Save articles for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.
The return to a single host paid off for the Logies as Sam Pang delivered a performance rich in zingers, but that couldn’t save Australian TV’s self-declared night of nights from running long, delivering some shock results, and going completely off the rails in the home stretch.
In a night full of cross-promotional stunts from new broadcaster Seven, the most egregious was saved till last. It was already 11.30pm when 71-year-old Dancing With The Stars host Daryl Somers was wheeled out to present the night’s crowning achievement, the Gold Logie.
Sonia Kruger wins the Gold Logie at the 63rd awards.Credit: Sam Tabone/Getty Images
In a bit designed more to test the patience of anyone still watching than to deliver laughs, Somers attempted to stage a mock auction among the seven nominees, none of whom seemed much up for the stunt. Finally, and somewhat inevitably, Sonia Kruger – host of three shows on Seven – was announced as the most popular personality on Australian television.
Taking to the stage she aimed for humour but landed wide of the mark by quoting a conversation with an agent who had allegedly told her “I think people are a little over Hamish [Blake].”
She added that the man had told her “Frankly I am hoping that he will leave the agency, so I can concentrate all of my efforts on you, Sonia”.
Fellow nominee, and last year’s winner, Blake spoke for anyone still watching when the camera caught the look of utter disbelief on his face. It was a train wreck ending to a ceremony that was customarily long, occasionally aimless, and had delivered some very strange results.
And yet, until then, the decision to return to a single host for the first time since 2011 had mostly paid off.
Sam Pang – who appears in two of the shows nominated for most popular comedy program, on two different networks – opened with a pre-recorded bit featuring former hosts Steve Vizard, Rove McManus, Shaun Micallef and Wendy Harmer, and a late cameo by Patti Newton, promising her late husband and serial Logies host Bert, “Don’t worry darl, he’ll never be as good as you”.
Sam Pang opens the 2023 Logies.Credit: Seven
Pang’s gags came thick and fast, some landing perfectly, the odd one tanking horribly. But even the fails became fuel for later jokes that worked a lot better: a gag about five contestants on LEGO Masters failing a submarine challenge might have sunk without trace, but was instead resurfaced as part of an extended satirical In Memoriam segment that also took aim at Nine’s failed reality show Rush and Seven’s balloon art blowout Blow Up. It was quick-witted, a bit risky, and exactly what the Logies so desperately needs.
Among the award winners, there were hits and misses too. Colin From Accounts was the big success on the night, with the Binge/Foxtel comedy from husband and wife creators and stars Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer collecting the industry-voted awards for most outstanding actor, actress and comedy.
The pair, who largely work in the US and are members of the Screen Actors Guild, had to receive special dispensation to even be at the ceremony in Sydney. Dyer claimed to be, and looked, stunned to have won, given the show’s offbeat humour.
“In the first episode-and-a-half of Colin, I flashed my nipple, threw a turd out the window, and peed in a bedroom drawer,” she said. “Anyway, the people have spoken, I guess.”
Netflix’s global success Heartbreak High had mixed fortunes, with Thomas Weatherall collecting the peer-voted award for most outstanding supporting actor, while his co-stars Ayesha Madon and Chloe Hayden were passed over in the race for the publicly voted Graham Kennedy award for most popular new talent.
That went instead to Amy Shark, who first appeared on our screens in 2016, and has been a recording artist since 2008 but only landed her first regular presenting gig, as a judge on Australian Idol, this year. New, it seems, is relative.
If that was surprising, it was nothing compared to Bluey being overlooked in the most outstanding children’s program category, despite having allegedly racked up 27 billion (yes, billion) views globally.
The award went instead to Crazy Fun Park, with creator Nicholas Verso feeling moved to apologise for the upset. “I know everyone comes up and goes, ‘We didn’t think we were going to win’, but seriously, we were up against Bluey,” he said. “I’m so sorry about Bluey.”
Brooke Satchwell was a hugely popular winner in the room as most outstanding supporting actress for her role as a domestic abuse survivor in The Twelve, though she was not there to receive it. Her co-star Pallavi Sharda, also nominated in the same category, accepted the award, and read a short speech on her behalf.
Accepting the award for most outstanding factual program for The Australian Wars, creator and presenter Rachel Perkins acknowledged that the three-part series about First Nations resistance to colonisation was “a difficult part of our history but something that we are coming to terms with.”
In October, she added, “Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to embrace our history and bring the country together with one simple word. What is that word?”
The audience answered with a resounding “Yes”. Anthony Albanese – if he was watching – must have thought “if only it were that easy”.
In the publicly voted most popular categories, serial winners Gogglebox, Home and Away and MasterChef Australia were successful again. The Silver Logie for most popular actor went to silver fox Sam Neill for The Twelve, while the award for most popular actress went to Kitty Flanagan for Fisk.
As the room reeled from the ramshackle race to the end, Pang took to the stage for one last quip. “I’ve been Sam Pang if you’ve had a good night,” he said. “If you didn’t, I’ve been Lawrence Mooney.”
Come tomorrow, some others might wish they had a second identity to pin the blame on too.
Most Viewed in Culture
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article
