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Logies: behind the scenes

The television event is usually around 40 minutes delayed from proceedings at Crown. Twitter will be unstoppable once again, if you don't mind the Spoiling.

All is in readiness for the 52nd TV Week Logie Awards.

Yesterday nominees and network execs gathered for the first pre-Logies lunch at Crown’s new Metropol hotel, hosted by Film Victoria, Crown and ACP Magazines. More celebs made their way to the second “Gifting Suite” and stocked up on free bags of goodies like they had just walked out of the Royal Show.

Today media will be assembled on the Red Carpet by 4pm awaiting the stars, who begin arriving at 4:30pm. This year Nine and TEN stars will walk to the red carpet, as they are staying close by, while Seven personalities will load into cars and people movers. When they stroll the carpet that bears the names of the Gold winners, it’s never a good idea to be the first guest, who will it be in 2010?

This year the Red Carpet Arrivals are part of the complete telecast with hosts Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson, Jules Lund and Ruby Rose, crossing straight to the Palladium where Gabriella Cilmi and stars from the stage musical Fame will open the show. Big Bang Theory‘s Johnny Galecki is an international guest. Musical acts will also include k.d. lang, John Mayer, Rogue Traders and lookout for a musical tribute to Don Lane featuring some veteran performers who worked with him. Last night’s Logie report on Nine News was a dead giveaway with someone in the background singing Lane’s theme song, “You Make It So Easy.”

And while we’re on the subject of music, let’s not forget talented Musical Director John Foreman, who will be ‘reunited’ with his old Good Morning Australia pal, Bert. And no, they didn’t ask Belvedere to floor manage the thing. Tsk tsk.

As revealed by TV Tonight, the Hall of Fame will induct the late Brian Naylor. The induction is tipped to be introduced by current Melbourne news presenters and colleagues Peter Hitchener and Mal Walden. Members of Naylor’s family would be a safe bet to receive the trophy in his honour. It will be an apt moment for longtime Producer Adrian Dellevergin, who was one of the kids on Naylor’s own talent show, Brian and the Juniors.

TV Tonight also looks forward to the In Memoriam section to pay tribute to those we lost since the last ceremony. Actors, producers, writers, execs, critics and more….

The television event is usually around 40 minutes delayed from proceedings at Crown. Media huddled into the media room are signed to confidentiality agreements that prevent them from publishing any details before they go to air on Nine. Most will just want a photo of the winner holding their award. Questions coming from the floor are often a struggle -harder still if you won for documentary or news coverage.

Last year celebrities in the Palladium shocked organisers by sending out results via Twitter. This week Wil Anderson joked that he thought his phone might be confiscated to prevent him from being one of those who repeated it. That’s unlikely. Twitter will be unstoppable once again, if you don’t mind the Spoiling.

After the event there is a short party for all guests before stars and execs divide into separate celebrations, hosted by their respective networks. Any media attending are instructed these are strictly ‘off the record’ events.

Host Bert Newton (also revealed here first) will surely put in a memorable performance, as a consummate ad-libbing compere. Presenters would be advised not to try and upstage him. But it also raises the question, where to from here Bert? Could a triumph at the Logies be a fitting TV swansong to a stellar career? After all, it can hardly be topped by more 20 to 1 episodes. With GTV9 due to exit its Richmond studios in early 2011, it will be the end of an era. But try and stop him. Even at 71, Bert just loves to work.

The Logies will also trigger headlines for the rest of the week. With all those egos in one room there will be fallout. Just ask Karl Stefanovic.

And while there continues to be debate -and there should be debate- about the voting and staging of the Logies, there is no mistaking the 52 year history by these awards. No other A-List event in the country resonates so successfully with media and public alike. AFI Awards, ARIA Awards, Brownlow Medal, ASTRA Awards, MTV Awards, IF Awards, Kid’s Choice Awards, fashion, literary, movie premieres and sporting pie nights -all bow down to TV’s night of nights.

4 Responses

  1. I just saw Sigrid Thornton in a mini, Ruby Rose with grey hair and now Karl and Lisa are about to do that embarrassing swoon thing Aussie Celebs do over visiting Hollywood stars…oh and I see 9 are using every second moment of air time to mention Underbelly and any other show that is on their network…

    Thanks for the coverage D, however I just don’t know if I can actually do it….really…my eyes are hurting, hurting.

  2. The word ‘legend’ gets bandied about far too liberally these days, but in the field of Australian television Bert Newton is the real deal. I might even break my self imposed Logies embargo to watch the old guy go around one more time.

  3. David, you mentioned in your preview that media huddled into the media room are signed to confidentiality agreements that prevent them from publishing any details before they go to air on Nine. But that did not prevent results to appear on the first edition of major newspapers such as The Age, Herald Sun, and Daily Telegraph, which generally have a 9pm deadline and are printed for country areas.

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