity and class and watch us all applaud.
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Unbelievable! What a bunch of overwhelmingly miserable wankers with personality disorders you all are – Ideation at Work, Jimbob, Joe and Amber and sam excepted.
She is host of a mass-audience, prime time current affairs program and so you’d expect the network that employs her would have sufficiently invested in production resources to ensure a host is never left in that kind of situation.
To all the courageous critics out there, I wonder what you all would have done in her place, with no vision to which she could segue, no apparent real guidance from production staff on what to do in the event of an on-air hole and not even some network promos to throw to.
I have no idea why the focus should be on her for what happened – it should be on the faceless men (and women) at Today Tonight. And just a reminder for those who think all Helen is capable of is reading an autocue – she’s actually one of those rare presenters in the media with decent journo credentials, having done her early hard yards with the ABC and WIN.
In fact she is quite good in live, fluid situations and is comfortable with breaking news situations – the Athens 2004 Olympics, Victoria’s 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes three of the many news events she’s covered live on TV.
And for those idiots in the media reporting that a one-off like this could spell the end of Today Tonight, you must really be living in a bubble.
Trigger-happiness of this kind is not an option for a television network, faced with the reality of a general decline in its audience and the devastation of fragmentation, to dump a program which regularly draws 1 million-plus viewers and can still represents a compelling option for advertisers needing to reach mass audiences.
And if you’re writing about this sort of stuff for a major media outlet, you’re a crap journo or you editors are duds, because good journalists look for stories to break and don’t have to rehash something that an adequate number of TV viewers have already seen and digested.
Helen Kapalos, you have every right to feel a little hard-done-by when it comes to the coverage and associated commentary of what is a pretty minor incident for which YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE.
And what’s come to light as a result of this hiccup is your integrity, loyalty and decency in that you chose not to give the issue any more oxygen than it deserved and more importantly, you did not dump on your team behind the scenes who should have done a lot better and I dare say, now respect you a hell of a lot more.
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I’m sure the 436 people who like her facebook page have enjoyed them. An excellent use of time and resources.
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Obviously they need content to drive people to the show in the evening, to improve rankings online and continue their ‘conversation’.
Sad they couldn’t film some meaningful content:
– Interview people on the street for their opinions
– Follow up on people from previous stories
– Ask their journos about the process in filming a story.
– Get expert opinions on anything at all.
Nope it’s winks and high 5s.
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@Anthony, you’re the reason Aussie TV is so crap. All hail the lowest common denominator and middle of the road!
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@anthony, her ‘integrity’ went out the window when she filmed these videos. Or is that all the network’s fault too?
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Does @Anthony work for TT?
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So, I’m guessing Zpm is from ACA??
I really can’t see why these videos ‘throw her integrity out the window’??? All they do is show her in a fun down to earth light talking to her fans – what is wrong with that??? What happened to the Australian sense of humour?? Lighten up kids. Far out.
Charlie Tango – just because I choose to watch and support Helen doesn’t mean it’s a ‘case of unrequited love’. A stupid comment like that makes me think maybe you tried cracking onto Helen at one time or another and were rejected (or there’s some other reason at play). Only someone with a case of sour grapes or someone with a lame agenda would say something so dumb and non relevant.
So, what does Mumbrella get out of bullying this woman anyway??? Are you on the payroll for other networks or something??? Sure seems like it.
I think Helen is actually a breath of fresh air amongst a long list of boring and outdated news hosts.
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Well you guess wrong Sam! Must be jerky knee syndrome. I love the way you defend Helen (bullying) but then have a go at the ‘long list of boring and outdated news hosts’. When you talk of ‘stupid comments’ then immediately state ‘maybe you tried cracking onto Helen’ you do yourself no favours. Then you make it about ‘bullying this woman’. Would you say that if it was a man? Did Australia bully Tom Waterhouse for over-saturation, or was that just a reaction? I’d suggest watching Frontline but am not sure you’d get the point. Sheesh.
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Yes, I would actually defend a man if they were being bullied in this same childish way. How does Tom Waterhouse even factor into this particular case?
Seems there’s one rule for the haters and another for the supporters here. Terribly sorry for not aligning with your personal views.
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Great row peeps, but I think the point here is that the world is now one where UGC lives happily alongside professionally produced content and when the lines blur between them a la case in point, its bound to generate mixed reactions. While she’s getting down with the kids, traditionalists desire first rate production values from individuals who are privileged with access to the mainstream. Personally they look like they were done in one take and totally ad hoc, which is a shame.
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This thread will be the lead story on tonights show
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All ya man must be on crack, she is hot !
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Sam, you’re obviously too emotionally invested in this to have an intellectual debate. The world isn’t divided into just ‘haters’ and ‘supporters’. I was pointing out the hypocrisy in your remarks, but you’ve gone into defensive mode and its just wasted effort from here. Have a good day 🙂
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Yes Rashnal, we’re all on crack. Face-palm.
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She’s good! Don’t be a meanie! Now I want to watch her show and have just liked her Facebook page 😀
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After seeing the video of that ten reporter laughing her way through some very horrific stories involving death AFTER flirting ON AIR I can’t believe anybody would criticise Helen! She is obviously trying her best to make the show better and possibly target a younger/less conservative audience and is being crucified for it! If all she’s ever done is try to lighten her Facebook posts a bit and had some major technical difficulties (which by the looks of it weren’t even her fault) it’s barely something to bully about Mumbrella! Leave the poor woman alone, we loved her updates and so did all her fans.
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Helen presents with compassion and sensitivity. A true professional. Technology let her down. Needs to follow Mike Neville’s approach on Look North many years ago; have a copy of the daily newspaper to hand and read from that.
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10 out of 10 for gutsiness Helen. Go girl!
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#hearthelen
#luvabitofwit
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