Those bizarre Gold Logie nominations are enough to make you see stars

For many of us, there was only one way to greet the list of Gold Logie nominees announced on Sunday. What the?

OK, maybe there was one other way. Who the?

Look, I don’t want to be unfair to the nominees but it was, for the most part, a list that spoke volumes about the current state of Televisionland. And what it said was that the era of the TV star is over.

In case you were washing your hair or otherwise gainfully employed when the announcement was made, the nominees are Tracy Grimshaw, Amanda Keller, Grant Denyer, Rodger Corser, Andrew Winter and Jessica Marais.

True, Tracy Grimshaw is as close to a household name as you are likely to get in this era of fragmented audiences. And given her head (which happens far less often than it should), she is a terrific interviewer (hello, Don Burke). More to the point, given it is a popularity contest, she has hosted one of the top-rated shows in Australia (A Current Affair) for 12 years.

So perhaps the biggest surprise in seeing Grimshaw among the nominees is that it’s the first time she’s made it onto the list. Remember that Ray Martin won two Gold Logies when he was doing the same gig and you have to wonder if there’s some sort of gender bias at play there; then again, remember that Martin also won another three Gold Logies – the others came while he was hosting Midday – and you might instead conclude that no one is going to come out of that comparison terribly well, whatever their gender.

Also among the nominees is Rodger Corser, a decent actor who no doubt has plenty of fans thanks to a long list of credits that includes some of the biggest shows (Underbelly, Water Rats, Rush) as well as some of the most interesting (Last Man Standing, Glitch) on Australian TV in the past 15 years or so. He’s been willing to play the cad when called upon, too, which is always worth an honourable mention. But they don’t give out the Gold Logie for consistency or being a team player – it's meant to be an award for the most popular personality on Australian TV. And on that basis, I just don’t see it.

Rodger Corser as Hugh Knight in Doctor Doctor. — Rodger Corser as Hugh Knight in *Doctor Doctor*.
Photo: John Platt

Corser’s nomination is tied to Doctor, Doctor, whose second season last year drew an average audience of 1.306 million viewers (cities and regional, 28-day figure) across its 10 episodes. That’s a thoroughly respectable number these days, but it’s hardly a throwback to the omnipresence of a Georgie Parker (two Gold Logies), say, who could force her way into the affections of the viewing public by sheer persistence (287 episodes of All Saints across eight seasons) as well as strength of performance. Ditto Lisa McCune, whose four Gold Logies came on the back of 249 episodes as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers. They just don't make 'em like that any more. Literally.

This year’s list is almost as noteworthy for who is not on it as for who is. No Karl Stefanovic? No Lisa Wilkinson? No Manu or Matt Preston or Waleed Aly or Carrie Bickmore?

Some of this can be explained, presumably, by the multi-staged voting process, which begins when the networks prepare their list of potential nominees for submission.

The Project team are conspicuous by their absence this year. — *The Project* team are conspicuous by their absence this year.
Photo: Ten

It’s not quite open slather; TV Week editor Thomas Woodgate explains that the networks are given a set limit of contenders, to try to prevent the list from becoming too unwieldy, before it goes to the public for the first round of voting, which produced the shortlist unveiled on the weekend.

That presumably means the networks make some informed decisions about which of their on-air personalities they want to swing their PR machinery behind and which they don’t. I have no inside word on this, but it’s not hard to imagine that a whole raft of things that don’t automatically tally as “popularity” might come into play here – things such as contract negotiations, new shows in the works, and not wanting to put any more upward pressure on an individual’s salary (or ego) by adding the phrase “Gold Logie nominee” (or, Heaven forbid, Gold Logie winner) to their CV.

It might be the end of the road for Family Feud but it has earned Grant Denyer a Gold Logie nomination. — It might be the end of the road for *Family Feud* but it has earned Grant Denyer a Gold Logie nomination.
Photo: Supplied

Be that as it may, it’s intriguing that Grant Denyer makes it onto the list barely a month after having his show pulled from underneath him. Family Feud is still on air, of course, and still doing barely respectable numbers in the early evening slot, but Denyer is, for my money, a genuinely talented performer – funny, quick on his feet, and perfectly happy to play the doofus in search of a laugh. He’s the closest thing to a Bert Newton (four Gold Logies, perpetual Logies host) Australian television currently has (readers are of course free to decide for themselves whether they consider that a compliment or not).

Is Ten using this campaign in order to build the profile of whatever show it is the diminutive host will be fronting next? Hmm.

But to truly gauge how far down the path of insanity this whole thing has travelled we need look no further than Andrew Winter. The host of Selling Houses Australia has made history by becoming Foxtel’s first ever Gold Logie nominee, and his show regularly features among pay TV’s most-watched programs, though it’s tricky to calculate what that means, exactly, since each episode airs so many times. Typically, a single episode might be watched by around 70,000 viewers overnight, but Foxtel claims the lifetime average per episode for season 11 is 640,000.

Andrew Winter, centre, with Selling Houses Australia co-hosts Charlie Albone and Shaynna Blaze.
Photo: Foxtel

OK, you might say, that's quite a lot of people (especially in Pay TV terms), but it's time for a reality check. The man is a real estate agent. A real estate agent, I tell you!

In the most recent survey of professions from pollsters Roy Morgan, real estate agents were rated “very high” or “high” for ethics and honesty by just 7 per cent of Australians. Only car salesmen and “advertising people” rated worse (and yes, I know newspaper journalists don’t come out too rosy either, but we crept into mid-table with a 20 per cent approval rating this time around, so I'm basking in that newfound aura of respectability).

I have absolutely nothing against Mr Winter personally. He seems a very pleasant chap, in fact. But the possibility that a real estate agent might be deemed Australia’s most popular TV personality? Why, it’s enough to make you see stars.

Facebook: karlquinnjournalist Podcast: The Clappers Twitter: @karlkwin

Karl has been a journalist at Fairfax Media since 1999, in a variety of writing and editing roles. Karl writes about popular culture with a particular focus on film and television.